A visit to Scoland

July 30, 2018

Inchcolm (the island behind the tree) taken from Silver Sands, Fife, on my Canon T70 with Kodak Portra 400.

Since moving from Sydney to London last year, Becky and I have been able to visit Scotland much more frequently, especially because we had our wedding to organise and wanted to see more of our nephews and nieces. Missing out on seeing these family babies growing up has to be the worst thing about living on the other side of the planet.

This time we were up North for a couple of birthdays – including my Grandma’s which involved the whole family coming together.

Guardian of the Bridges by Debbie Ryan, a sculpture in South Queensferry, near my sister Melissa’s house where I had my birthday lunch earlier this year. Canon T70 / Kodak Portra 400. 

I love this sculpture, it’s so colourful, magical and its face reminds me of playing Pokemon in the 90s with my sister who now lives nearby.

Inchcolm again, on my Canon T70 with Kodak Portra 400. My school “house” was ‘Inchcolm’ (instead of Gryffindor – though our colours were red, which I take great joy in) so I feel like I have a connection to this little island on the Forth, which I have also been fortunate to visit thanks to my dad and his fishing boat.

I’m delighted with the colours and contrast in these images. When I returned to shooting on film, the landscapes that initially inspired me were by Cody Cobb. I found his work (especially this featured one from The Island) to be warm and nostalgic, like he had found the key to capturing the rose-tinted idyllic memory of a place, rather than the cold and clinical version perhaps with a blown-out sky that you often get with digital, and especially phone, photography.

While I’m talking about landscapes, a series that I have loved for years is Nadav Kander’s Yangtze, The Long River. The tones and layers created by the thick air between distances is incredible.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *