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. 

Suits You Sir

He’s Behind You

I always feel a bit sad when pantomime season is over for another year so you can imagine my delight when I was asked to photograph stage star and panto legend Johnny McKnight. Johnny was giving The Cameron Lecture at the University of Glasgow’s Bute Hall. The lecture, The Panto Dame (She’s Behind You), celebrated the magic of Scottish theatre. Johnny was certainly  ‘dame for a laugh’ dressed dressed in full panto dame costume and as one of his favourite characters, Dorothy Blawna-Gale. The audience were in stitches I had tears in my eyes trying to take the photos.

The Cameron Lecture is delivered through a partnership between the University of Glasgow and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. It was established in 2019 by John Tiffany, the multi-award-winning theatre director and University of Glasgow alumnus, to honour his life-changing tutor, Dr Alasdair Cameron. I photographed Johnny and John and the pair were in great form. It was a packed hall.

Running Up That Hill

I was at the top of North Portland Street in Glasgow, which is a huge hill on the  Strathclyde University campus for the annual Glasgow Taxis Cup photo call. Glasgow Taxis Cup is an event, which has more than 700 student athletes from Glasgow Caledonian, Strathclyde, and Glasgow universities competing across 15 sports in the biggest one-day student inter-varsity competition across Scotland. It’s huge competition. The students alway pick the venue for the picture from the Peoples Palace to The Riverside Museum. The year we had Rottenrow Park on the sight of the old Rottenrow maternity hospital. Its a great space but unfortunately we could not get the taxi into the park so we thought we would have picture of the students racing up the hill past the taxi stopped at the top with the team captains holding the trophy. We had to do it a couple of times and the students where getting a bit out of breath as it is a pretty steep hill. I was out of breath watching them.

Happy New Year

2023 had been another year with lots of different assignments and lots of fun with more than a few cups of coffee with some cakes added in to the mix. The link shows some of my favourite pictures of the year. There were more but I was running out of music.

Happy New Year on Loch Lomond

I do like an excuse to get up and out on New Years Day. Not that I am a late to bed and party all night kind of guy, but its the thought of sitting in all day when you could be on the back of a speed boat racing over the surface of Loch Lomond photographing the water skiing.  The first skier that was up was Ashleigh from Drymen who was  having her first Ski after giving birth to baby George 5 months earlier. How cool in that. The event was held in aid of The Loch Lomond Rescue Boat and raised over £1800.

Beer We Go

I have lost count at the number of times I have been sitting at the touchline at Hampden Park. It’s an amazing venue. I was there for all the games before following the team to Euro 96 and France 98 under Craig Brown with brilliant payers like Ally McCoist, John Collins, Tom Boyd, Andy Goram etc. I was delighted to be asked back along to photograph the press pictures for the latest campaign for the upcoming Euro Championships. The brewers Tennent’s are giving two lucky Scotland fans the the chance of a lifetime to join the Tartan Army at Euro 2024 in Germany. However they will have to cross the finish line in a televised 1,200 race to earn the trip only using public transport. The show will be narrated by Love Island tv star Iain Stirling. It sounds brilliant. I loved the Scottish Sun’s headline of ‘Beer Were Go’, brilliant.

Bags of Talent

I love meeting talented and creative people. It helps me do my job better. I find creativity does move around the room. I met 18 year old Michael Archibald who applied to collaborate with the John Lewis Partnership and creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi. He was selected by Who Cares? Scotland and was invited to put his mark on a new product. Michael worked with the in-house design team and creative partners at Saatchi & Saatchi to create his unique design. Michael’s bag is the first item in a range, which will be available in John Lewis and Waitrose shops.  It was so good to see him with the colourful tote bag in John Lewis Glasgow.

900 Years Young

The High School of Glasgow, is celebrating its 900th anniversary this year. Founded around 1124, the High School started out as a ‘Sang School’ or choir school for boys at Glasgow Cathedral. With me loving all things old and Glasgow History in particular I was so delighted to be involved with this years 900th Anniversary. I have photographed some super events this year. I met School Captains Thom and Anya in the cloisters of Glasgow Cathedral, where the students would have attended the choir school. What a thought, standing in the spot where their fellow pupils would have been taught all these years ago in the lower part of the cathedral.

I also covered a super event at Kelvingrove Art Gallery where the school celebrated with a dinner with loads of former pupils coming together. To mark its 900th anniversary, the school is running a year-long programme of events during 2024 and is this week launching a fundraising appeal, the 900 Campaign, to increase the school’s Bursary Fund and develop an educational initiative called START promoting new skills for youngsters.

