At 8:00 on a misty Saturday morning, traffic across parts of North-East Scotland briefly came to a halt. Police officers closed junctions, escort vehicles took their positions, and one of Scotland’s experienced heavy haulage operators began moving a remarkable piece of offshore technology from Huntly to Buckie Harbour.
aberdeenphoto.com had been commissioned by Colin Lawson Transport to document the entire operation through professional ground photography, drone imagery and video.
We immediately knew this would not be an ordinary commercial photography assignment. It was one of those projects where planning, timing, teamwork and experience mattered just as much as the cameras themselves.
The brief sounded straightforward on paper: photograph and film the transport operation from beginning to end.
In reality, it meant following a police-escorted heavy haulage convoy across North-East Scotland, working in persistent fog and drizzle, operating cameras from both the ground and the air, repeatedly moving ahead of the convoy to find the next position, and finally documenting the transfer of the enormous yellow SQUID structure onto a vessel at Buckie Harbour.
Every photograph needed to contribute to the story. Every aerial sequence needed to communicate the scale of the operation. Every video clip would later become part of a promotional film created for our long-standing client.
This is the story behind that day.
A Long-Term Partnership Built on Trust
This was not our first project for Colin Lawson Transport, and we hope it will be far from our last.
We have worked with Colin and his team for many years, supporting the company with commercial photography and a wide range of marketing services. Our work has included photographing their specialist fleet, creating promotional materials, developing the Colin Lawson Transport website and designing graphics for their sponsored hospitality box at Aberdeen Football Club.
That long-term relationship makes a real difference during an assignment of this scale.
Knowing how the company operates, understanding the demands of specialist transport and recognizing important moments before they happen allows us to work almost as an extension of the team, rather than simply standing at the roadside waiting for something to photograph.
When an operation involves a low loader, multiple escort vehicles, police traffic control, restricted routes and carefully coordinated timings, a photographer has to understand more than composition and camera settings.
You have to anticipate the story while it is still unfolding.
Preparing for Departure in Huntly
Our day began at Aurora Energy Services in Huntly, where the yellow SQUID structure had already been secured to Colin Lawson Transport’s specialist low loader.
The operation had been carefully scheduled:
- Loading and preparation took place in Huntly
- The police escort was booked for 8:00 am on Saturday
- The convoy included the Colin Lawson Transport low loader
- Two police vehicles controlled traffic along the route
- Four additional escort vehicles supported the transport
- The destination was Buckie Harbour
Before the transporter moved, we photographed the vehicle, the load and the preparation around it. These quieter moments are an essential part of a complete commercial story. They establish the scale of the assignment and give the finished collection a clear beginning.
Lukas concentrated on photography and video from ground level, while Ken prepared the drone and monitored the conditions for safe aerial operations.
The heavy mist and drizzle were already making visibility difficult, but the subdued light also gave the opening images a distinctly Scottish atmosphere.
When the Convoy Rolled Out
There is something unmistakably cinematic about the beginning of an abnormal-load movement.
Escort lights activate. Radios come alive. Traffic is stopped. The transporter begins to move slowly away from the yard, carrying a load that immediately dominates everything around it.
For our team, this was where the most demanding part of the assignment began.
The first stages of the journey immediately demonstrated why specialist escort vehicles were essential. The load required space to turn, and ordinary traffic had to be held away from the route while the driver carefully positioned the low loader through each junction.
Photographing the operation was not simply a matter of following behind the lorry. We needed to travel ahead of the convoy, select safe positions, prepare our cameras and capture each pass before moving on again.
There would be no second take. Once the transporter had passed a location, that moment was gone.
Staying One Step Ahead
Our working method throughout the journey was a form of carefully managed leapfrogging.
We drove ahead of the escort, found a suitable position, parked safely, prepared the camera equipment and recorded the convoy as it approached. Whenever the location and weather allowed, Ken also launched the drone to capture aerial video and still photographs.
As soon as the transporter passed, everything had to be packed away quickly so that we could reach the next planned viewpoint before the convoy.
The process demanded constant communication and situational awareness. We had to consider road access, visibility, safe parking, the direction of the transport, the likely position of the police vehicles and the visual potential of each location.
It was a combination of documentary photography, logistics and fast decision-making.
The Challenge of Keith
The journey through Keith became one of the most visually powerful sections of the day.
Open roads provide room for a specialist transporter, but a town centre creates an entirely different challenge. Narrow streets, stone buildings, pavements, parked vehicles, street furniture and restricted junctions leave very little margin for error.
