Portrait photography on the beach.

After our morning beach clean, join us for our photography session, where we build directly on the textures, materials and stories we’ve just gathered from the shoreline.

We’ll confirm the beach location soon, choosing the spot most in need of a litter pick. It will be within easy travelling distance of Shambellie House.

Together, we’ll explore creative ways to photograph the coast, paying attention to the shapes, colours and patterns created by marine debris, washed‑up plastics and the ever‑changing environment around us.

This session focuses on portrait photography on the beach.
You don’t need flash guns or studio lights to create striking portraits — just daylight, your camera, and a gentle way of guiding your subject into the right spot. As we work outdoors, we’ll look at how the beach itself becomes part of the story: the footprints, tidelines, seaweed tangles and fragments of litter that frame where we stand. Award‑winning photographer Dave Moyes will share simple but powerful techniques for taking expressive portraits that reflect both the beauty of the coast and the environmental pressures shaping it.

We will then return to Shambellie House to enjoy a light lunch together and begin processing our photographs, reviewing what we’ve created and exploring how our shoreline discoveries can influence the final images.

A selection of the portraits created will be printed, framed, and featured in the final Project Gather exhibition, sharing your perspective and inviting visitors to reflect on our relationship with the coast and the impact of marine plastic. By capturing people within this shoreline environment, these chosen images help others connect emotionally with both the beauty of the beach and the environmental challenges revealed through the litter we encounter.

Why not explore more of our Project Gather workshops —especially Saturday’s session, where your photographs will be used to help curate an exhibition focused on marine plastics?

Supported by Marine Fund Scotland