Sound of Mull

My photography began out of a need for references for my work as an illustrator, but I increasingly found it a release from the physical confines of the studio and the artistic limits dictated by commissioned work.

The archives below contain work using a variety of cameras from medium format to 35mm, with only a couple of digital images so far. The films used were almost entirely monochrome. Although the images often have strong colour, the departure point is usually the colours obtained from the traditional sulphide, selenium, gold and iron toners which I used in my darkroom, in what seems a long time ago now.

Scotland is my home country, but I live in the lowlands near St Andrews and not in the Highlands, so most of these images may not seem typical of traditional Scottish landscape imagery.

The Nepal and Tibet images were made during two very brief trips through these countries when I was engaged to cover a sports event. Both countries are fascinating medieval lands with wonderful people, whose cultures are threatened from many sources - in Tibet especially.

The images in the Italy section were all made within a small area just below Monta Rosa - the second hightest of the European Alps. The locality is notable for the Walser architecture, which is Germanic rather than Italian.

Otherlands is a sample from my more personal and creative work with the medium.

The Firth of Tay is a small site I put up in response to print enquiries for pictures of my home area from local people. Some of the images, or variants with different interpretations, are seen elsewhere in the other galleries.

New Work contains a variety of photographs taken in Italy and Scotland. All were taken using digital cameras - while the ouright quality of medium format is sometimes missed, its slower handling would have missed many of these shots. Some are instances of "normal colour", but only where the image has demanded it; the preference remains for a largely monochrome approach that distracts less and unifies the composition more.

 
Scotland 1
Scotland 2
Nepal and Tibet
Italy
Otherlands
The Firth of Tay
Man asleep at Church