My name is Alan O’Brien and I am a photographer based in Inverness, Scotland. I was born in 1953 in Kearsley near Bolton, Lancashire, brought up in Salford and first moved to Scotland to study Physics at St Andrews University in Fife. After graduating, I returned to Manchester to work and when a job opportunity came up, I moved to Inverness in 1980 to be closer to the Scottish mountains where I was spending increasing amounts of my holiday time. I spent the rest of my career in Medical Physics at Raigmore Hospital and retired in 2013.

Many people say they are passionate about photography but in my case photography is the ideal companion to my main interest which is a passion to be in the mountains. Over the years I have climbed their crags, bagged all the Munros and Corbetts (Scottish hills over 3000 feet and 2500 feet respectively), skiied up and down them, mountain biked into them and occasionally paddled round the base of them in open canoes and sea kayaks. Almost without fail, I have carried a camera and this always added extra enjoyment to the day both in the making of the images and enjoyment of the memories later on.

Inevitably photographic compromises have to be made when being active in the hills; companions are rarely patient if you want to perfect that composition or wait for the light to improve, not to mention the limited hours of daylight when you have ground to cover. So now my outings are a little less ambitious in scale and more focussed on enjoying the photography.

I hope you find something here to interest you.