Post 6 (go to 'Older Posts' at the bottom to begin at Post 1: 'Scalpaigh'.)

Scalpaigh / Tarbert area

June 2013

Compliant cow, Isle of Harris

I travelled up to Harris in the last week of June. It's a two day journey comfortably and as before I stayed overnight with my friends June and Roddy just outside Fort William. How I came to meet them is another story for another time, but they are always welcoming and generous with their hospitality and I couldn't continue this project without them.

In Tarbert I found a copy of Photographers of the Western Isles, by Martin Padget, published in 2010. It contains reference to and images by, amongst others, Gus Wylie, who is my unofficial mentor for this project, and by the American photographer Paul Strand, who made pictures in the Hebrides during the 1950s and who Gus met at the ICA in London in 1971. Gus recalls Strand saying that beyond any consideration as to the quality of equipment or materials he might use, the most important thing Gus needed to identify was a person who would act as a local 'go-between' who would create bridges between artist and community. This advice was passed on to me and in this and many other ways I feel a strong sense of continuity with these earlier visitors and their artworks and due humility to be found in their company.

I am grateful to all the people on Scalpaigh and in the surrounding area who have allowed me to invade their homes and places of work. Individuals, families and other groups have been unfailingly generous with their time as well as interested in what I'm up to. What I am up to is recording lives and landscapes in a fairly opportunistic way, following leads, relationships and ideas as they occur, developing an account of what attracts my curiosity in corners of Harris, Norfolk, and on the road in between.

+++++++

There are lots of pictures in this Posting! As before, the best way to view the photographs is to click on one to bring up larger versions which can be scrolled through. Due to public demand I've also begun to add captions!

Hallway, Scalpaigh

Calum MacSween, Ardinashaig, Scalpaigh

One of Calum's dry stone walls, Ardinashaig

Door stop, Scalpaigh

Lochannan Lacasdail, near Tarbert

Tarbert Stores

Sheep pens, Golden Road

Net Services factory, Scalpaigh

Peter on his croft, Urgha

Twitchers looking at a Needletail Swift, Tarbert

Interior, Scalpaigh

Bus shelter, Golden Road

My hosts, the MacVicars, Sunnyhill, Tarbert

Huishinish Road, Harris

John Macaulay, Flodabay

John's workshop

On the path to Eilean Glas, Scalpaigh

Eilean Glas, Scalpaigh

Rachel and Donald MacSween, Scalpaigh

Evidence of sheep, Scalpaigh

Net Services, Scalpaigh

Cotton grass, Harris

Willie Fulton, artist, Drinishader

Church of Scotland, Tarbert

Fisherman, Scalpaigh

Luskentyre beach and Taransay

Lochannan Lacasdail

The Macleod family, Scalpaigh road

Wee Studios Live! Tarbert Community Centre

Old gutting shed, North Harbour, Scalpaigh

Sheila P Roderick, Scalpay Linen, Outend

Sheep fleeces, Urgha

Interior, Scalpaigh

Ardnacillie Road, 1.30am