• First light. Mist still on the lochs. Stags in the open. Almost no one else awake.
• After a squall. Wet rock, broken cloud, sometimes a full rainbow over the glen. Most people are still inside. Don't be.
• The long blue hour. June dusk lasts until eleven. Mountains turn navy and the sky stays gold for an hour. The best landscapes happen here.
• Winter midday. Sun never gets high. Long shadows from twelve till three. Snow on top, copper grass below, and you'll have it to yourself.

A solid grey lid is hopeless. A grey lid with a horizon gap means the sun will break through low — start driving towards a west-facing view now. A textured sky, broken cumulus, scudding shadows: that's the postcard. Get to high ground.

• Assynt. Stac Pollaidh and Suilven from Knockan Crag at sunset. Otherworldly when the light is right.
• Glen Etive. Quieter than Glen Coe, half the people, the same mountains. Side-light at dawn or dusk.
• Loch Maree. Slioch reflected in still water. Be there before the wind picks up — usually nine in the morning at the latest.
• Sanna Bay, Ardnamurchan. White sand, blue water, almost always empty. Late evening light from the west.
• Galloway Forest. Dark Sky Park. Milky Way with the naked eye on a clear winter night. Long exposures, no lights for miles.

Lens cloth — wet weather. Spare battery — the cold halves them. Tripod — for the blue hour and the night sky. A waterproof bag the camera fits in. And the discipline to keep walking when the light is flat. The next squall is twenty minutes away.