Mark's Blog

'Revealed Age' is another image from my excursion to Port Mulgrave last December. I was drawn to the deep golden rust of the corrugated iron which contrasts so well with the equally worn outer layer of years of paint.  On an deep, emotional level it metaphorically provoked the thought of the peeling of old skin to expose the natural beauty of age on the inside. On a shallower level, it reminds me of the cover of Jean Michelle Jarre's Oxygene album, which I still find stunning after all these years. Having spent the good part of a full day at Port Mulgrave I came away very happy that I'd done it justice - at least in my own way. I look forward to visiting it again soon for a different take. As usual, you can find the above image and more in the Recently Added section of the website - enjoy!...

Now that I am the proud owner of the fabulous Epson 4900 printer I’ve been thinking of all those new opportunities around experimenting with fine art papers. I particularly enjoy viewing monochrome images on fine art paper due, I think, to the way it renders those grey tones in a much more delicate way than other materials. In the past weeks I’ve consciously kept my eye open for images that lend themselves to the monochrome treatment in order to display them at some point in the future at the Staircase Gallery. This is no mean feat particularly when you’re out looking for autumn colours at this time of year. But it is achievable with practice. Much like I had the same problem a few years ago when I started making close-up images when really I was looking for the bigger vista. One of my favourite monochrome photographers has to be the...

What with running five separate photo workshops, getting the Staircase Gallery up and running plus trying to make some autumn images of my own it seems like an age since I was on the Isle of Arran – yet it was only three weeks ago! Phew, time just seems to have flown by since! As the weather wasn’t favourable during our stay, John and I spent a lot of time seeking out rock details along the shores of Arran in between showers. One area I was particularly taken with was the amazing rock formations just south of Lochranza at Catacol Bay. These formations were excellent for detailed work, so we spent many hours just working the area looking for interesting features. I could see a pattern emerging with strong lines and patterning of the rock. After making three similar images I was already envisaging a tryptic at some point in the...