Police officers and escort teams controlled traffic while the driver guided the enormous load through spaces that appeared barely wide enough for the tractor unit, never mind the trailer and SQUID behind it.
This was one of the strongest images for communicating scale. The surrounding buildings and confined roadway made it immediately clear just how precisely the transporter had to be driven.
From a photographic perspective, Keith also gave the story something the open road could not: a familiar human environment against which the extraordinary size of the operation could be understood.
The lorry filled the street. The yellow structure rose above the surrounding vehicles. Every movement had to be measured and deliberate.
These were exactly the moments we had been commissioned to preserve—not only proof that the transport took place, but photographs that demonstrated the expertise required to complete it successfully.
Working Through Fog and Drizzle
The weather remained difficult throughout the journey.
Dense mist, persistent drizzle and low cloud reduced visibility and made both ground photography and drone operations more demanding. Equipment had to be protected, lenses checked regularly and aerial decisions reassessed as conditions changed.
Commercial assignments rarely wait for perfect weather. The operation was proceeding, and our responsibility was to produce strong, professional material regardless of the conditions.
Rather than trying to make the day appear bright and sunny, we worked with the environment. The wet roads reflected vehicle lights, the muted sky concentrated attention on the vivid yellow SQUID, and the mist gave the journey a distinctive atmosphere.
Good commercial photography is not about pretending that challenging conditions do not exist. It is about adapting quickly and still delivering images the client will be proud to use.
Arrival at Buckie Harbour
After the escorted journey from Huntly, the convoy reached Buckie Harbour, where Colin Lawson Transport’s road operation entered its final stage.
The atmosphere changed immediately. The constant forward movement of the journey was replaced by the controlled preparation of a harbour lifting operation.
The transporter had to be positioned correctly beside the working quay. Harbour personnel, crane operators, vessel crew and the transport team all had their own responsibilities, and each stage depended on the previous one being completed safely.
The aerial view was particularly valuable here. From ground level, the SQUID and lorry dominated the scene. From above, the photograph revealed the wider harbour environment, the vessel alongside the quay, the available working space and the people coordinating the next stage.
This is why combining ground photography with drone imagery can be so effective for industrial and logistical projects. Each viewpoint explains something different.
Ground images bring the viewer close to the action. Aerial photographs reveal the complete operation.
Positioning the Load for the Lift
Once the transporter was in position beside the quay, attention turned from the road journey to the transfer of the SQUID onto the waiting vessel.
The crane and lifting equipment had to be prepared, connections checked and the surrounding working area kept controlled. The rain continued, but the teams worked steadily through each stage.
This image marks the transition between two parts of the story. The road transport had been completed, but the load was still on the trailer. The vessel was waiting, the lifting equipment was in position and the final transfer was about to begin.
For us, this was another moment that could not be repeated for the camera. Lukas moved between safe ground-level positions to record the vehicle, load and lifting team, while Ken used the drone to capture the relationship between the lorry, crane, vessel and harbour.
One Final Lift
With the lifting slings secured, the crane gradually took the weight of the SQUID.
The enormous yellow structure began to rise from the specialist trailer that had carried it from Huntly.
For a short time, the SQUID was suspended between two stages of its journey: no longer part of the road convoy, but not yet secured aboard the vessel.
The photograph brings the complete operation together—the lifted component, the crane, the emptying trailer, the transport vehicle and the waiting vessel.
It also demonstrates why anticipation is so important in industrial photography. The decisive moment lasts only briefly. The camera position, lens choice and exposure all need to be ready before the lift begins.
What Exactly Is the SQUID?
Throughout the day, the structure attracted attention wherever it appeared. Its colour, dimensions and unusual design naturally raised the same question: what exactly is it?
The SQUID is a technology developed by Encomara for the floating offshore wind sector.
In simplified terms, it is a universal interface designed to bring together mooring equipment and power-cable connections before a floating offshore wind turbine arrives. It can hold components such as mooring lines, cable connectors and anchor interfaces in a prepared configuration, allowing the turbine to be connected more quickly.
This approach is intended to reduce complex work at sea, shorten installation periods and limit the amount of time specialist vessels and crews must spend carrying out offshore connection operations.
That knowledge added another layer to the assignment. Colin Lawson Transport was not simply moving an oversized industrial object. The company was completing an important logistical stage in the testing and development of technology intended for the future floating wind industry.
