About US

Start Point Media is a digital content creation company launched by Andrew Learmonth and Fionn McArthur in Orkney in 2017.

With backgrounds in journalism, press and public relations, video production, photography, and digital communications, we have more than three decades of experience of working with, and helping to promote, Orkney, its people and its products.

Our business name is inspired by the distinctive Start Point lighthouse on the Orkney island of Sanday, where Fionn grew up. Lighthouses are beacons and help guide the way, and that’s exactly what we aim to do for businesses both in Orkney and further afield.

We want to help you get your message across in a creative and engaging way. Orkney has such a wealth of unique, hard-working, and talented businesses - we’re passionate about telling your story and, at the same time, promoting these islands to the world.

Andrew Learmonth

Andrew looks after the social media and content creation side of the Start Point Media world.

After returning home from University in Aberdeen in 2003 he has worked as a Press Officer with Orkney Islands Council, a Broadcast Journalist with BBC Orkney, and a Digital Communications Officer with Orkney.com, with a year of travelling in North America thrown in for good measure.

With a passion for storytelling and for promoting Orkney, he jointly launched Start Point Media in 2017 and manages written and social media content for a range of clients, including the Orkney.com website and associated social media platforms.

When not creating content you’re most likely to find Andrew in the swimming pool or trying to learn how to look after his garden.

Contact Andrew at andrew@startpointmedia.co.uk

Fionn McArthur

Brought up in the island of Sanday in Orkney, Fionn is Start Point Media’s resident cameraman and photographer.

A fan of island life but not of regular ferry or plane travel, he moved to the Orkney mainland and worked in roles as varied as stonemasonry, peat-cutting, and creel-making before gaining a degree in Scottish Music as a mature student at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

He returned to Orkney in 2000 to work at BBC Orkney as a radio reporter, becoming Content Producer and Cameraman. His skills have seen him and his work appear on the likes of Reporting Scotland, the News Channel and various Radio 4 productions. It was his passion for visual storytelling that led to the formation of Start Point Media and his decision to jump full-time into the photography world.

A lover of the outdoors, he is now in his element, finding any excuse to include hills and coastline in his videos and photography. He also keeps up his fiddle playing and can be seen on stage at concerts across the islands. He lives in Kirkwall with his wife Julia and their two girls, along with Barney, the biggest little dog in Orkney.

Contact Fionn at fionn@startpointmedia.co.uk