A Snapshot of Clan MacKay

When did you first become interested in photography?

I've always been a creative person and had a casual interest in photography, but never really had a serious interest in it until about 4 years ago. I was always told I had "an eye for it", but it was my love of going on roadtrips around the Highlands with my friends and seeing these amazing places that made me think "This phone camera really isn't doing these places justice!" So after I had maximised what I could do with a phone camera, I decided to buy my first DSLR Camera! 4 years of honing my skills, upgrading camera gear, adding aerial photography to my repertoire and countless miles around the Highlands, here we are, and still loving every minute of it!

Do you have any highlights that stand out to you from your photography career so far?

There are far too many to mention, but of all the miles I've clocked up around Scotland, sitting on the beach a mile from my home in Nairn and watching the Northern Lights overhead has to be up there, such a magical experience! Getting recognition and appraisal from well known and established photographers is also a very nice feeling, it kind of gives you the reassurance that you must be doing something right!

What do you love most about working in Scotland?

Everything! I live outside Inverness and all of the best scenery is within a 2 hour drive so the accessibility to these places is amazing! Maybe I'm biased, but I really do think we have the most beautiful and dramatic scenery in the world. I love history and Scotland is steeped in a rich history, and a lot of the places I visit have pretty much remained unchanged from the events of the past.

Do you have any Scottish influences?

Growing up, it has to be Sir Sean Connery, he was and still is probably the greatest Scottish icon. I would drive my grandparents nuts by constantly watching James Bond over and over again!

From a creative point of view, right now there's some really great up and coming Scottish photographers like myself, who are very supportive and are always inspiring me to keep doing what I love!

Have you celebrated your Scottish Heritage throughout your life? And if so, how did you do this?

Being Scottish, I think you are born into celebrating your heritage. Every Scots man and woman are extremely passionate about who they are and where they come from, and rightly so, I'm no exception! I feel extremely proud to be from this beautiful land.

Growing up, in school, Scottish history is a big part of it, and it was one of my favorite subjects. In school, every year, you also receive 6 weeks worth of traditional Ceilidh dancing lessons for PE in the lead up to the prom. It's been a long time but I could probably still throw down a Military Two Step or Dashing White Sergeant! Going forward, I have an interest in learning Gaelic to do my part in keeping the language alive.

What does it mean to you to be a member of Clan Mackay?

Even though we seemed to be fueding with others and changed sides a couple of times, being part of a legitimate Scottish bloodline and carrying the name of one of the most ancient and powerful clansis something I feel very proud of.

What is your favourite tartan?

Naturally I would have to say my own Mackay tartan, although there are some very nice more contemporary grey tartans which I really love the look of!

The photos you take are so stunning and elegant, when did you first find a love for photography?

I was "that friend" who always had a camera on them, whether it was disposable or digital, and was often capturing candid moments with friends. I wasn't particularly good at art in school, I was more focussed on music and drama so I ended up going to uni to study popular music. Through that whole period of time I continued and really enjoyed taking photos and getting creative by helping to create album/EP covers for my classmates. I think that having it as a hobby for so long was what helped me enjoy it more than I think I would have if I had studied it. Growing up I also loved looking at photographs, the different memories held in them and the colours in film photos. My Grandma (from my Mum's side) has albums and albums from throughout the years which we would look at regularly - looking back now I feel like she always had a camera on her, so maybe that's where the joy for it originally sparked from!

How did you decide to specialise in wedding photography?

I was following some portrait and wedding photographers online and loved the work of Karrah Kobus and Rosie Hardy - they were doing these incredible artistic self-portraits and also worked in shooting weddings in a more creative and beautiful way than I had ever seen before. I was trying some things with creative shooting and editing but as I wasn't particularly "artsy" in that sort of visionary way I struggled with inspiration for my own ideas and was always more drawn to capturing people and animals - my niece and our family dog were my main models and I just loved capturing them being themselves. I graduated in 2012 and photographed an American couple's elopement up in Oban that summer and it was so much fun, for the first time I really felt that click of "this is really what I want to do..." and I came away from that experience with such a full heart. I'll never forget that feeling. I was working in retail full time and picking up weddings on the side and it just snowballed a bit from there as I grew my business and made friends in the industry. After buying my first full-frame DSLR camera and shooting a handful of weddings for family friends, I had saved up some money and I went to a workshop run by The Kitcheners who I had been admiring for a long time and they blew me away - at the time I think they were really leading the way with romantic couple/wedding photography in Scotland. As part of the workshop we had a shoot day in Glencoe and it was just incredible, they inspired me and taught me a lot.

I get asked this a lot and I really can't decide on which part of the day is my favourite, they each have their own quirks and it can also vary from wedding to wedding. But the overall feeling of witnessing so much love during a wedding, whether it's an elopement or a room packed with people, is what keeps me enjoying it. Being able to capture those moments for my couples and telling the story of their day is so fulfilling and I have a great time getting to know the couple and their loved ones and being whatever source of energy they need me to be. I think if I were to sum it all up to one word it would be "connection". The connection between couples, the connection between them and their loved ones, the connection between the families and friends and the connection that I forge with them all and the event.

