Artist Questionnaire: Sophie Gerrard IG: Which artists/photographers do you particularly respect? I’m constantly finding new projects and photographers and artists and painters and books which inspire me and which I respect. Some long standing favourites have been Joel Sternfeld, Pieter Hugo, Edward Burtynski, Tim Hetherington and Richard Misrach. I’m also influenced by painters, particularly Lucian Freud, and some of the Dutch landscape painters. IG: Why do you choose photography as your artistic medium? I believe quite passionately in the power of photography to communicate important stories and information visually. Photography can be used as a powerful tool and has an almost unique ability to act as a universal language. I began my career in environmental sciences, after travelling in SE Asia and becoming aware of the work of important photojournalists like Don McCullin, I turned to photography in order to combine my passion for visual arts and creativity with the ability to communicate important environmental stories. I saw, and still see, photography as a tool that allows me to do that. For me, the stories I tell are nearly always about the people. Environmental issues are my passion, but it’s the people behind these stories and in this case, these landscapes, who I am interested it. Photography gives me a wonderful excuse to explore, to meet people, to learn and to look closely, to dig under the surface in order to find what’s underneath, and that is an important process for me. Long term documentary projects give me the opportunity to spend time with people, know them and learn their stories. Often by seeking out the small and individual stories, I can make projects and bodies of work which speak of larger issues. IG: Why did you choose to do this project? What was the trigger? I began this project as a way of exploring my own relationship with the Scottish landscape. Having worked and lived away from Scotland for the majority of my photographic career I felt it was time to work on something closer to my heart and my home. I wanted to understand the connection I, like many Scots, have with the Scottish landscape. I wanted to scratch the surface, go beyond the romantic

picture postcard view and learn about the land through the eyes of those who are responsible for it. I then realised that in so many cases that view is presents as a male one - I was curious to see it from a female perspective and so I began my research. I wanted to look at this relationship through the eyes of those who live with it every day and who's lives and livelihoods depend on the land - those who are responsible for it, and naturally I found myself drawn to the women who make decisions. Although through walking and being a keen hill walker I consider myself to have more knowledge than some, I appreciate that with no farming background and having lived in cities all my life there is still a huge amount of this very visible and accessible Scottish landscape on my doorstep that I know little about. I started to look to the women who look after it to show me their stories. I am fascinated by the people I have met during this project over the last year and a half and the wonderful stories they have told me. I feel a connection to them, I am enjoying the stories I hear. I have been overwhelmed by their generosity and their welcome. I admire their attitudes and their strength, I have a huge respect for what they do and they way they do it. I've met some very diverse individuals and every situation is so very different. What they do have in common is a passion, a desire and a pull towards the land. Many of them have talked of something in the blood. It's been a fascinating and tiring, enjoyable, exciting, cold, dirty and very emotional journey so far.

IG: What are your main influences and how have they influenced your work? When starting this project I looked through many books by the photographers and artists I mentioned in my first answer. I also looked closely at contemporary photographers I admire who combine powerful landscape photography with portraiture. Vanessa Winship, Bryan Schutmaat, Rob Hornstra. But after a while it’s about me, my relationships with the women I photographed, my relationship with the landscape and my time working on this project. My working process was to go away for periods of time and spend concentrated and intense days working and living with my subjects and photographing them. Then returning home, digesting the experiences, the conversations and reflecting on what was there. It was important to me to record their conversations and to have a

record of their thoughts as I went. Those interviews became important and influenced the project as time went on. Their passion, commitment and resilience became my focus as I walked around and photographed them. The editing process was also important, talking the work through with colleagues, trusted friends and Anne McNeil helped the project form and evolve.

IG: Some of our visitors will be interested in the technical aspects of your project. What equipment did you use? And did it affect the way that you worked and the project outcome? I shoot most of my personal work on medium format film, and natural light. This was a 6x6 twin lens camera which I’ve used on many projects over the last 8 years. The camera has a waist level viewfinder, which I look down into, and a ground glass screen which flips the image. I use a hand held light meter and sometimes a tripod. The most significant aspect of working this way is that it’s relatively slow. The pace of working is dictated by the camera and that slowness and deliberate way of shooting is, for me, my preferred way of working. Everything slows down, the thinking process, measuring the light, composing, breathing, everything. In terms of having an effect on the work, I feel the portraits I produce when working in this way are very different than to working with other formats. The slowness, the intimacy and the discreet nature of the camera helps create something special. There is no need to put the camera between my eyes or face and my subject. Perhaps that’s part of it, or the fact that I am looking down into the viewfinder rather than straight towards them. It’s been when using this camera and working in this way that I find people become at ease and I have created some of my favourite portraits.