A 50mm Standard Lens

Back in the day when you bought a 35mm film camera they all came with a standard 50mm lens. It’s the lens that shows the image in the closest perspective to the human eye. Everyone had one and they kind of fell out of favour. I used mine to look at negatives on a light box. However they, like vinyl records, have made a comeback. With the new moniker ‘nifty fifty ‘ they are being used more and more. Leica cameras have one that is £10000.

One of my photography colleagues recently bought one and wanted to start taking pictures that were not work related and just for fun and creativity. She is a very creative photographer I should add. Anyway she started the 50mm picture a day challenge on Facebook. I did it for January and really enjoyed it. I found it could take over a bit though, I was getting too keen. Here are some of my favourite pictures from the month. The group are keeping it going for as long as they can. I will drop a picture in now and again. The three I have shown here were some of my favourites.

I Am Missing the Panto Already

January always brings an end to the panto season. There are some great pantos in Glasgow. I was so pleased to be asked to do  the poster pictures for this years Pavilion production. There were loads of social media post too when Strictly came on TV or I am a Celebrity. There were loads of picture I saw all relating to the hot topics of the day. I still do feel a sense of pride when I see a poster up with my picture on it. Even more so when I see it on a bus.

Light Up The Night

On the winter solstice or shortest day I was photographing some local landmarks that were lit up in a bright green colour for the NSPCC.  The landmarks across Scotland shone green on the longest night of the year in support of the NSPCC and its Childline counselling service. It was a super assignment. It can be difficult because if the light is too bright the green doesn’t show and if its too dark there is no detail in the sky, but if you time it right  its can work well. My shot at the Kibble Palace in The Botanic Gardens in Glasgow had a good sky. It was light enough to see the shape of the roof. It was quite dark when I got to the Falkirk Wheel but I was lucky as the building was so well lit I could see all the shapes of the structure.

What a Night For a Hoolie

I spent a morning with musician and broadcaster Gary Innes, I often listen to his Take The Floor programme on BBC Radio Scotland and have seen him perform with the Celtic rock band Manran. He was with musicians Julie Fowlis, Iain Bayne and  Brian Hurren from Runrig. We were doing the photo call for the The Hoolie in the Hydro a concert, which was Scotland’s single biggest night of traditional music to have ever taken place. The night had 10,000 tickets sold. The entire performance was recorded and broadcast the day after the gig on BBC ALBA. I watched it myself snd it was fantastic.

It’s Panto Time

I was fortunate enough to be asked once again to come along and photograph the dress rehearsal of the Pavilion Theatre pantomime Treasure Island. Those keen eyed blog readers will remember I was with the cast last month as we did the photocall in a pirate ship inside the Blue Lagoon fish & chip restaurant. It was a super show with amazing new lights. I have never seen a stage so bright. I saw the same show two nights later for the press night and I thought perhaps I would not enjoy it as much having seen it before, but so much was new to me. I think that was because I was concentrating on taking pictures rather than listening to the dialogue.

It’s In The Stones

I joined the Lord Provost of Glasgow as she unveiled the University of Glasgow’s memorial to Adam Smith, located at the original site of the University of Glasgow on High Street. The University of Glasgow had commissioned the engraving of five paving stones on the High Street site, where it was based from 1451 to 1870, as part of its efforts to commemorate the 300th anniversary of its famous former student. The University of Glasgow students admiring the paving stones are Ashley Chai, Alessandro Peacock and Prajjwal Prajjwal

Juniors Up There With the Seniors

December has been such a musical  as well as festive month. Firstly, I was photographing the Junior Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra Christmas concert , ‘A Saturday Night at the Movies –  A Celebration of the music of Patrick Doyle’. Patrick has reached a musical milestone by becoming a Patron of the Junior Conservatoire. They were magnificent. Really up there with the best. Have a read at the fun story on the Conservatoire’s website 
https://www.rcs.ac.uk/patrick-doyle-junior-conservatoire-music/

Music From the Movies on Christmas Day

I was in the City Halls in Glasgow for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s annual festive performance of ‘Christmas at the Movies’. Singer Jamie MacDougal presented and Roderick Dunk conducted the programme of sumptuous sounds from Hollywood’s Golden Age. It was fantastic. There were audience members up dancing by the end. 
The show was recorded for broadcasting on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Sounds on Christmas Day. I tuned in to listen on my way to collect our Christmas Day curry. Like a curry it was even nicer second time round too.