Do you have any special memories from weddings you have attended for work?

I've witnessed and enjoyed countless special moments and I take something special away from all the weddings I shoot - I could be here all day reciting a special memory from each one! I would say that small weddings and elopements just have that extra level of connection for me that I was talking about earlier - I think because I can get to know and interact with all of the guests, whereas with bigger weddings the interactions tend to be shorter as there's a lot of ground to cover. Because of the slower pace of wee weddings you can really just bask in the moment (although, I will admit, they aren't necessarily any "easier" than big weddings!). On the other hand, I really do love big weddings too, and I'm really looking forward to the day they can start happening again. To be in a room filled with people who hold so much love and support for the couple getting married is another truly special feeling. I have a terrible memory when it comes to recalling specific moments in time, but here are some that come to mind:

Driven a golf buggy with a bride in it, been caught in crazy torrential rain/thunderstorms during couple's shoots (ah, Scotland!), watching non-Scottish people attempt ceilidh dancing (always a fun one), taken couple shoot photos in the arcades at Portobello, the gentle hike up to an epic viewpoint in Glen Affric for a small wedding in Autumn (the colours were overwhelmingly beautiful), hand-written vows, confetti throws, sunset shoots, people allowing themselves to be vulnerable enough to cry in front of 80+ people, SO many hilarious and touching speeches, a daughter of a bride surprising her mum with a drawing of a photo I took of the couple during their pre-wedding shoot, a bride who created her own bouquet and all of the signage/stationary/design for her own wedding, capturing moments involving people who are no longer with us. That last one in particular has a bittersweet specialness to it because knowing that the couple are dealing with the loss of someone they love is heart-wrenching, but knowing that I managed to catch some special moments with that person for them really puts the importance of photography into perspective.

What makes a Scottish wedding so different to any other wedding?

You can get married pretty much anywhere you would like to in Scotland and I think that creates a great opportunity for couples to really take control over what they do with their day and make it their own. Whether it's in a field, on a garden, outdoors in the Highlands, in an old theatre, in a tipi or marquee, in an old quirky Scottish country house - I just absolutely love the wide range of locations we have for weddings in Scotland and feel so lucky to see plenty of them. Then, of course, the chance of a ceilidh. Not all Scottish couples have a ceilidh as part of their reception (to each their own), but you can pretty much always guarantee that a ceilidh will be a great kick-start to a belter of a night, whether the dancers know what they're doing or not. I also love all of the little Scottish traditions that we have - like drinking from a quiach, handfasting and having a bagpiper.

How did you celebrate your Scottish heritage growing up?

My Dad's side of my family are from the Highlands, as you can probably tell by the name. We would visit my grandparent's home in Melness every year and growing up we were taught how to play cards (my Grandma was a Whist player), we would drive around and take in the scenery, visit many beaches (I've swam in the sea on most of my visits), go to the Highland Games and local events when they were on, visit The Craggan which is still to this day run by our cousins who are also Mackays, go horse riding, bake with my Grandma and sample her incredible jam made from the berries in the garden, watch the seals basking on the sands of the Kyle of Tongue. I know that doesn't all sound particularly celebratory in a sense, but just enjoying life in the middle of all that vast, nature-filled space at a pace so different to the city feels really special and celebratory in our own way. My grandparents have both passed away, and the house they had is still in the hands of my Dad and my Uncle and I was beyond delighted when my Dad told us they were going to keep hold of it. Even though it feels like there's something missing since my Grandma passed in 2019, I love to visit and there's just something about the place that makes me feel so rooted and calm when I'm there. I've now shared it with my partner and some friends and absolutely loved showing them around and getting them into the sea despite how nippy cold it is!

What does it mean to you to be a member of Clan MacKay?

In school I definitely didn't quite appreciate or understand how interesting my heritage is. As an adult I can now appreciate it and it still feels a little bit novel that there are actually stones marking "Mackay country". I think being a Mackay is a huge part of what makes me feel so drawn to the Highlands, regardless of where it is I visit. There's still so much I haven't seen and would love to drive the Route 500 some time soon. When I do visit the area my family are from or meet anyone from there and they find out I'm a Mackay it's interesting to find out if they know people I'm somehow related to - it actually turned out that the parents of one of my couples know my family and we didn't realise this until we got chatting in the bar area during dinner. Small world! The highland community is truly special and I believe to have come from that is a big part of who I am.

What is your favourite tartan?

As you can probably imagine, I have seen many, many tartans in my time shooting weddings. I'd find it difficult to choose just one that I've liked, so I'll play it safe and stick with the Mackay clan variations. Personally, I'm a fan of quite neutral/muted tones in my wardrobe so, for example, if I were to buy a Mackay tartan scarf for myself, I would choose the Weathered Mackay tartan.