From the Quayside to the Vessel
The SQUID was carefully moved across the quay and lowered towards its prepared position aboard the vessel.
At this stage, the road transport was complete. Colin Lawson Transport had delivered the structure safely from Huntly to Buckie Harbour, navigating the escorted route and confined streets before positioning the trailer for the harbour lift.
The photograph also shifts attention from machinery to people. The SQUID may dominate the frame, but the workers around it reveal the coordination, communication and specialist knowledge behind the operation.
Large industrial projects are never completed by equipment alone. Their success depends on experienced individuals working together, often in difficult conditions and within tightly controlled timeframes.
Seeing the Complete Operation from Above
As the transfer progressed, the drone provided a much wider understanding of the harbour environment.
From this height, the operation becomes almost diagrammatic. The vessel and SQUID sit alongside the quay, the crane occupies the working area, the Colin Lawson Transport low loader is visible nearby and the surrounding harbour establishes the location.
This kind of aerial photograph is particularly useful for engineering, transport and energy-sector clients because it combines visual impact with practical context.
It does more than show what an individual component looks like. It explains where the work happened, how the different elements related to one another and the scale of the operation as a whole.
The People Behind the Project
Before leaving the harbour, we also created photographs of members of the Colin Lawson Transport team beside the lorry and the successfully delivered load.
These portraits are an important part of the finished collection.
Industrial and transport photography can easily become dominated by machinery, but clients, partners and future employees also want to see the people whose expertise makes challenging projects possible.
The image provides a natural conclusion to Colin Lawson Transport’s role in the operation: the load had reached Buckie Harbour, the transfer had been completed and the team could take pride in a demanding job successfully delivered.
More Than a Photography Assignment
Looking back, it would be easy to describe the day as a photography assignment following an oversized load across Scotland. In reality, we were documenting an entire operation—from the precision of specialist transport and police escorts to the harbour lift and the innovative offshore technology at its destination. Our role was to bring all of these elements together into one cohesive visual story for Colin Lawson Transport.
By combining professional photography, drone imagery and cinematic video throughout the day, we created a complete marketing resource rather than simply a gallery of images. The finished content will continue supporting Colin Lawson Transport across its website, social media, presentations and future campaigns long after the convoy has reached its destination. That’s the lasting value of professional commercial photography: capturing not only what happened, but why it mattered.
The Final View from Above
With the SQUID aboard the vessel and the Colin Lawson Transport low loader standing empty on the quay, our on-location work was complete.
The final aerial photograph provides a clear visual ending to the story.
The road transporter is visible on the quay. The SQUID is now aboard the vessel. The harbour, surrounding water and working area show the complete scale of the transfer.
For Colin Lawson Transport, the assignment had reached its successful conclusion. The company had completed the specialist road movement and delivered the structure safely to the next stage of its journey.
For AberdeenPhoto.com, the work now moved from the road and harbour to the studio.
Watch the Complete Journey
The photographs tell the story one moment at a time, but the completed promotional film brings the entire operation to life. From the early preparations in Huntly and the police-escorted journey through Keith to the final lift at Buckie Harbour, every stage of the project was captured from both the ground and the air.
Alongside the full-length documentary produced for the client, we have chosen to feature a shorter, faster-paced edit below. Designed for today’s online audiences, it captures the highlights of the operation while preserving the scale, precision and professionalism of the project.
Together, the photography and film create far more than a record of the day—they provide Colin Lawson Transport with a lasting marketing resource that showcases the company’s expertise, professionalism and ability to deliver complex heavy haulage projects safely and successfully for years to come.
Every Commercial Project Has a Story
Some business stories are told in boardrooms and annual reports. Others unfold on wet Scottish roads, through narrow town-centre streets and busy harbours, where planning, teamwork and expertise come together to deliver something extraordinary.
This assignment was a perfect reminder of why we enjoy commercial and industrial photography. It isn’t simply about creating great images—it’s about understanding our client’s business, recognising moments that matter and turning them into visual content that continues working long after the project itself has finished.
We’re grateful to Colin Lawson Transport for once again trusting aberdeenphoto.com to document another important milestone. Long-term partnerships like this allow us to create photography, drone imagery and video that genuinely reflects our clients’ expertise and tells their story with authenticity.
Whether you’re documenting heavy haulage, engineering, offshore energy, manufacturing, construction or another specialist operation, aberdeenphoto.com combines decades of commercial photography experience with drone imagery, video production and visual storytelling to capture complex projects as they happen—creating marketing assets your business can use for years to come.
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