The Snowman with Hugh Dennis

The Snowman is such a lovely and a bit of a bittersweet story. I was photographing one of my favourite actor & comedian Hugh Dennis, who was reading the story from the film accompanied by the sublime Royal Scottish National Orchestra at The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall for the Christmas Concert featuring the film The Snowman. As with the BBC SSO musicians they all got their Christmas hats on for the performance to put everyone in a really festive mood. 

Hi Jinks on The High Seas

I am a fan of a fish supper, so you can I imagine how pleased I was to get a call to cover the The Pavilion Theatre Glasgow 2023 panto production of Treasure Island photo call at Blue Lagoon Fish & Chips cafe in Glasgow.  What a great location, they have a pirate ship in the cafe. The whole Treasure Island crew were there. In my picture was Stephen Purdon as Pirate Pichard , Grado as Pirate Pucklebum , Valissa Scott as Dame Henrietta Hawkins and Jack Jester as Long John Silver  

What a Day for a Musical Birthday Party

An Exhibition of Stage & Screen

Colour in the Concrete

Jazz on a Winters Day

PM in the AM

Pumpkin Time Again

Cool colours in the Sick Kids Hospital

I met Dr. Alyson Walker, Paediatric Cardiac Anaesthetist, at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow. I photographed her in the first phase of the Theatre Improvement Initiative. Her vision is to make the theatre and reception areas much more attractive to the youngsters that come into the hospital. The centrepiece of the flagship project is an ambitious art installation by illustrators Laura Darling and Mark Faulkner. Stories from patients, families, communities, and staff were collected and brought to life in artwork that flows throughout the whole Department. The reception space, where I photographed Alyson, features an urban scene that transitions into a countryside setting along the corridors, mirroring the journey from urban business to rural calmness. You can read the whole article here. 

50 Years of Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society

Cool Vans

Under The Microscope

I love Silent Witness. I also loved Quincy, so when I got the chance to work with the Scottish Police Authority Forensic Services I jumped at it. I am not involved with individual cases but more in the process of what they do and how they do it. Such as illustrating the end of year reports, brochures and information website. Getting in to the labs is amazing, seeing where things happen. I even get to wear my own white coat. The pages I have shown here were used in their magazine. It is fascinating the detail they can go into. It would keep me on the straight and narrow and what a nice bunch too.

Roaring Success

I am a keen, if erratic, golfer and am no stranger to the golf range. When I was asked by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for suggestions where to shoot the press picture for the upcoming Jurassic Park In Concert to celebrate the iconic film’s 30th anniversary, I knew exactly where to go. Jurassic Parr crazy golf was the place. I have passed it so many times my way the golf range and always wanted to have an excuse to go there for a picture. RSNO musicians Chris Hart and Susannah Lowdon were great sports really going for it with a giant  T- Rex. It really made the picture, which got publications in The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Scotsman  and The National.  The concerts that were taking place at the end of September in Edinburgh and Glasgow, saw the film projected on a big screen in HD with the RSNO performing John Williams’ score live. I went along to the sold out show. It was absolutely magnificent. What a treat having an orchestra playing the soundtrack.

A New Look for the West End

Byres Road has been a favourite destination of mine for many years. I can’t think how many times I have walked up and down that road. Always keeping an eye on new shops and bars, bemoaning the disappearance of all the record shops apart from Oxfam music. There has been a lot of change with amazing new buildings from the University of Glasgow being built. I was at the opening of the latest new structure, the Clarice Pears School of Health & Wellbeing . It’s a really cool design and I had been watching its progress. The building is as distinctive inside as out. I really like the shape and colour of the outside. It did remind me of tenements. Opening the new building was Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of Glasgow; Mark Pears, Trustee, Pears Foundation; Professor Jill Pell, Head of School of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow. 

Oh Yes It Is !

It’s that time of year when festive thoughts of panto are never far away. I was at Greenbank Garden in Clarkson for the launch of the Kings Theatre pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Johnny Mac, Blythe Jandoo, Elaine C Smith and  Liz Ewing were in great form doing high kicks in the magnificent gardens. The cast also signed autographs for the visitors, who were delighted at the festive surprise on their day out.

JoJo Gnome Shapes Up

I had a lovely trip up to Oban with my better half Jo Hall, writer and producer of JoJo Gnome’s Story Podcast. We visited Lochnell Primary, Benderloch  to do story workshops based around shapes with the younger primary children as part of the run up to Maths Week Scotland. The pupils had great fun with JoJo Gnome and were  joined Robyn the Robot for some dancing fun with numbers. I didn’t do any dancing, my excuse was I was taking the pictures. The kids were pictured with Jo and their Maths Week shapes. They looked fab in the Oban Times. Their film can be viewed here.

