Rannoch’s star ascending

On the banks of Loch Rannoch

A resident reimagining the vistas of home

“If you sit on the banks of Loch Rannoch and look north, it is a great view. We are quite hilly here but the hills, I think, add to the foreground and the atmosphere.”

Ali Penman is discussing Kinloch Rannoch; a village he moved to, for a month’s job trial. That was 22 years ago. Now, decades on, he is looking at a community and a landscape so familiar to him, from a very different perspective.

What started as a late night hobby (he has been a website developer, by day, for 25 years) has now become a sideline passion inching further into growth.

Astro photography, for Ali, started out as an excited, explorative conversation between pals but it conjured something latent in him.

“When I was younger, I was always interested in space and stars,” he recalls. “I decided to get a camera and some decent lenses and start aurora chasing.”

A special Loch Rannoch Aurora

Dark Sky Allure

With the vast open skies and one of the most beautiful Perthshire villages as his canvas, Ali started venturing out when conditions were kind.

When he bought a Nikon camera (that his pal took his wedding photos on) and started to reference Apps and space forecasts, he didn’t know, at that point, that his work would result in a sell-out calendar or that it would represent the beginning of a wider artistic journey.

“I must have been mad,” he laughs. “To have our young daughter, Georgia, and to be sneaking off from the house in the middle of the night, then getting up for work next day. That was a good idea, wasn’t it?”

His early results, though, fed enough curiosity to keep tired eyelids from closing. His vista was an inspiration, too. “The great thing, when you are here, is that you don’t need to go more than 50m from your door. Rannoch is a prime place. There is very little light pollution. If you went to Perth or even Pitlochry, there would be a lot of street light.

“We are in an 11-year solar cycle and the peak was the end of last year so I was going out when the activity was really good. You need the weather and dark, crisp nights.”

You also need some decent equipment.

“I started researching lenses online and buying some and selling some,” he says. “You need decent lenses. You need something that can be really sharp, down to F2.8 (a low light powerhouse lens, for those unacquainted with camera kit).

Scottish Digital Art craft stall

Art as a journey

The culmination of his dusky sojourns was Aurora Photos where his collections can be viewed (and prints purchased) and the Highland Perthshire Auroras Calendar 2025, which sold out at first attempt.

However, rather than being the end of his artistic journey, it served to feed new shoots of inspiration. Conversant with Photoshop thanks to the day job, he began technical sketching in digital formats, playing with environments, initially with a mouse then a digital pen and iPad.

Now he begins his works in freehand form and moves, digitally, from there. “I am not a great artist but I can doodle and do things,” he says modestly. “I started to work away with some Rannoch tourist-style merchandise and sold a few of those.

“I like to surf Instagram and suchlike for ideas and I am really into maps. It is something I have always been interested in. I used to doodle maps on my jotters at school,” he says, mischievously.

“I’ve always liked the way maps look and I like to put abstract things in them.”

Weller Poley Park in Kinloch Rannoch stunning aurora

The inspiration of place

The fruits of these endeavours can be seen on the website, drawbrawstuff

There are greetings cards, gifts and abstract maps of Perthshire villages as well as t-shirts depicting famous regional peaks – artistic and creative progressions on tourist collectibles but eye-catching creations, in their own right, for bare wall spaces.

Dissatisfied with the quality of some of the early prints he sent away for reproduction, he has now purchased his own specialist printer and sends out orders, cottage-style, as well as hand- framing prints for his customers at home, ensuring the quality he seeks.

Kinloch Rannoch, where he lives with his wife and daughter – and which has become so much part of his life- features prominently, of course.

“For the night photography, especially, it is arguably up there with the best places. For some, the hills might be a downside, but, for me, they are really special.”

Scottish Digital Art craft stall