IG: What plans do you have for future projects? I am continuing to shoot Drawn To The Land, there are further activities I want to capture in the farming calendar and also other women farmers, living and farming further north in Scotland and on more of the islands. I’m also working on another on-going project, loosely called Homecoming, which comprises several sub projects and chapters. Broadly speaking, the project forms something of a visual diary of me returning to live and work in Scotland over the last

few years. As we move towards the Referendum this September, I’m making a body of work about adolescents of voting age, I’m interested in their thoughts and views, many of them feel under represented in the media and it’s a fascinating process talking to them and photographing them. Document Scotland have an exhibition at Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow and a publication featuring this work which is called Sweet Sixteen being launched later this summer. Multimedia work by Document Scotland will be included in Photography Oxford Festival 2014 in September this year. I was recently commissioned by FotoDocument and Brighton Photoworks as part of Brighton Photo Biennial 2014 to produce a body of work centred around environmental sustainability in and around Brighton. I’ve been working on that over the last few months and it will culminate in a major exhibition in Brighton later this year as part of the Biennial.

IG: Do you have any recommended reading to further contextualise the project? For further information on both me and the Brighton commission please go to this link where you will find a press release and information on each of the commissioned photographers. http://photoworks.org.uk/projects/commissions-oneplanet-living/ I am represented by The Photographers’ Gallery in London, my page on their website is here - http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/sophiegerrard A portfolio from The Dunes, a body of work about environmental destruction of protected land and the bullying of a community in Scotland was featured in Photomonitor with words by Diane Smyth, deputy picture editor of The British Journal of Photography – see more here http://www.photomonitor.co.uk/2012/10/sophie-gerrard/

I recently took part in a “Twinterview” with Genesis, a pro lab in London who did a feature on my work, read the interview here http://www.genesisimaging.co.uk/blog/tag/sophie-gerrard/ My work was on show at The Photographers’ Gallery recently to launch the new publication by Slideluck called Hungry Still. Curated by Louise Clements and exhibited at Format Festival in Derby, more info here http://slideluck.com/hungrystill/

Artist Questionnaire: Stephen McLaren IG: Which artists/photographers do you particularly respect? Trent Parke, Jens Olof Lasthein, Alec Soth, Carolyn Drake, Jim Goldberg, Susan Meiselas, Lee Friedlander

IG: Why do you choose photography as your artistic medium? It is the only medium I can build into my everyday life. It’s immediacy lets me use my imagination to engage with the real world in a simple but expressive way.

IG: Why did you choose to do this project? What was the trigger? I found myself at a Highland Games in California a few years ago and I couldn’t believe that thousands of Americans spent their weekends this way. The people were so open about the cultural links they were following and so extravagant in their clothing that I couldn’t help but take pictures. IG: What are your main influences and how have they influenced your work? My main influences are exhibitions and books from photographers whose work I respect. When you see the amount of work that goes into producing such highquality projects from them, you cant help but want to try and match it somehow. IG: Some of our visitors will be interested in the technical aspects of your project. What equipment did you use? And did it affect the way that you worked and the project outcome? One DSLR, two flash-guns, and some charm, was all that was enlisted in this project. I can only work on projects where I can keep things simple. IG: What plans do you have for future projects? I want to shoot more of the Scottish diaspora in other continents and I want to find other projects relating to social justice and political themes which interest me,

IG: Do you have any recommended reading to further contextualise the project? “To the Ends of the Earth” by Professor Tom Devine. “The Scots Crisis of Confidence” by Carol Craig “ Blossom” by Lesley Riddoch

