leverburgh Archives - John Maher

15 Nov 2020

Post Offices of Lewis and Harris, past and present

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 […]

23 Jul 2018

The Butty Bus

Introducing Chris – proprietor of the Butty Bus – a fast food establishment parked at Leverburgh Pier. Chris modestly describes it as ‘a greasy spoon on wheels’ and ‘the only cafe on the island with four Michelin tyres’. Chris comes from a long line of Harris folk. His family connections with the place go back generations. Born in Inverness, he moved to Harris for a brief period when he was 16, leaving shortly after to spend a decade working at […]

ALL / Portraits / WORK: Outer Hebrides 0

01 Jul 2018

School’s out for summer [WORK: Outer Hebrides]

Shona is a primary school teacher. She teaches a range of subjects to children between the ages of 4 and 12 at Leverhulme Memorial School in Leverburgh, Isle of Harris. I dropped in on the last day of term while members of staff and the janitor were making final preparations for the long summer holiday ahead. Being one of the hottest days of the year, we opted to do the photo shoot outdoors in the sunshine, setting up on the […]

Portraits / WORK: Outer Hebrides 0

21 Nov 2017

Dr Naylor MBE [WORK: Outer Hebrides]

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 […]

ALL / Portraits / WORK: Outer Hebrides 0

12 Nov 2017

Crossing the Sound of Harris [WORK: Outer Hebrides]

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 […]

ALL / Portraits / WORK: Outer Hebrides 1

03 Nov 2017

WORK: Outer Hebrides (part 2)

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 […]

Portraits / WORK: Outer Hebrides 3

04 Sep 2017

The Positive Negative Man

A short photo tour of Leverburgh – with a vintage camera and one roll of film. I recently purchased a 1980’s Bronica medium format film camera. Back in the day Bronica was the affordable alternative to Hasselblad for thousands of wedding and studio photographers . The ETRS is a fully manual camera. No ‘Auto’ setting. No LCD preview. Shutter speed and aperture settings are determined by the user, not the camera. I loaded a roll of Ektar 100 (good for […]

Film 0

31 Oct 2014

MV Loch Portain, berneray, leverburgh, ferry

War Memorials, Part 2: Uists & Barra

WAR MEMORIALS, PART 2: UISTS & BARRA The second part of the War Memorials project saw me depart from Leverburgh aboard the MV Loch Portain, across the Sound of Harris to Berneray. Continuing south through North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist and Eriskay, followed by another ferry crossing to Barra. Landing on Berneray, the first war memorial of the day was about a mile from the ferry terminal. I had to ask someone where it was. Although I’ve visited Berneray several […]

ALL / News 3

04 Jul 2013

’52 Bus

’52 BUS I spotted this vintage bus parked up on Leverburgh Pier recently. It was en-route from its home in Howmore, South Uist, to attend a wedding at Scarista Golf Club on the Isle of Harris. Owner of the bus, Donnie Macdonald, told me it was a 1952 Bedford OLAZ, with bodywork by Duple. It’s powered by a 28hp engine! Donnie’s well used to people taking photos of his pride and joy. Fortunately he didn’t seem to mind when I […]

ALL 5

03 May 2012

Leverburgh Lifeboat Portraits

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 […]

ALL / Portraits 4

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