For the second year in a row I realised I would be in Scotland for Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day so I travelled north, armed with my Ondu 6x6 camera and a large stock of films to suit whatever the weather might throw at me. The day dawned dry, but with lots of rain the forecast so I headed out bright and early to get some shooting in before the deluge arrived.
I began by heading through the docks area of the city to the Footdee (or the Fittie a it’s known locally) - a small collection of fishermen’s cottages with a square at their centre. This pretty little village offered lots of photographic possibilities and it was pretty quiet this early in the morning too.
I found this very rusty mangle sitting in the street and couldn’t help but wonder how long it had been there, slowly being weathered by the salty sea air.
From the Fittie I walked down to the beach, where the tide was out. This gave me access to the rocks which peppered the sand and I also spent some time dodging the waves as they came in around the breakwaters.
Just as I stepped up from the beach the rain arrived so I quickly used up the last frame on my roll of film to catch the coffee bar (converted from a horse box) before heading back into the city centre for an early lunch and somewhere dryer to shoot.
My second location of the day was the city’s art gallery. I had a feeling tripods wouldn’t be permitted so I improvised, using bench, display cases and my little beanbag to balance my camera.
The central oval skylight proved to be a great feature for several of my photos, adding some complementary curves to the many straight lines.
There’s always an opportunity for a ghostly self portrait - on this occasion with a tubular sculpture by Paolozzi.
In the front part of the building I found this wonderful space, with a huge light which seemed like a UFO!
More diagonal lines…
Finally, a stop in the cafe for another ghostly selfie with a cuppa and a scone.
With just a couple of frames left on my roll of film I wandered back to my AirBnB via the churchyard of St Nicholas’ church. There’s something so photogenic about Scottish graveyards compared to English ones - they just seem to do them with such dramatic style!
Photos taken 28 April 2024