We’ve been here before! Seeing all the images this week in the media from the Govan shipyard in Glasgow, reminded me of the last time the yard was in crisis and under threat of closure and redundancies. On 14th April 1999, I was dispatched along with reporter Jack O’Sullivan by the Independent to get over […]
Document Scotland were handed a newspaper a while ago of a project by photographer Peter Didbin, called The Southsiders. It’s always really interesting to come across a project which is shot in a place very familiar to you. Document Scotland’s Sophie was born and raised in the Southside of Edinburgh, she went along to meet […]
Paul Duke, a Scottish photographer who now lives in London, has completed a series of black and white portraits of the men and women who work in the fishing industry on the North East coast. Each subject was shot uniformly, standing against a dark backdrop in a portable studio which Paul set-up in shipyards, factories […]
It is with great pride that today we launch our third Document Scotland publication. Following on from our two acclaimed and fast-selling newspapers, launched over the last year, we bring you DOC003. We promised you something different this time and are confident this won’t disappoint. DOC003 is a digital publication – otherwise known as a […]
What is a portrait? A person, a look, a gaze, a moment, a superficial facade or a glimpse of raw honesty, something beautiful, something shocking. It can be all these things and more…. Document Scotland are delighted to team up with our good friends Portrait Salon to host the launch event of Portrait Salon 2013 […]
Late Summer in California is the perfect time to watch the Scottish-American diaspora at play. Highland Games, like the one in Dixon, a small farming town near the State capital, Sacramento, tend to come at the end of a sultry season and so the sportsmen and women, like the shinty players, and the heavy games […]
Over here at Document Scotland we were recently chatting with photographer Niall McDiarmid, and he mentioned that the Watermill Gallery, in Aberfeldy, were soon to publish two books on Scottish photography. We were intrigued, so we got in touch with Kevin Ramage, publisher of the books and owner of the gallery, and he kindly put aside […]
Edinburgh during the festival is a lively place, full of energy, excitement and a melting pot of ideas, inspiration and passion. What better reason to invite friends and colleagues to an evening of Scottish photography, multimedia and conversation at Stills Gallery, Scotland’s centre for photography in the heart of the city. All of us at […]
Document Scotland was delighted to receive an invitation from the organisers of the Entre Margens project to attend a three-day conference last weekend in the beautiful Portugese city of Porto. Entre Margens (between river banks) is a project of artistic intervention in the historical towns and villages of several locations in the Douro region, with […]
Craig Buchan has been photographing, the Sisters of the Poor Clare Order, in Humbie, near Edinburgh. The work constitutes a photo exhibition starting at the recently opened Trigg Gallery in Dundas Street, Edinburgh, on August 15th. Gallery is open Monday to Friday 8.30am – 18.30pm and Saturday 8.30am to 13.30pm. Commitment by Craig Buchan. “Sisters Dominique […]
Starting a new series is always a tentative process: The fulfilment of an idea that may have been gathering momentum in a closet somewhere in a corner of your mind. Will a story translate from idea form to visual reality? Will I waste my time working on something that may lead to nothing? The night […]
“Whilst Wilson utilises the language of the landscape photograph, The Last Stand is far removed from the genre in the traditional sense, firmly placing him within a small group of contemporary photographers whose work — whilst landscape in nature — has more in common with that of the documentary photographer.” – Wayne Ford, former art […]
Spring 2013 was one of the coldest on record – it almost never really came. Farmers all over Scotland were concerned and anxious that by mid April, there was still no sign of grass, that’s pretty much unheard of. 15 foot snow drifts on Arran over Easter and -5 degrees recorded in Fort William added […]
An afternoon of talks and photographs will take place today at the Old School Community Centre at Shawbost on the island of Lewis to celebrate the life of Dr Norman Morrison (Tormod an t-Seoladair), whose pre-World War I photographs of life in the area are being presented in public for the first time. Dr Morrison […]
It was the second Rangers away game I’d been to for my, at that time, new project ‘Life In The 3rd’. I wished to follow Rangers FC as they travelled around the country and through the Scottish footballing 3rd Division, taking in the small towns and lesser stadiums of the land. I’d just recently returned […]
“I’m are very pleased to announce that today Cafe Royal Books, run and published by Craig Atkinson, have published a little limited edition (of 150) ‘zine book of my Common Riding photographs. All the images were shot in 2000, in the Scottish Borders, and 14 of them form the 28page black and white ‘zine. All […]
“On Twitter and the BBC this morning I read that Kay Matheson, one of the four students whom on Christmas Day 1950 liberated the Stone of Destiny from it’s position in Westminster Abbey, had passed away aged 84. The story of Kay Matheson, and her three accomplices Ian Hamilton, Gavin Vernon and Alan Stuart, is […]
As the old maxim in publishing goes, celebrity sells. So I was delighted to encounter Rod Stewart on a scrubby patch of land, a few short yards inside Scotland. Not the real McCoy, of course, but an invocation to attend a musical tribute to the great Jockney singer at some nearby watering hole. An evening […]
Document Scotland were delighted to be interviewed by The Dundee Courier about the exhibition ‘Seeing Ourselves’. Stephen spoke with Jennifer McLaren and explained a little about what brought us together, our aims and our passions and how we curated the exhibition.
