dava •

The journey to Dava Moor in late July 2025 was a pilgrimage to a world defined by smoke and ash. The most significant wildfires on record had left a black scar across hundreds of acres of the Scottish landscape. My mission was to capture the aftermath, to tell the story of a fragile ecosystem’s resilience and the devastating power of a warming world. For this task, my friends at Ffordes Photographic in Beauly lent me a Fujifilm GFX100RF. Its medium-format sensor, with its stunning dynamic range and resolution, could render the subtle gradations of a smoke-filled sky and the minute, charred details of the moorland.

My friends Shona, Roddy, and I planned our route and set out from Inverness on the weekend of July 5th. The first sign of what lay ahead wasn't visual, but a scent: the acrid, earthy perfume of burnt peat that clung to the air. The A939 was still closed, forcing us onto a longer, winding route where each bend revealed a new, somber vista.

As we moved uphill, the ground crunched under each step. We fanned out across what was once a heather and gorse-filled landscape. I remember the vivid sensation of being cold on the scorched, windswept hillside, and then the sun coming out, bringing an instant, radiant heat from all directions.