Yearly Archive: 2014

Still there are swallows

15 September 2014   The season of mellow fruitfulness has its foot in the door, yet still there are swallows. I am not sure if mid-September is late for these makers of summer still to be flying in Scotland. It certainly… Read more >

Glasgow skies

Folk don’t complain about the weather in Glasgow, they just keep their heads down and get on with it. The sky is often grey for days on end and yes, it does rain a lot. According to the Met Office,… Read more >

What hill?

12 September 2014 Beside the M74, as it passes through Cambuslang to the south-west of Glasgow, there is a little hill overgrown with grass and scrub. The area was once part of Clydebridge Steel Works and is opposite the present-day… Read more >

Getting the colours right

6 September 2014 Getting to grips with all the software variables in order to make a good digital print is hard work. There are the camera settings, the monitor settings, the Photoshop (or GIMP) settings, the printer driver settings… There… Read more >

Folio Review

5 September 2014 Document Scotland and the Welsh collective A Fine Beginning are currently exhibiting at Street Level Photoworks here in Glasgow. Last friday the two groups jointly ran a Portfolio Review session and I was fortunate have my Glasgow’s Edgelands photographs… Read more >

Printing on plain paper

Sometimes I like to print on cartridge or watercolour paper. The effect has the softness and texture of a calotype or gum print. Compared to a print on photo paper, fine detail is attenuated, colours are muted and blacks are… Read more >

The singular image

2 September 2014 At the beginning of the year I always get impatient for spring. February and March are the longest months. Earlier this year I was looking to make black and white images of waste ground. I was thinking… Read more >

Wasteland

1 September 2014 There is a photographic genre of Urban Landscape that highlights dereliction and decay. This is not my genre. I see “waste” ground as regenerating rather than decaying, unvisited rather than neglected. These places are getting on just… Read more >

Beginning a project

31 August 2014 How does an idea emerge? It may be as simple as taking a walk through a vacant bit of land on a fine late-winter morning because you are early for work. From my diary: 4th March 2014 … Read more >

The art of printing must be re-learned

30 August 2014 Back in the day I used to make some pretty good black and white prints. I was at home in a darkroom. Now I am having to learn a whole lot of new skills. While reasonably good… Read more >