Following the historic route of the old herring fleet from Shetland to Great Yarmouth, Fisherwomen weaves a compelling tale of a unique phenomenon in the history of British women at work. The series is presented in three parts: Portraits, Heritage and Journey. FISHERWOMEN – 24pp large format 15”x11” portfolio available from Ten O’Clock Books PORTRAITS […]
In May 2024, Document Scotland sailed off to deliver our latest project, Show Us Jura. A two-hour ferry journey from Kennacraig in Argyll, the Isle of Jura is renowned for its incredible scenery, which includes the iconic Paps, whisky and as the place where George Orwell penned his novel 1984, exactly 75 years ago. There […]
Sixteen was a multiple award-winning group photography project conceived and led by Craig Easton in which he invited fifteen leading contemporary photographers* to join him and collaborate with sixteen-year-olds from all around the UK. Young people from all different social backgrounds and locations were invited to respond to questions about what it means to be […]
We are delighted to announce that next week we will be heading over to the Inner Hebrides to stage Show Us Jura.
We’ve been running our Document Scotland Patreon supporters’ platform for over three years now. In that time, we have featured previews, reviews and interviews of our own photography and that of hitorical and contemporary photographers making work about Scotland. Becoming one of our patrons through the scheme unlocks all the stories and features we have […]
From the series Fisherwomen. © Craig Easton, all rights reserved. Collectives adapt and evolve. To survive and thrive, they must move with the times. When Document Scotland was established in 2012 by Sophie, Colin, Jeremy and Stephen, the immediate future of our nation was up for grabs, with the Independence referendum on the horizon. Our […]
Sofia approached Document Scotland a while ago after completing her MA in Photography from Falmouth University. We caught up with her for a chat about her motivations for making the work and her various projects about Glasgow. DS: Hi Sofia – Thanks for sending us your work, tell us a little about the project SC: […]
“O, wad some Power the giftie gie usTo see oursels as others see us!” Those may be two of Robert Burns’ most oft-quoted lines, relecting that while Scotland has never been shy at looking in on itself, we have lacked the ability or awareness to view our nation from the perspective of outsiders. Document Scotland […]
On September 18th 2014, the people of Scotland went to the polls to decide whether to break away from the United Kingdom and become an independent nation. The Union of England and Scotland has been in effect since 1707 when the two separate countries joined together to form Great Britain. This was the first time […]
Like most small towns in Scotland, Montrose in an unassuming place. A walk down the main thoroughfare reveals the usual selection of modern shops and stores, common to almost every community in the country. One type of business which seldom, if at all, graces our high streets these days is the photographic studio. But travel […]
I’m an island lover, certainly. Having visited and photographed many of Scotland’s islands, I had never been to Colonsay. It’s a place I’ve heard so much about from friends and colleagues. So it was a wonderful opportunity to visit for a Document Scotland project this May. My approach is always to gravitate towards people, after […]
In May 2022, Document Scotland visited the Inner Hebridean island of Colonsay where we staged a week-long series of events under the title Show Us Colonsay. These included a community participatory project open to all islanders to take part in, a series of collaborative portraits of people on Colonsay made by the Document Scotland photographers […]
I first met Rob when we both worked on the group project Sixteen, a photographic touring exhibition involving sixteen international photographers making portraits and exploring the dreams, hopes and fears of sixteen-year olds across the UK. The idea came about thanks to Craig Easton and I loved the collaborative aspect of this project, working alongside […]
From the outside, the abbey at Nunraw looks unremarkable. A large, grey utilitarian building, perched on a hillside in a clearing in some pine trees deep in the Lammermuir hills. Built in 1969, its modernity gave few clues to the ancient customs, practices and rituals which took place daily behind closed doors. Sancta Maria Abbey […]
I first visited the island of Easdale in autumn 1989. I must admit, I’d never heard of the place, a small clump of rock protruding from the Atlantic a few miles south of Oban on the west coast. As we clambered aboard the passenger ferry with our provisions for a weekend away, I reached for […]
In 1995, I was walking with a friend on the vast, sandy beach at St. Cyrus, a few miles north of the town of Montrose on Scotland’s east coast, when I discovered salmon net fishing. Long lines of ropes and netting, suspended from poles dug into the soft sand, the waves softly lapping around them, […]
Football has always held a grim fascination for me. From my youth, spent grubbing around the fetid underbelly of Scottish soccer as a die-hard Meadowbank Thistle supporter, to my current incarnation as a documentary photographer and some-time chronicler of the national game, what interests me most is not the multi-million pound wasters or the diving […]
The photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher recorded many industrial structures across the landscape of Northern Europe. They would organise these images into grids of typologies. One of the structure types they chose to record was water towers. While the Bechers did visit Scotland I do not believe they photographed the many water towers in Glasgow, […]
Robert Birtles is a landscape and documentary photographer living in Dundee, Scotland. This current body of work by him examines the relationship between the landscapes, culture and traditions of the highland and coastal communities of Scotland. Robert is currently making photographs documenting the east-coast fishing port of Arbroath. The project explores the town’s romantic bond […]
Glasgow has long history of photographers chronicling life on its streets and in the schemes. Some have been restless natives, others interlopers. Some passed through, others stayed and got to know Scotland’s biggest city and most populous conurbation. Glasgow gives generously to visitors, ready with smiles and stories, yet half-hidden are the truths which underpin […]
