In April 2026 we produced a two-day fashion editorial in Scotland for NSS Magazine, the Milan-based title and production studio, shooting the Elena Mirò FW26 collection. The brief asked for two very different worlds back to back: raw Scottish coastline on day one, and the texture of historic Edinburgh on day two. This is a good example of why a Scotland-based fixer earns their place on an international shoot, so here is roughly how it was run.
The Brief
An 18-person production, built from a local Scottish crew (photographer, digital tech, videographer and lighting) combined with the client and creative team travelling in from Milan, plus talent. Two shoot days, two locations with almost nothing in common: the Berwickshire coast at St Abbs, then central Edinburgh. One base hotel in Edinburgh for the whole unit, and a schedule that had to absorb Scottish weather without losing the day.
Day One: St Abbs
St Abbs is a working fishing village and harbour on the Berwickshire coast, with the dramatic headland of St Abbs Head immediately north of it. The harbour gives you pastel cottages, stone harbour walls and boats; the headland gives you cliffs, sea and open rugged terrain. For a fashion editorial it is an unusually efficient location, two distinct looks within a few hundred metres.
St Abbs Head is a National Nature Reserve cared for by the National Trust for Scotland, so this was not a turn-up-and-shoot location. Filming was arranged through the NTS filming team with an approved risk assessment and call sheet, and the clifftop is a seabird breeding site, which shapes where and when you can work in spring. The plan kept the unit at ground level around the harbour and the lower headland, with the models posing on the harbour wall and walking the wall towards camera, and no heights work.
The logistics were the real test. To get the coast in the right light the team ran a pre-dawn start: hair and make-up pre-call at 04:30 at the Edinburgh base, crew away by 05:00, and on the St Abbs reserve car park for 06:00, roughly an hour east of the city. Add genuine Scottish coastal weather and you understand why the call sheet specifically told everyone to bring proper footwear and why the camera department carried rain covers. The morning was tight, but the unit got out on time and the day held.
Day Two: Edinburgh
Day two was the opposite discipline: not one location with hard access rules, but a long list of Edinburgh locations to move through in a single day, on foot, through a busy city. The route covered Circus Lane in Stockbridge, the Vennel with its Castle view, Calton Hill, Dean Village and the Water of Leith, a run of Old Town closes including Lady Stairs Close, White Horse Close and Bakers Close, Victoria Street, the Scott Monument, Princes Street Gardens, the Royal Mile and out to the Braid Hills for a greener, open frame.
Edinburgh rewards local knowledge here. The distances are short, the city is walkable, and the limiting factor is footfall and light, not travel. Knowing which closes are quiet early, which views work before the crowds arrive, and how the council permit and parking picture works is the difference between ten locations in a day and four. The second day ran more smoothly than the first, and the client was happy with the results.
Why It Worked
Two things made this shoot land. First, pairing a travelling international team with a local crew and a local fixer who already knew the access, the permits and the light, so the client could focus on the creative rather than the Scottish logistics. Second, treating St Abbs and Edinburgh as the complementary pair they are: an hour apart, one base hotel, dramatic coast and historic city in 48 hours without Highland travel or accommodation battles.
If you are planning a fashion or editorial shoot and want raw Scottish coastline and an iconic European city on the same trip, this is a route that works. Send me the brief and I will tell you honestly what is achievable in the time you have.