It had been a long day. I had started early, going straight to Home-Start Levenmouth offices and interviewing all who worked there. It was just before Christmas and everyone was running around trying to organise the bags of presents which had been donated. Never ending lists filled with children’s names were being checked off and […]
The British Journal of Photography has published online an article they’ve written about photographers working in collectives, and how strength of numbers can help you along in the turbulent photography market. Sophie Gerrard spoke on Document Scotland’s behalf to explain a little about why our collective was formed and how it works. You can read […]
Not strictly Scotland, but Document Scotland’s Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert has his Roma portraits work included in the ‘Seen Unseen’ photography show at Galeri BU, in Istanbul, Turkey, until July 12th. Also included in the show is the work of Ken Schles, Edward Keating, Antonin Kratchovil of VII Agency, Stephen Dupont, Ken Light, Arjen Zwart, Goskin Varan, […]
It was a foggy, cold morning and I decided to make a round of Shotts fields to find some nice and quiet landscapes.I was driving the A71 to West Tarbrax Farm when I noticed this back road blocked by 2 huge tractor tires. It was my “Wow! Look at that”. It was the way the […]
(c) Sarah Fishlock, 2013, All Right Reserved As one might expect when photographing Iraqis who were resettled in Glasgow after having worked with the British government and forces in Iraq, the security of my subjects was paramount. I learned to make alternative portraits – images that did not explicitly reveal faces or identifying features, but […]
As our inaugural Document Scotland exhibition, “Seeing Ourselves”, opens this week in Glenrothes, we are featuring a blog each week for the duration of the exhibition from all contributing photographers. The feature is called, “Why I Took this Picture”, and needs no further explanation. First-up, Stephen McLaren, on his photograph, “Dolly”. “When the weather disappoints […]
It’s always nice to go back to where things begun. One year ago, Document Scotland was conceived in Beijing and born in Scotland. When Colin, Jeremy and Stephen travelled to China last year on assignment together, little did they think they would come back as a collective. One of the pivotal moments of the visit […]
Document Scotland are delighted to announce that to coincide with our first collaborative group exhibition, ‘Seeing Ourselves’, we’ve published a newspaper showcasing the fine documentary photography work from the show. A certain amount of the papers will be available for free at the gallery and exhibition, to thank you for making the effort to come […]
Colin McPherson, Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert and Sophie Gerrard of Document Scotland, will soon be in China photographing on assignment and whilst there have the pleasure of presenting Scottish documentary photography to a wider audience by holding a talk at the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in Beijing, on May 29th. The talk will present the work […]
Over here at Document Scotland we were recently excited to find out that Craig Atkinson, under his Cafe Royal Books publishing name, was going to be publishing a book of photographs from the Gorbals area of Glasgow, by renowned advertising and portrait photographer John Claridge. Our curiosity was piqued, we hadn’t known that John Claridge […]
Hannah Laycock‘s sensitive and emotive series “Railing At The Enthrallment To The Failing Of The Light II” is a quiet and personal glipse into living with Motor Neurone Disease. When Document Scotland was sent this work by Hannah for consideration we were instantly fascinated. The personal and honest nature of the project along with the […]
Hugh Hood, by Allan Brown. For four decades now, the photography of Hugh Hood has hidden in plain sight. Quite literally. It lies in a ring-bound folder in a corner of the Mitchell Library’s Glasgow Room, sharing shelf space with the dusty gazateers and the typewritten reminiscences of old Shettleston. A note has been Sellotaped […]
PRESS RELEASENo embargo Document Scotland is proud and delighted to announce the date of our first collaborative group exhibition. ‘Seeing Ourselves’ will open at FOTOSPACE Gallery, Fife on June 3, 2013, and feature work by 10 leading Scottish photographers. The show has been curated by Document Scotland, in association with Colin Cavers of the Fife […]
Ben Roberts‘ series Higher Lands shows a contemporary and youthful look at life growing up in parts of the Highlands. We’re really delighted to take the opportunity to feature it here on the Document Scotland site. All of us at Document Scotland know Ben’s work well, and this project is one which we’ve been talking […]
On a brilliantly bright, icy cold, winter Sunday afternoon recently I caught up with Giulietta Verdon Roe over coffee and cake. I knew that Giulietta had made several visits to the remote Scottish island of North Ronaldsay over a number of years to create a documentary photographic project of the population and character of the […]
For many years from 1990 through to 1997, I photographed the Roma in Romania, primarily in one camp on the outskirts of Bucharest. I became friends with the inhabitants of the camp, spending time at their celebrations, attending weddings, photographing their festivities, their daily life and traditions, and on occasion photographing their funerals. In the […]
We thought we’d add a few little bits of news, in case you’ve missed them on our Twitter feed, which you can find here @DocuScotland, and also we have a Facebook page where you can keep up to date with little bits of news, it’s here at Document Scotland Facebook page. We’re pleased to […]
We’re very pleased to be able to show the Shetland photographs, from the 1970s, of Scottish photographer Tom Kidd. The work was originally published as ‘Life In Shetland’, by publisher Paul Harris, and it is this book that we saw, in the home of Edinburgh photographer Murdo MacLeod, which caught our interest. Tom Kidd has […]
“A couple of months ago Document Scotland were invited by Stephen Mather, at the City of Glasgow College, to give a talk on documentary photography, and also to set a brief for the student’s documentary photography module on which they were about to embark. We chose the title, or subject, of ‘Self’ as the brief, […]
In 2013, Document Scotland were approached by Gemma Ovens, at the time a student at the City of Glasgow College, about showing her photographic work on the Skeklers, and skekling tradition from the Shetland Isles, and we felt both that the images Gemma had sent over were so interesting, so strange looking, and also that […]
“Bad Things Happen Behind Closed Doors” by Yoshi Kametani. Japanese-American photographer, Yoshi Kametani proves the dictum that it often takes an outsider to show a country – or a part of it – as it really is. Yoshi, who is only just embarking on his photographic career, has made a brutally honest depiction of a group […]