Document Scotland are delighted to feature Father by Eoin Carey, a new photographic work by the Glasgow-based photographer. “These images are part of the first phase of a new body of work photographing fathers in care of their children in Glasgow. “I wanted to make a project about fathers that focuses on the tender and […]
Document Scotland is delighted to present work by Frances Scott entitled Undertow and A9. Frances is a photographer whose work Document Scotland have admired having enjoyed her book Undertow, published by Another Place Press, detailing her walks over the Orkney islands. A recently published ‘zine also by by the same publisher features a previous body […]
Document Scotland is delighted to showcase work by a fellow collective of photographers. The Shetland Project: Young Prospects by Heather Shuker was made in 2018 during a six-day trip to the Shetland Islands with the MAP6 photography collective. The Shetland Project was MAP6’s fourth project, following on from The Moscow Project, The Lithuania Project and […]
Document Scotland is delighted to showcase Shetland Reconnaissance by Richard Chivers, one of the photographs from the MAP6 Collective. Here he explains a bit about the work. “The Shetland Islands geographical positioning as the UK’s furthest northerly landmass, has over the last 100 years, made it a key strategic observation point for the Military to […]
Home is where the heart is, especially when you are a football fan. A home fixture has an almost religious significance. For a lapsed Catholic like myself it has a sacramental quality. Match day is a holy day of obligation. Or sometimes a sorrowful mystery. I left Dundee in 1980 at the age of 18 […]
In the first of a series of portfolios from Shetland islands, Document Scotland looks at the work made by the Map6 photography collective. -Who are the MAP6 photography collective, and how did you come together? Six of the original members first met whilst studying on the MA Photography course at The University of Brighton. Some […]
There is a lot of discussion at present about what our towns and cities will look and feel like in the post-COVID world. A death spiral of economic activity and loss of both permanent and transient populations, could lastingly render the centres barren wastelands, redundant in many different senses.
This interview by Sophie predates Margaret joining Document Scotland Document Scotland is an admirer of Margaret Mitchell’s work here at Document Scotland, having worked alongside her and featured past projects of hers from Family, In This Place and The Guisers. Margaret’s most recent body of work The Youth House, explores what happens when a community […]
Document Scotland is delighted to showcase the work of Glasgow-based photographer Simon Murphy titled Govanhill Street Level. Here, he gives an insight into the diverse and vibrant area of Govanhill with a series of portraits to be displayed in windows as part of a photo trail during the festival. Simon’s career has enabled him to […]
I am always intrigued by creative people who manage to cross-pollinate their practice by involving other disciplines. I first came across the work of Angus-based writer Bill Duncan in the first years of this century, when he published a couple of wry, funny and beautifully-observed chronicles of Scottish life through the prism of Calvinism.
Document Scotland caught up with photographer Holger Mohaupt to talk to him about his work titled The CoronaTapes, a project made in response to the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic crisis. Walking with Gloves – A Pandemic Diary DS- How did the project come about?HM – The project wasn’t planned, it emerged from conversations with people in […]
DOCUMENT SCOTLAND SEEKS SUPPORT TO CONTINUE MAKING AND SHOWCASING THE BEST OF SCOTTISH DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY Document Scotland is launching an initiative to continue the work they do to support photography in Scotland. They are inviting individuals and organisations to become their patrons, and in doing so, putting the work of the collective on a sustainable […]
Document Scotland was delighted to be able to talk to recent graduate photographer Ili Mansor about her work titled Salaam. Salaam is a short form for ‘As-salamu alaykum’ which means may peace be upon you, a universal greeting Muslims greet each other with. Salaam (peace) is the main concept of this body of work. Islamophobia […]
Hailstones, Kinnaber, 2000. Photograph © Colin McPherson, all rights reserved. This Saturday, 30th May 2020, is the twentieth anniversary of the day I took a photograph that has come to symbolise my work and the project Catching the Tide, which documented Scotland’s last salmon net fishermen. To mark the occasion, Document Scotland is hosting a […]
Document Scotland showcases the work of veteran photojournalist Mike Abrahams though his series of images titled Glasgow. Here he explains the background to the work: “I grew up in Liverpool in the 50s and 60s, a city in which to my eyes colour was absent. I recall soot, smog and dereliction only in black and […]
Life is changing for all of us. That much we know about the world we live in as the conseqienses the coronavisrus pandemic become more apparent. The future has never looked more uncertain and we can only guess and speculate what is in front of us now. A year ago, Document Scotland photographer Colin McPherson […]
There is a lot of debate these days about the role of journalism in our daily lives. Questions are asked as to where we get our information from, and the all-pervading accusation of ‘fake news’ is something which causes a real stooshie amongst the general public and also in the journalistic trade. It’s easy to […]
It’s Saturday afternoon during the coronavirus outbreak and I have the blues. Our football grounds, like the cities and towns across the country, are silent and empty. Like everyone else, I won’t be going to a game today. There’s something particularly sad and sombre for a football fan to see our stadiums unused and redundant. […]
In the lead up to the opening of our latest showing of A Contested Land, which takes place as part of FLOW Photofest in Inverness in September, Document Scotland’s photographers give an insight into the work they have made for the show. Here, Colin McPherson, tells us about one of his favourite images his project entitled Treasured Island. “Serendipity […]
The next showing of Document Scotland’s current exhibition, A Contested Land, featuring work by Sophie Gerrard, Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert, Stephen McLaren and Colin McPherson, will be at FLOW Photofest 2019, and held at Inverness College UHI. FLOW Photofest 2019 – the international photography festival running across the Highlands & Islands and Moray in the North of […]