James Kirk's photograph of Coire nan Lochan

A photographer has produced an image of a ghostly trail in one of Scotland’s most haunting glens.

The night-time exposure captures a torchlit trail up the footpath leading into Coire nan Lochan in Glencoe.

The glen, scene of the notorious massacre 320 years ago by the Campbell clan on the MacDonalds, is one of the most popular for walkers heading for the hills.

James Kirk, a graduate of Edinburgh College of Art, eschewed digital imagery and used film to capture the photograph on a long exposure using a walker carrying a torch up the path which leads to Bidean nam Bian, pounded by 20,000 walkers every year.

The work was commissioned as part of the National Trust for Scotland’s One Wee Step campaign which aims to raise awareness of the work and funds needed to look after Scotland’s countryside.

The trust owns the area in Glencoe. Property manager Scott McCombie said: “This is a stunning new image and a rare night-view of Glencoe.

“James’s photo shows the main path to Bidean nam Bian. This is really popular with walkers, and so there is a risk of erosion and possible damage to this stunning landscape if we don’t take care of the footpaths.

“The trust takes care of more than 400 miles of high level footpaths at mountain ranges in Glencoe and across the country and we absolutely rely on the public’s support for this vital work.”

Mr Kirk recently graduated in photography from Edinburgh College of Art and his landscape-inspired work was spotted by the conservation charity at the annual degree show.

Photographer James Kirk. Photo: Thomas M A Morgan

He was then commissioned to create the unique image to help spread the word about the trust’s countryside conservation work through the ‘One Wee Step’ campaign.

Mr Kirk, 22, is originally from Uttoxeter in Staffordshire but studied at Edinburgh College of Art and still lives in the city. He began experimenting with photography during his A-level art course and went on to study at the ECA.

A keen hillwalker, he climbed his first hill at just a few days old, when his dad carried him in a backpack. The bug has stayed with him and he has climbed mountains in the UK and abroad and has recently returned from Nepal.

He uses film rather than digital technology to produce his landscape images.

To capture the image, the photographer spent a night camping alone in Glencoe. He said: “It was a bit daunting camping alone in this isolated place, especially as the stags could be heard bellowing for hours into the night.

“After that though, it was wonderfully still before a frost came down.”

The National Trust for Scotland cares for 76,000 ha (187,800 acres) of some of the wildest countryside in Scotland, encompassing 46 munros, 424km (263 miles) of mountain footpaths, seven national nature reserves, 45 sites of special scientific interest, the UK’s only natural and cultural world heritage site, St Kilda, more than 400 islands and islets, Scotland’s first voluntary marine reserve and the nest sites of over one million breeding seabirds.