December 19, 2024 |
Alasdair Mclellan’s latest photographic project explores a fascination with Scotland bequeathed to him by his late father, Terrence, who was an officer with the Gordon Highlanders.
“In a way, it’s more about him than me,” says the renowned photographer, who grew up in Doncaster but, as a child, spent family holidays in Scotland. Those visits left a lasting impression. Documenting a series of mostly winter road trips (“Scotland is more beautiful during this season”), McLellan aimed to capture the country’s compelling landscapes, interiors and people. He travelled far and wide from the Highlands and Islands to the cities and beyond, “Everywhere, really, just to show what Scotland truly is. It can be easy to have a clichéd view of the country as very picture-postcard and tartan kilts and bagpipes.” Some portraits were planned, others spontaneous, but the aim was always to find interesting characters. The resulting images have been made into a book that’s part of the Fashion Eye series by Louis Vuitton Malletier, the book publishing arm of the luxury house. “I wanted to try to put across a comprehensive view of the country,” he says. Claudia Croft
Stirling, 2023; Glasgow, 2023
Why did you choose to make a book about Scotland?
My link to Scotland comes from my dad: he loved Scotland, so we used to go there all the time as kids. And obviously our family name is Scottish. He would talk a lot about Scottish culture, he could speak Scottish Gaelic, and Irish, too. He wasn’t born in Scotland but that’s where we’re descended from and, for whatever reason, he was obsessed with Gaelic culture. When there was national service in the UK, he joined the Gordon Highlanders; he used to go on about how fond he was of that. I think he always felt that, as kids, we weren’t interested in our heritage, so I did this for him in a way. Obviously I found the location inspiring in terms of its beauty. It’s a brutal place, with weather that’s never very pleasant. It’s similar to Yorkshire in a sense, but almost bleaker – it’s quite hard-wearing, the sun never really comes out and they don’t have a summer as such. But there is a form of beauty in this extreme climate. You can get through a lot of different types of weather in one day, which is why I wanted to focus on shooting there in the winter. I feel like Scotland is more beautiful during this season, it makes for better pictures.
How many times did you go to Scotland for this project?
About 10, I think. We generally did four days here, four days there. Mostly it was driving around, basically taking small road trips. I travelled with my team, so I had two assistants each time. Sometimes I do photograph alone, though.
Cupar Highland Games, 2014
How did you choose the cities and places you went to? Did you go back to places you had already visited as a child?
We did revisit some of the places I went to growing up, but I mostly decided it should be quite comprehensive and I wanted to capture Scotland in its entirety. We did the Highlands, the Cairngorms, obviously the main cities – Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness – and we also went to Skye, Mull, Iona… Everywhere really, just to show what Scotland truly is. It can be easy to have a clichéd view of Scotland as picture-postcard, tartan kilts and bagpipes. These weren’t my first pictures in Scotland, though. Over the years, I’ve worked on a few editorial projects: for Another Man with [stylist/creative director] Alister Mackie in his hometown of Falkirk and in Glasgow, for System with Christopher Kane around areas he grew up or for Man About Town and its story that covered the Highland Games, which are also in this book. The Highland Games were chosen to represent the summer, as they run every weekend from April to September.
Inverness, 2023
Were there any particular places you wanted to photograph? Or did you travel with more of an open mind?
I had specific places in mind that I wanted to photograph, obviously, ideas as starting points. But when you’re out there, stopping in the areas you go to, you come across new ideas for interesting things to capture, but you still have the destination there in the background.
What kind of camera do you use?
A Pentax 6×7, usually. I always work with film; I very rarely work digitally if I can help it. I did it once last year, and before that six years ago, but it’s very rare. I don’t really like the process and I also feel like people pay more attention when you shoot film because they look at the person rather than the monitor. I think it’s important for you to look at the subject. Sometimes they probably feel quite lonely on set if everybody’s looking at a screen.
Isle of Iona, 2020, Tobermory, 2020
Regarding the portraits, did you decide in advance who you wanted to photograph?
No, not always. The Highland dancers were planned and some people were cast in advance, like those we found at a goth night hosted by a club in the area. Sometimes you could find some interesting people, so we would just stop them in the street and ask to take their picture.
Did you aim to meet people from different communities in Scotland?
Yes, but I was more focused on finding interesting characters rather than looking at communities. Most of the pictures are of individual people. I didn’t really do any groups apart from a couple shots of the Highland Games.
You like to mix portraits, landscapes, interiors – what links all these images together?
Apart from Scotland, not much! It was more about what I thought was culturally important to show. There are different sides to Scotland, of course, differing views. There are people who have seen Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting [1996] and think that Glasgow is very much like that, or people who believe that it’s all like a scene out of Richard Curtis’s Four Weddings and a Funeral [1994], when the actress gets married to a Scotsman and everyone’s there wearing kilts. What I wanted to do was to try to put across a comprehensive view of the country.
Western Isles Ferry, 2020; Fort William, 2020
Coming back to fashion photography – do you travel a lot for your photoshoots?
It depends. Obviously, I am always keen to visit different places, but sometimes I just find the UK more interesting, because that’s where I’m from. I have my own view of it. Particularly when it comes to pictures from my local area, South Yorkshire – I feel like they have more of an emotional connection. I also think that I respond to location work more than studio, because it’s more cinematic and involves creating a world rather than starting with a blank canvas.
How did you get into photography? Who influenced you?
When I was growing up, I was very interested in music. I would look at photography in magazines and record covers. I’d see an album sleeve, music videos and magazine covers and wonder how I could also become part of that world. Once you take a first step, you get into other things, like other photographers that aren’t necessarily related to fashion or popular culture, who have nothing to do with Smash Hits and the NME.
Grangemouth Refinery, 2012
Can you tell us more about the family photos you chose to include?
At the start, the pictures shown as a photo album are of my dad when he was in the Gordon Highlanders. And the colour photo at the start is a picture of me with MacLellan’s castle in the town of Kirkcudbright. We went there often because it bears our surname – it has nothing to do with us now, but we liked to think that maybe thousands of years ago our family owned this castle. I don’t actually know who took this picture. It could have been my brother or my mum… I remember it being taken, just not by who.
Your books are quite intimate. Is this one autobiographical?
Less so than others, because I have never lived in Scotland – I just used to visit and I know it from my dad’s obsession with Gaelic culture and love for his heritage. In a way, it’s more about him than about me. It’s not that much of a personal project other than the fact that the initial idea came from my dad, who is not around anymore.
Glasgow, 2023, Cupar, 2014
What portrait do you paint of Scotland in this book?
I have always liked the idea of beauty and I think that more dramatic landscapes with dark skies are truly beautiful. I love that about those pictures. Like I said, Scotland is not what could be considered as a ‘pretty’ place. That’s what I wanted to portray – the landscapes and scenery are vast and epic, with its mountains and towns and cities that live through quite extreme weather and are, therefore, sort of hardy. It feels quite bleak, although always inspiring.
‘Scotland’ is out now, published by Éditions Louis Vuitton Fashion Eye and is available at louisvuitton.com
Taken from 10+ Issue 7 – DECADENCE, MORE, PLEASURE – out NOW. Order your copy here.
