The
whisky industry directly employs 11,000 in Scotland and carries great
economic and historical value to the country. Every year, 1 billion
bottles of whisky are exported and distilleries with heritage and
production capacity have become hot assets in the investment world.
Right now, there are 20 million casks of whisky maturing in Scotland:
that’s around 4 per living person in the country. I was recently given
the chance to photograph Scotland’s oldest working distillery - The
Glenturret in Perthshire - which dates to 1763. Located on the banks of
the River Turret, it has a picture-perfect charm that eludes many
working distilleries in 2024. Furthermore, looking at old museum
pictures, not much has changed in the facade and the courtyard over the
last 120 years and the new owners were keen to celebrate this constancy.
They wanted a love letter to its celebrated past and I totally
understood. On our scouting visit up to Glenturret, we were drawn to the
timeless nature of the buildings, but equally, there were some signs of
modernity and my sense was that the best way to hide them was to work
after a snowfall. Despite there being less snow in Scotland now than in
the days of my childhood, it still snows occasionally around Crieff.
This was a team effort and such is the local pride in the distillery,
that attracting locals to work on the shoot was as easy as sampling
their products when we were wrapped.