David Lintern Photography

04/09/2026

A couple of weeks back, I resigned my editorial role at The Great Outdoors. I variously looked after gear, commissioning and development for the magazine over the last 6 years. One way or another I’ve been a contributor for 15, so it feels like a big deal, personally.

I’m stepping aside with the house in good order - print subscriptions up, the title back in profit and a new channel prepped, and now launched. During my time I also looked after budget, the editorial team, and what is probably Europe’s most diverse review crew.

Admin aside, on the feature front I made what I hope were progressive choices around Palestine, Ukraine, colonialism, nature access and regeneration, land reform and renewables, gender, diversity and representation, physical and mental health. I actively booked stories that other outlets swerved for political reasons and coached dozens of new and developing writers to hone their voice through the edit process. I count myself very lucky to have worked with some exceptionally talented, resourceful and creative people.

I didn’t do this on my own. Publishing is a team sport and the TGO team in editorial and sales are equally talented, resourceful and creative. The stories and the people are absolutely what make it worthwhile.

I’m finishing off booking a few stories into next year so as to leave things organised for my successor. I may even continue with TGO as a freelancer in some way myself, but the November issue is the last one that will carry my name as Commissioning and Development Editor, and the October issue my last Editors ‘welcome’… so I thought I’d mark the latter at least.

I’m now off for a lie down in a dark room. Also the Dolomites. Yalla!

(Headshot from 2020 - cuz beginnings and endings)

26/08/2026

Dave Morris, who among dozens of other campaigns played a leading role in establishing Scotland’s Right to Roam, today in Kingussie. A lifetime of fascinating stories and a master strategist.

From the 2003 campaign:
“Access to nature should be a fundamental human right, recognised across the world and promoted by the United Nations. The Scottish right to roam legislation ensures citizens can access most of our land and water, lays obligations on land managers to facilitate this access and provides public bodies with duties to protect these rights.”

26/08/2026

Thanks to these two brainboxes for reminding me of some lightness after much heavy lifting. I’ll never be you, but I’m a small step closer to being me again.

06/08/2026

Orkney overlays

03/08/2026

a few new portraits on my website, for those who still enjoy such things:

Environmental portraiture and photo journalism work

02/08/2026

Orkney, part 2… including antics from ‘shopping week’, a freshly lime mortared Bothy, a brief meeting with Polish Highlander, plenty broch bothering and more location scouting for the Scotlandshire shortbread tin of the year award.

The old Arabic graffiti carved into the rock reads along the lines of “I sat here for 2 days and learned patience” - apparently by a spy.

01/08/2026

Photodump 1 of 2 from a trip across the sea to Orkney.

My first proper break from work for 3 years - no exaggeration. We’re not curing cancer, there are bigger problems in the world than publishing and I love helping to bring other people’s stories into the light a bit, but something really has to give. Orkney was a great dose of perspective - I expect the sea and sky and the in-your-face 6000 yr old history might have helped!

It was electric to be fully in the moment with cameras again, including the Mamiya - still not shown any of that here - it’s all the wee fixed Fuji (& 2 iphone). Doubt I’ll be troubling the tourist board with too many of these - oh well! Having looked over what I took I think there’s potential for something else, if the stars align - there’s a large number of images about a different side of the place I won’t be sharing for now.

09/07/2026

Nervous system regulation the old timey way: climb a damp and vegetated grade 2 as a recce for a winter climb, camp in the billowing clouds … en route to Munro 277, a Coe straggler.

06/07/2026

Two from an estate north of Inverness. An impressive if morbid array of fine trees collected and catalogued in the Victorian styley. It’s a strange but fascinating thing when a living space feels like a museum, or a graveyard. Geezer made his dollar in iron, coal and hematite mining apparently. The light spot was a happy processing accident - iPhone and snapseed.

27/06/2026

Today is PTSD Awareness Day.

When the callout comes in, our volunteers don't always know what they'll find.

Sometimes it's a straightforward rescue. Sometimes it's a life-changing injury. Sometimes it's delivering devastating news to a family, or recovering someone who didn't make it home.

Our volunteers choose to step into these situations because someone needs help. They do it to bring loved ones home from Scotland's mountains – sometimes in the most difficult circumstances imaginable.

While these incidents may last only hours, their impact can reach much longer.

On PTSD Awareness Day, we'd like to take the opportunity to highlight the importance of supporting the wellbeing of those who support others.

Over the past two years, Scottish Mountain Rescue has been working with the NHS Rivers Centre for Traumatic Stress to deliver our Post Incident Support project. Available to every mountain rescue volunteer in Scotland, the service provides rapid access to specialist trauma clinicians following exposure to potentially traumatic incidents. It sits alongside our wider approach to volunteer wellbeing, which embeds personal resilience, peer support, and effective post-incident care throughout the full volunteer journey, from recruitment through to retirement.

Today's post is also an opportunity to remember David 'Heavy' Whalley, whose passion for the wellbeing of mountain rescue volunteers helped shape this journey. His legacy lives on in the support available to our teams today, ensuring that those who give so much to others know that help is there when they need it too. 💙

📸Image: Heavy at Ryvoan Bothy in 2022 by David Lintern Photography : https://www.davidlintern.com/