It’s late November, Winter is fast approaching and the first frosts have begun to settle on the land. On days like this, when the days are short and the nights interminable, it’s good to have a small window on another day, bright and hopeful. Memory can be fugitive, the mind unconsciously editing perception to present a desired outcome, to camouflage the unpleasant or to accentuate a fleeting moment. This is why I love photography, as it provides me with a comprehensive visual diary, to compliment my own record of the days.
I am often criticised for constantly taking photographs - mostly with my phone - and often of apparently senseless or meaningless scenes. My argument - often unvocalised, is that I can capture things in passing that would ordinarily go unnoticed, especially on a car or train journey. But for every 10 or 20 shots I take, I may get 1 good one, or at least a shot which encapsulates a sense of the moment. I will use a variety of different camera apps to capture the shots - black and white, filtered or distorted, or if I am using a mirrorless camera, full spectrum or infra red.
The results are varied and generally difficult to gauge on a small screen on a phone and are mostly enjoyed much later when I edit them down I post production on my iPad.
My recent trip to Scotland was the ideal opportunity to gather some visual memories, as it was also the area which had inspired my much earlier creative writing project and had always been on my list of places to visit again, when I had more time to explore. The area around Loch Lomond and Loch Long was a beautiful land of clear water and majestic mountains.
The full spectrum camera, with a 750nm infra red filter, returned some striking images of the heavily wooded shorelines, with foliage appearing either ghostly white or a glowing scarlet. Water appeared darker and skies deeper and clearer. The monochrome apps on the phone brought the starkness of the mountains into wonderful contrast and the vintage style camera apps lent a richness to the snaps of Oban harbour.
In all, I gathered several hundred shots, between camera and iPhone, culling them down to about a third and from there, curating possibly 25 favourites. The important thing for me is to be able to look through the combined album and find myself once more on the pebbled beach, watching the sun go down, or looking out on a heathered mountainside, seeing the light glance off the surface of the loch.
The quotidian and everyday are transformed by photography into something ethereal and magical and looking over the images, I am once more transported anew and can revisit the scenes as often as I like.
