Ken has worked in the fish farming industry for over 30 years. He manages the salmon farm based at Loch Langavat, which is on the road between Leverburgh and Finsbay, Isle of Harris. He also oversees operations at Loch Huamavat – a couple of miles up the road from their Langavat base – which is where I took the photo above. I’ve driven past Ken and his workmates literally hundreds of times over the past 15 years. I’ve seen all […]
Angus Williams (left) has been running his drystone dyking business in Harris and Lewis for the last 12 years. The other members of Williams Stone Craft include his brother Owen (right) who runs Harris operations and Angus’s right hand man in Lewis, Murdo Sam MacLeod (centre). I took this photo at Saint Clement’s church in Rodel (Isle of Harris), where the boys are rebuilding and repairing sections of the boundary wall for Historic Scotland. Stone craftsmanship is in the blood […]
Above: Dr Naylor outside South Harris Medical Practice, Leverburgh. In the background, Roneval (the tallest peak in South Harris at 460 metres) and Charlie the horse checking out what’s going on. Dr Naylor moved to the Isle of Harris in 1989. His surgery in Leverburgh is one of the smallest practices in Scotland. He’s one of the UK’s few remaining single-handed general practitioners. In 2016, Dr Naylor was awarded an MBE in recognition of his ‘above and beyond’ commitment to […]
Another addition to ‘WORK: Outer Hebrides’ – a series of portraits featuring people who live and work in the Outer Hebrides. Donald has worked on the Sound of Harris car ferry since the service was first introduced in 1996. Until then, (almost) the only way to transport a car from Harris to North Uist (and vice-versa) was via the ferry from Tarbert, Harris to Uig on Skye, then take a second ferry from Uig to Lochmaddy in North Uist. On […]
Iain was born and brought up on the Isle of Lewis. He left the island when he was fifteen. Forty years later he returned home and took up employment as a ‘driver for the council’. One of his duties is driving the bin wagon, covering the whole of Lewis and Harris. Here’s how he described his job to me: “It’s magical! I’ve got the most scenic bin wagon route in the whole of the UK.” I intercepted Iain and his […]
Joan owns Silhouette Hair Salon in Leverburgh, Isle of Harris. Joan’s been shampooing, cutting, colouring and styling since Silhouette first opened for business in 1998. I’m a regular. Based on a quick ‘back of a fag packet’ calculation, I reckon I must be getting close to Haircut 100 Leverburgh was a hive of building activity in 1998. While Silhouette was being built, two other new businesses were also under construction: Am Bothan Bunkhouse and The Anchorage Restaurant. That’s a big […]
Presenting my latest photo project (this time it’s personal): a series of portraits featuring people who live and work in the Outer Hebrides. It’s taken me a while to get the ball rolling – I first decided to do this two and a half years ago! It’s not an original idea. Celebrated American photographer Paul Strand visited the Outer Hebrides in 1954, capturing images of a community whose traditional way of life was about to be disrupted by a Cold […]
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 […]
MEN AT WORK Driving through Finsbay this morning I spotted Norman Mackay at Finsbay fank. For the benefit of those who’ve never heard of one before, a fank is a form of sheep pen, where the animals are corralled, sheared, dosed, marked etc. Most of the shearing has taken place by now (August) but twenty or thirty missed out first time round. This was catch-up session for the stragglers. I’d driven half a mile past the fank before realising I […]
LEVERBURGH LIFEBOAT PORTRAITS Overpowering the sun – on a budget! A big event here yesterday (May 2nd, 2012). The village of Leverburgh, population 200, saw the official opening of its brand new lifeboat station – the first RNLI all-weather lifeboat facility in the UK for 22 years. I knew there’d be plenty of people snapping away so figured I’d try something a little different. I decided to concentrate on taking close-up portraits of the people in attendance. My plan was […]