Case Study - Macdonald hotels - Forest Hills
A grand hotel above the clouds
During the height of the Covid-19 lockdowns, I was commissioned by Alliance Creative, working on behalf of Macdonald Hotels, to photograph and film Forest Hills Hotel in the Trossachs.
It was early December, and the forecast promised a clear winter’s day. I set off before dawn, arriving in the blue hour to find the hotel, perched above Loch Ard, completely deserted. A thick cloud inversion had settled across the landscape, wrapping the loch and trees in soft, shifting mist. It was eerie, still, and utterly beautiful.
I captured as much as I could in that light before the clouds began to lift. When they did, they revealed the hotel in all its grandeur, surrounded by wisps of low-lying cloud that gave the scenes a fresh, alpine feel, but still unmistakably Scottish.
The images became some of my favourite from that year. Macdonald Hotels were delighted with the results and soon requested me personally to photograph another of their properties, the Portal Hotel in Chester.
A quiet winter morning, a world on pause, and a view above the clouds that felt like something from another time.
