Biblical Garden in Elgin

Greenmarket in Elgin

Blue Paper

Long May Your Lummie Reek

I built a fire last night and made a big pot of soup to ward off the chilly rain. The phrase "long may your lummie reek" is said when you make a toast to someone over a glass of something. Lummie means chimney and reek is smoke, so to wish this to someone is to offer hope of prosperity because in older times when a house had smoke coming out of the chimney it meant the occupants had fuel and presumably food and were doing alright.

Auchindoun Castle

"In November 1571 Sir Adam Gordon rode out from Auchindoun to Corgarff Castle seeking to capture Forbes of Towie. Forbes was away, but his wife was home and refused them entry. Infuriated, Adam set fire to the house, murdering everybody inside, including several children. For this act he became known as Herod of the North.

Auchindoun was itself burnt by a certain William Macintosh in retaliation. In 1592, trying to atone for this deed, William went to Adam Gordon's castle at Gight. Adam's wife, Henrietta, told William that her husband would behead him, but in his absence she, being more merciful, would spare him. William responded by feigning willingness to suffer that humiliation and laid his head on a block used to butcher bullocks. Unable to resist the temptation, the countess had her cook part William's head from his body."

-Text from wall placard at Auchindoun castle 

 

Duty Free Warehouse #8

Reading Material

Spain Wins

The Balvenie Rose

This climbing rose growing right outside my door was named in honour of Balvenie Whisky's "The Balvenie Rose", created to celebrate the long history of Balvenie Castle, the annual rent of which was fixed at a single red rose in 1460.

Cèilidh

Last night I went to my first Cèilidh (pronounced ‘cay-lee’) here in Dufftown. They are held every thursday evening in the summer. Originally a traditional Scottish social gathering with music and dancing from the days before nightclubs and discos. The crowd includes everyone from young children (two young girls did a dance performance in their kilts) to senior citizens.

Giant Rhubarb Plant in My Front Yard

Beware of the Wood Ticks on the Path to Craigellachie

Spirit Supply

So, after more than two weeks of settling in to living in Scotland for a little while, touring around the area, doing some test shoots and getting my pre-production in order, I did my first official shoot today. Since I'm living on the grounds of a whisky distillery and have full access to all aspects of the production, part of my project while I'm here will be to shoot all those details. Today in my PPE (personal protection equipment of steel toed boots and a high viz vest, along with a gas meter to measure the oxygen as to not start a fire with any possible electronic spark of my camera) I signed in on a work permit and got on the floor of the spirit supply. This is the place where the whisky is either put into the casks or when it is finished aging, it is removed for bottling. The air hangs with a heady mist and here is an image of the casks being filled.

Findlater Castle

Originally built in the thirteenth century, Findlater Castle sits on a peninsula in the Moray Firth inlet of the North Sea with sheer drops of over fifty feet to the rocks and sea below.

Portsoy on the North Sea

Portsoy is a small fishing village on the Moray Coast of the North Sea in northern Scotland. It's hard to imagine the rough and dark winter days here when looking at the sea on a beautiful summer day.

The 1000th Anniversary of the Battle of Mortlach

One thousand years ago today, the Scots led by King Malcolm II fought back against the invading Viking Danes and won. To celebrate the battle, Dufftown threw a parade and did a battle reenactment on the school football pitch not far from where the original battle took place.

Lossiemouth

The Cabrach

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

Craigellachie Bridge

Built from 1812 - 1814, the Craigellachie is the oldest bridge in Scotland. Designed by Thomas Telford and spanning the River Spey, it was one of the first cast iron bridges ever built. It's also a great spot to feel a light rain as you walk along the river after a dinner of "Highland" Chicken at the Highlander Inn, a speciality of chicken stuffed with haggis! (This photo looks a little crazy because it was shot with a panorama app on my iPhone.)

Field of Barley

Full Moon over Dufftown

The Whisky Line (Keith & Dufftown Railway)

We took the train today from Dufftown to Keith. It's an 11 mile long trip along a refurbished railroad track that was shut down for use in 1991 but 10 years ago was reopened and on the weekends the train is run by volunteers. They even sell tea at the station that you can bring on the train in mugs, which the conductor politely takes from you when you are finished. Along the route are 7 distilleries and 2 castles. We missed the big celebration however because tonight was their actual 10th anniversary and they were having £10 pint and pie night on the train!

Some Things are a Little Different

Living in a new place for a little while, things are just a wee bit different. I'm trying to take the time to notice and appreciate the changes... like line drying my jeans!

Walking the Isla Way

Throughout Scotland there are walking trails that will take you almost anywhere. The Scotish Parliament passed a responsible right of access that allows people to wander about across hills and mountains and alongside rivers and lochs. The Speyside Way is the largest of these paths near where I am staying in Dufftown. The River Spey comes out of the Cairngorm Mountains and flows north to the sea. It can take up to a week to walk the length of the Speyside Way with many paths running from it. The Isla Way connects Dufftown and other local villages to it, but just to walk along the Isla Way one can go over 12 miles in one direction. I walked part of it from Dufftown to Lock Park, about 8 miles round trip. I started off right outside my cottage and walked through the grounds of 3 distilleries, crossed the River Fiddich on an old metal suspension bridge and then crossed over a hill through fields and forests before descending the other side to the Loch.

Video From "Summer Dream" Shoot

"Summer Dream" Fashion Story in Menswear

Menswear Magazine relaunched this week in Milan. Here is the fashion story I shot for it. It was styled by Alex Badia, with grooming by Anna Bernabe and the models were Travis Bland (Wilhelmina), Ryan Schirra (Re:Quest), Rory Torrens (Major) and Helge Gjerstad (VNY). It was a great shoot out on Peter's Pond Beach in Sagaponack. The bonfire was amazing and it went great with the full moon.

Rothiemay Stone Circle

These five Neolithic standing stones form a circle that is 80 feet in diameter. They are located on the Rothiemay Home Farm in Aberdeenshire. The special thing about the recumbent or altar stone is that it is marked with 50 cup marks and some of them are ringed. A possible explanation for the markings is that it is a map of the constellations in the sky at that time.

Balvenie Castle

This eleventh century castle is just a short walk from my cottage. It is one of more than 300 castles in the care of Historical Scotland. In 1562 Mary Queen of Scots stayed here for two days.

Scotland: My Artist Residency Begins

I interrupt these somewhat regularly scheduled blog posts for an almost complete change of direction because I have just arrived in Scotland to be an artist in residence for the next 3 months and will be recording some of my experiences here. As usual the focus will be on photography (like this blog) but I will occasionally be offering some more diaristic experiences from this adventure. The thing i look forward to the most is being able to walk out everyday and make photographs just for me. I don't think I've ever had the opportunity to continuously shoot something for more than a week at a time. The idea to think about a place and different ideas for such a long time, to truly distill my thoughts slowly is a great gift. And my stone cottage (above) will shelter me from the rain when necessary and warm me in these cooler climes. And of course I will still be posting about fashion, etc. more than once in awhile, but as of now, here we go!

View From My Room

All My Bags Are Packed

Fare Foreward, Voyagers