These images were taken on a recent field trip with master photographer Duncan McEwan to Harris and Lewis, two islands in the Outer Hebrides group which lie off the north western coastline of Scotland. The sequence begins with the famous Standing Stones, a 13 metre circle of 13 stones ranging in height from 1m to…
I’ve always been an acutely visual person, with an instinctive appreciation of the visual arts. As a child, I was given an old box brownie to play with and later a small Kodak roll film camera, to record our family antics, so I suppose the seed was sown early.
Much later, through reading photographic magazines in my teens, I had become fascinated by photography, particularly photojournalism, and had invested in a Canon FTbN 35mm film camera as a first step into the world of film and darkrooms. I was very taken with the images of the great photographers, who worked exclusively in monochrome, although I knew little about it at the time as would have been very obvious from my early efforts.
To me, there was something deeply appealing about conceiving an image, in the mind’s eye, finding the unique location or choosing the ‘decisive moment’, composing and exposing the frame and then working diligently from the latent film image all the way through to a beautifully printed, mounted exhibition print. I just didn’t have the first idea how to go about achieving it. That was when I had the most amazing stroke of good fortune. I met Peter Gant, a true master, who volunteered to show me how it was done ……..
via rss feed
