Happy Birthday Kelpies

Every time I drive past the Kelpies they take my breath away. I remember years ago photographing sculptor Andy Scott in his studio in Maryhill with Baron, one of the model horses for the Kelpies. As he was explaining to me the size and scale, I was thinking how is this possible? This year was the 10th anniversary of the Kelpies and Andy and his partner where coming over from Los Angeles, where they are now based, for the big event. He had got in touch and asked me to cover the day for them. I was so pleased.  I go back even further with him. When I was at college I worked in the Glasgow Art School bar when he was a student. I was delighted to be part of the day. The plan was to have a mass gathering of Clydesdale horses on site. What magnificent creatures. The owners were having as much fun as Andy. I loved the scale and seeing all the horses walking towards the iconic giant sculptures.

Introducing Professor O Hagen

I admire writers. It’s something I wish I could do. Whether they are newspaper reporters  authors or playwrights. They have a talent, the words make the characters come to life. One of my favourite assignments used to be Aye Write where I would photograph a different writer every night from William McIlvanny to Kathleen Turner.
You can imagine my delight when I was asked to photograph Andrew O’Hagan who had been appointed as an Honorary Professor at the University of Glasgow.
His title is Honorary Professor of the University of Glasgow’s College of Arts & Humanities.
How cool is that. The University announced that he had accepted the invitation for a five-year honorary professorship based in Scottish Literature. The university’s unit is the only academic unit in the world exclusively dedicated to the teaching and research of Scottish Literature. We had great fun in the famous cloisters. He was a delight to photograph. I was so pleased to see my picture make the front page of The Herald.

Head To Head

I had a visit to auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull this month .I used to be there quite a lot for The Herald. This visit was for the 150th anniversary of the birth of John Duncan Fergusson (1874-1961), the longest-lived and most international of the pioneering group of artists known as the Scottish Colourists.To mark the occasion, the fine art auctioneers curated a special touring exhibition of Fergusson’s paintings and sculptures,  A Scottish Colourist at 150: J.D. Fergusson, in partnership with the London-based Fleming Wyfold Art Foundation. It was a grand affair. I loved my picture of Gallery Manager Jessie Lloyd as she had a close look at  bronze Eástre. Definitely a Head To Head picture.

It was the University of Strathclyde celebrating this year as they won the Glasgow Taxis Cup. Strathclyde were crowned winners of Scotland’s largest student varsity sporting competition after edging out city rivals Glasgow and Glasgow Caledonian Universities. The competition, saw over 800 students participating across 15+ different sporting disciplines including badminton, hockey and netball in a day of intense competition before coming to a conclusion at Scotstoun Sports Campus. The Strathclyde audience could not hide their delight. They have not won for the last couple of years. They played a blinder this year.

Hats Off To Jojo

It was ‘hats off ‘to JoJo Gnome with the new ‘Eco Superhero Story Workshop’ at Blackfriars primary school in Glasgow’s Gorbals. The youngsters were delighted to try on the story hats made by writer and producer of JoJo Gnome’s Story Podcast, Jo Hall. This was the first date of the Scottish Eco Story Schools working with their primary 1 classes.  The tour has been made possible with funding from Creative Scotland. 
It was great to be at the first date in the tour which travels to travels to various schools including Cupar in Fife , Oban and Benderloch in Argyll & Bute, Gourock & Greenock in Inverclyde then finishing at The Royal Blind School in Edinburgh. I am lucky enough to be along on some of the dates doing the photographs. This shot looked fantastic in The Herald.

Royal Smiles

I had the good fortune to be asked along to photograph HRH Princess Anne at the evening reception for the TS Queen Mary at The Hilton Hotel in Glasgow. She was presented with a picture of the TS Queen Mary in her hay day. I have photographed her so many times over the years and I am sure she is enjoying these occasions more and more.