More Monsters & Myths

I had a super visit to the Glasgow Cathedral for the press photo call for the latest Children’s Classic Concerts production of ‘Myths & Monsters’. Children’s Classic Concert’s artistic director, presenter and percussionist, Owen Gunnell was looking good in his jesters suit doing battle Ryan Ferrie as The Wicked Knight. Also helping us was RSNO musicians Sophie Lang and Peter Dykes with RSNO youth chorus members Ameilia and Emilia. What a great location. I love the atmosphere down in the crypt of the cathedral. Mind you I would be scared going in at night.

Remembering Srebrenica Scotland

I was at the launch the play ‘Inseparable: Lessons from a nation divided’ by writer James Taylor  at the Reconnect Regal Theatre in Bathgate. It is a powerful piece set in the modern day, which explores adult themes of war crimes and violence through the eyes of three teenagers. I found it a really moving, emotional and I’ll say it again ‘powerful’ production. I shot the whole play using my Canon silent shutter. It had to be done this way as a shutter clicking away in the background would have distracted the audience, as you could have literally heard a pin drop. The production was commissioned by Remembering Srebrenica Scotland, a charity dedicated to education about the Bosnian genocide and the events that led to the killing of more than 8,000 men and boys in the town of Srebrenica in July 1995.  It does this by telling survivor stories, and aims to promote community cohesion and tolerance in Scotland, and beyond. 

Wedding Belles

I loved having a few of the shots in black and white too. This shot was the one I remember form all these years back in 1986. I photographed Eilidh’s mum in this very spot waiting to go into the church and I had it in my mind when she said she was getting married there. 

Brookside Fan Club

Shapes & Colours

Country & Western

Top Marks at Glasgow Kelvin College

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.

Heathers in the Rain

June started with a buzz at The Kings Theatre when the show The Heathers came to town. The cast of ‘Heathers The Musical’ were at the front of The King’s Theatre wearing their iconic, bright coloured uniforms,  to celebrate the start of the musical’s first-ever run in Glasgow. Following two smash hit West End seasons, a record-breaking run at The Other Palace and winning the WhatsOnStage award for Best New Musical, this show is a black comedy rock musical based on the eponymous 1989 film, Westerberg High’s Veronica. The girls were such a laugh, although it was a typical rainy day so the cast had to use the shelter of the door and not come outside. Unfortunately the photographers all got soaked!

Adam Smith Tercentenary Week

I have photographed broadcaster Kirsty Wark many times over the years. She is lovely and one of my favourite photo shoots that involved her, was all about baking. On this occasion she was with Gita Gopinath, First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund who was delivering Hunter Foundation Lecture at the magnificent Bute Hall in the University of Glasgow. Kirsty was introducing Gita’s fascinating talk for the start of the Adam Smith Tercentenary Week.  Gita was also awarded an Honorary degree, a Doctor of Letters. It was quite a start to week of events to celebrate the Scottish economist and philosopher.

Buzzin’ Around

I had a lovely letter from someone wanting to buy one of my Instagram pictures. It was of a bee buzzing around one of our alliums in the garden. It’s nice to think of one of my pictures hanging on someones wall. 

THE MöBIUS TRIP at The Edinburgh International Film Festival

Back in 2021 I was working, with my son Mark, doing stills on a short film by the talented writer director Simone Smith called THE MöBIUS TRIP. The film about a road trip which pushes a dysfunctional family to the brink after their journey descends into a claustrophobic hallucinatory nightmare. The film is going to this years Edinburgh festival and it was  so nice to see my picture being used in the promotion material. The film was also in this year’s Glasgow Short Film Festival. Have a look at the trailer on You Tube.

Oban Trip for Calmness & Relaxation

I love Oban, and its always nice to have an excuse for a trip up there. This time I was with my better half, Jo writer and producer of JoJo Gnome’s Story Podcast. We visited Easdale Primary to do story workshops based around emotions with their younger primary children, funded by Creative Scotland.  The pupils enjoyed JoJo Gnome stories and talked about their emotions. They even did some relaxing breathing exercises with leaves to help with calmness and relaxation.  The children also worked with Jo on their own happiness story. The picture of one of the pupils doing breathing exercises made the pages of The National and The Herald the next day. You can see their film here.