October 2025

Stars on the Stairway

When I saw the production of Hamilton in London. It was under duress, I went thinking it was a rap musical and wouldn’t like it. How wrong I was. It was an amazing show with a fantastic music score and stage production. The lead character, Alexander Hamilton, must have some memory to learn all the words for the show. His libretto must be five volumes of War & Peace in size. I was asked to come along to the press night for the production run at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow. There was to be a cast picture on the grand staircase before the start of the show. What a nice bunch. They even thanked me after the pictures. Now that doesn’t happen very often

Jack Lowden Looking Good In A Kilt

It’s great going along to graduations. Seeing all the hope and enthusiasm of the students as they get to the end of their studies. One of my favourite assignments is at the Honorary doctorates Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where this year actor Jack Lowden received an honorary doctorate in Drama at its autumn graduation ceremony. He looked fantastic in his kilt. Some of the other graduates were delighted to be in his press photographs for the newspapers. My picture ended up on the front page in The Herald and a huge picture in The Scotsman too.

Tasty Treats at The Pavilion

I have never tried Wagamama. It always seemed to me it would be something I would not like. More sushi type thing. How wrong I was. I visited the St Enoch restaurant with the cast of the Pavilion Theatre’s Jock and the Beanstalk. What a laugh we had. I thought we would get a small dish to pose with for the pictures. They cooked nearly everything on the menu and the cast got to try everything. So did I. It was delicious. I can’t believe I have never been before. We all sampled everything. Things I would never have looked at I tried. Amazing. The pictures turned out well. Liam Dolan even got a chance to do some of the cooking.

Who You Gonna Call

I remember seeing Ghostbusters years ago. It was good and the sequel was good too. I always wanted to get a back pack on and go ghost hunting. I was delighted to be asked along with RSNO violinist Liam Lynch at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall with the members of Ghostbusters Alba with full ghost busting equipment. The RSNO were bringing the original 1984 blockbuster Ghostbusters back to life for Halloween, performing the soundtrack live to the film in Glasgow and Edinburgh. It was another fab picture which ended up on the front page.

Books and Coffee

I met authors Graeme Macrae Burnet and Chitra Ramaswamy at Argonaut Books at Leith Walk in  Edinburgh to launch Scottish Book Week 2025. They were given copies of Scottish Book Trust’s free book, Scotland’s Stories: Friendship across Scotland. It is a lovely read. The Trust also have given 70,000 copies of the book across Scotland. I loved the shop. It is a super independent bookshop with a lovely cafe. I loved the skeleton in the window reading as it was coming up to Halloween. Its always nice to find a new place. It is a part of Edinburgh I don’t know at all.

Hunterian Repatriation Project

I was asked to photograph a ceremony at the University of Glasgow. It was a repatriation ceremony at The University of Glasgow Memorial Chapel. I had no idea of the power and emotion the day was going to hold. The Hunterian Museum together  with the South African Minister of Sport, Arts & Culture,  Iziko Museums of South Africa and the South African Heritage Resources Agency and Northern Cape Reburial Task Team, jointly announced the repatriation of ancestral human remains from The Hunterian collection in Glasgow, Scotland, to South Africa. 

I had no idea of the emotion that I would be experiencing at first hand. Leaders of the Khoi and San communities from South Africa were paying respects to their ancestors during the repatriation ceremony. It was such a powerful service. One of the tribes people, Mr Petrus Vaalbooi who spoke in his native tongue which I did not understand but you know I knew exactly what he was saying. It made for some really strong images and the South African colours really stood out.

Father & Son Storytellers

I met  Montel Gordon, of the PhD Scholarship programme with his father, Paul on the balcony of the James McCune Smith building on campus at The University of Glasgow. The father and son students are hoping to build a legacy of black scholarship and storytelling. They are working in The James McCune Smith PhD Scholarship programme at the University as it continues to shape student’s futures and now families. Montel, is one of the programme’s inaugural 2022 scholars joined by his father, Paul, in a family journey of academic exploration. He had his dad were amazing to speak to, so interesting. They enjoyed the trip to the top of one of the universities newest buildings too.

Books In History

It’s been a very literary October. I met Professor Adrian Streete, the University of Glasgow’s Professor of Early Modern English Literature and Religion. He was  looking at books from the personal library of Zachary Boyd which are held in the University’s Archives & Special Collections. The personal library owned by a 17th century Scottish minister, academic and administrator has been brought together for the first time in more than 370 years. These books, many of which have notes in the margins and will allow scholars to better understand this tumultuous time in Scottish and European history. It is quite a feeling being so close to history.