July 2023

Outlander Comes to Glasgow

I got to meet Outlander author, Diana Gabaldon at the University of Glasgow as she opened the 1st International Outlander conference at the University of Glasgow. Expert scholars and Outlander fans joined Dr Gabaldon to tackle themes such as Jacobite history, screen production, Scottish tourism, Gaelic and Scots language, costume design, fandom, Claire Fraser’s medicine, and witchcraft. Her talk entitled, ‘”Why Scotland? Why Not Mexico?” explained why she wrote a book set in Scotland. She was a delight to photograph in the University’s cloisters proudly wearing the University tartan scarf.

The Outlander literary series is made up of nine thrilling instalments, and tells the tale of a post-Second World War nurse who accidentally time travels to Jacobite Scotland. Outlander became one of the bestselling book series of all time and spawned the hugely popular TV series, currently in its seventh season.

The International Outlander Conference took place from 18-22 July at the University of Glasgow and was a landmark event. 

Graduations at The Royal Conservatoire

I love doing the honours graduations at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. I photographed Christopher Hampson CEO/Artistic Director, Scottish Ballet as he was  joined by ballet students with their degrees on the steps of the Conservatoire.

Next was Garth Knox who is one of the most prominent violists of his generation and at the forefront of contemporary music. The guys joined around 300 students who graduated across music, drama, dance, production, film and education at the conservatoire. The Conservatoire was named one of the world’s top ten destinations to study the performing and production arts in the QS World University Rankings earlier this year.

Berlin Bikes

With August bringing the UCI World Cycling Championships coming to Glasgow, I was on a cycling assignment. HAUS Collective founding directors Murray Henderson and Jim Webster  were  taking on a 532-mile cycle challenge from Glasgow to Berlin to raise £10,000 for the homelessness charity, The Marie Trust. They headed off from their base in the merchant city in Glasgow. I could not believe how light the bikes were. My old bike weighted a ton.