I was in Argyll, Scotland over the Christmas break and since I had my drone with me I thought I would try to capture Inveraray Castle. When we are in Scotland we stay on the shore of Loch Goil – one Loch over from the castle which is next to Loch Fyne.

I met the Duchess of Argyll last summer by chance as I wandered up to the castle which was closed due to the dreaded lurgy. It wasn’t quite so accidental however as I was scouting the castle as a possible location for a feature film I plan to direct called Gabriel’s Lyre which is based on my book.

We had a chat and exchanged details. When I contacted Eleanor (duchesses have actual names who knew) again asking permission for a drone flight she came back and said yes immediately. I was asked for the usual insurance details and CAA permission which quite impressed me by its professionalism.

I found out why it was so precise. The castle caretaker, who was super helpful and cheerful, is a keen drone pilot.

This was shot on my trusty inspire 2 with a 16 mm DJI prime lens which has a carbon fibre body and is super light at 400 gms. The resolution was set at 8k on a movie wide screen format which gives you 10% more picture either side rather than letterboxing standard widescreen. Recording at 8k means the image can be played back on a movie theatre-sized screen and drops into a movie just fine.

The day of the shoot was delayed by almost a week as the rain didn’t let up. In that week a new series appeared on tv called A Very British Scandal.

It is all about the castle and the family scandal surrounding it in the 1950s. By the time I got to do the shoot which you can watch here, Inverary Castle had taken on a whole new fame and notoriety. The town itself and the castle are going to be a very popular tourist destination this summer!

Watch the finished drone video of Inveraray Castle here.