LAST POST The recent demolition of the old Post Office in Ardhasaig has prompted me to look back at some of the other Post Offices I’ve photographed in Harris and Lewis. Anyone heading up or down the main A859 road just north of Tarbert will be familiar with this classic corrugated tin building. It’s been rusting for decades, taking on the colours of the landscape as it slowly deteriorated. There are still plenty of people on the island who remember […]
An abandoned house is set to become a home again. First, some background info about Matilda’s new house… In 2013 I exhibited a collection of prints with fellow photographer Ian Paterson. The exhibition was entitled ‘Leaving Home‘. All of our photographs shared a common theme – abandoned Hebridean houses. One of my personal favourites was taken in 2013, in the house that’s the subject of this post. While setting up my camera, I noticed the skeleton of a small bird […]
Transocean Winner In August 2016 a decommissioned oil rig was being towed from Stavanger, Norway to ‘Blowtorch Beach’ in Turkey. Things didn’t go to plan… Timeline 6.15pm Sunday Aug 7th. First call to coastguard. Alert from the tug MV Alp Forward which is having trouble maintaining headway in the wind and experiencing heavy weather west of Lewis while towing Transocean Winner rig. Coastguards go into response mode, monitor progress of tug and tow. 10.30pm Sunday. Situation deteriorates. Incident upgraded to […]
AS SEEN ON TV… The knock-on effect of the Leaving Home exhibition continues… in recent months I’ve appeared on three BBC TV programmes, revisiting some of the houses I’ve been photographing over the past five years. 1. Grand Tours of the Scottish Islands The first to be broadcast was Grand Tours of the Scottish Islands. I collect hitch-hiking presenter Paul Murton in a 1967 Volkswagen; rented for the day from Harris Classic Campers. Following a brief tour of the island, […]
“A BEAUTIFULLY AWFUL PARADISE” Salton Sea: a 21st century Twilight Zone – the place where the American Dream died, along with millions of Tilapia. Salton Sea was a thriving waterside resort in the 1950s and 1960s – a playground for aspirational post war fun seekers. But in 1976 the dream transformed into a desert wasteland, when Tropical Storm Kathleen swept through Imperial Valley, followed by Tropical Storm Doreen in 1977. Above average rainfall for the next seven years, along with […]
TORN TROUSERS AND MOANING ABOUT THEE WEATHER Slim pickings from last month’s full moon period. All told, 2012 hasn’t been a great year in terms of favourable weather conditions for full moon night photography in the Outer Hebrides. I got a few shots in February but January, March and April were complete write-offs due to heavy cloud and rain. May, June and July are always a no-show due to the long summer days we see at our northerly latitude i.e. […]
THE WRITING ON THE WALLS I visited this house almost three years ago – right around the time I first started experimenting with night photography. It was a freezing cold January night. I took a look inside. Apart from a pile of broken crockery and several cassette tapes scattered across the floor there was little else of interest. Or so I thought….. I paid the place another visit last weekend. This time it was during the hours of daylight – […]
SWEET DREAMS The image above (Sweet Dreams), is part of Nobody’s Home collection. Attending the opening of Steve Dilworth’s exhibition, Mortal Remains at An Lanntair on Saturday night I got into a conversation with one of the attendees. We discussed the subject of abandoned Hebridean homes and a shared interest in what these places tell us about islanders’ lives, past and present. The following day I visited the subject of this post – a family home on Lewis, last occupied […]
A collection of photos from my trip to an unoccupied island in the Sound of Harris. The interior shots of Ensay House have sparked a wave of nostalgia amongst a group of people who used to travel to the island with their parents and grand parents during the lambing season. Thanks to those who’ve been sharing their memories and stories from the happy times they spent on Ensay.
A man got out of the car, clambered over the fence and walked slowly towards me, shining a torch in my face. I could have retaliated with my Lenser T7 but chose not to because he’d have been blinded for a week. Bear in mind this is after 8pm on a November night and despite the full moon, it’s too dark for either of us to make out what the other is doing, or about to do.