Artist Questionnaire: Colin McPherson IG: Which artists/photographers do you particularly respect? Growing up, I was more interested in, and influenced by, 20th century art: in particular the Expressionist painter Paul Klee, the Surrealist Catalan Joan Miro and sculptor Alberto Giacometti. Their work seemed to reflect many of the absurdities of life, but was observationally precise, yet was expressive, imaginative and vibrant. I still use their work as a reference point to my practice. IG: Why do you choose photography as your artistic medium? Its a bit of a cliché but it chose me. As I said, I was originally influenced by the work of artists from other disciplines but by the time I wanted to make statements about the world through some sort of non-verbal medium, I discovered that I couldn't draw, paint or sculpt. What did that leave me with? During my teenage years, I was very close to my uncle, the German photographer Henning Langenheim, and he became my principal influence. In that way that young people obsess and idolise, I wanted to be like him so I started taking photographs and copying many of the ways he worked. His photography had a certain aesthetic and he often saw the irony in situations, something which photography is good at recognising. He introduced me to the work of others photographers whose work would shape my thinking. IG: Why did you choose to do this project? What was the trigger? As the referendum for Scottish independence grew closer, I wanted to put together a project which would look in depth at my relationship with Scotland. I live outside the country, yet through family, friends and work I am still bound to the place. A border is such a strange concept in many ways. It defines, reflects and prioritises peoples' lives, yet in a sense it is an arbitary expression of historical events. The border between Scotland and England has not been contested for centuries, which means you can see the subtle differences on either side of the line. I was less interested in documenting the border per se, but instead wanted to feel my reaction to it as I walked, drove and cycled up and down it over the course of one year, talking to random people and discovering places hitherto unknown to me. I like to think of photography as exploration, both in a phyical and visual sense: A Fine Line allowed me to indulge in both.

IG: What are your main influences and how have they influenced your work? As I said, my eyes were opened to the work of great photographers chiefly by Henning Langenheim. I loved the sense of space and composition of Lee Friedlander on the one hand, and on the other the dramatic moments and sense of adventure captured by Robert Frank in his epic book The Americans. The photography made in the USA during the period 1955-1970 seemed to be in step with the development of Rock music which shaped the lives of my generation. For me, it suggested excitement, few boundaries and the possibility of exploring the big, bad world with a camera. It gave legitimicy to photography as a method of expression and of recording war, poverty, suffering as well as joy, happiness and the seeming normality of everyday life. IG: Some of our visitors will be interested in the technical aspects of your project. What equipment did you use? And did it affect the way that you worked and the project outcome? For A Fine Line I reverted back to using film once again. My main motivation was that I was as interested in the process of making this project as well as the final outcome. I wanted to reapply a handbrake to slow the whole thing down. I actually shot comparatively few rolls of film over the course of a year. I wanted to be certain that when I picked up my camera in response to something I saw that it was relevant to me and the project. It was as much about experiencing the border as photographing it. IG: What plans do you have for future projects? I am currently finishing off a project about the site of the former steel works at Ravenscraig in Lanarkshire. The plant was closed in 1992 and it is now the largest derelict industrial site in Western Europe. I am looking at it through my own eyes and those of the people who either used to work there or who now live and work near the place. The photographs will be shown at Document Scotland's Common Ground exhibition at Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow from the end of August 2014. IG: Do you have any recommended reading to further contextualise the project? Much of the context of A Fine Line is the history of the border, so I recommend the visitor reads into the many hundreds of years of events which define where we are

today in terms of the relationship between Scotland and England. Photographically, I have always loved road trips and this project was no exception. Paul Graham's The Great North Road crosses the border and also introduced me to the possibilities of using colour where previously my obsession had been purely monochrome. It's a masterpiece.

Artist Questionnaire: Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert IG: Which artists/photographers do you particularly respect? So many- Bob Dylan and Andy Warhol for their prolific productivity and work ethic, but also their business sense. Lots of photographers – Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand, Alex Webb, so many. IG: Why do you choose photography as your artistic medium? It helps me learn about the world, having a camera is a great excuse to explore, to meet people, to travel and gain an education about life and the world. IG: Why did you choose to do this project? What was the trigger? I’ve always been interested in history, and I had been living in Japan for a decade and on my return to Scotland I decided to walk along the Antonine Wall as a way of reconnecting with the Scottish landscape and towns, and to feel the Scottish weather on my face. IG: What are your main influences and how have they influenced your work? My main influences are really my own sense of curiosity about a subject and I use the resulting project as a way to learn and teach myself something. These project ideas are influenced by what I read, the art I see, or what I see in the media, or current affairs, and through travel. IG: Some of our visitors will be interested in the technical aspects of your project. What equipment did you use? And did it affect the way that you worked and the project outcome? I used a Canon 5D mk3, and 50mm lens, fitted with a GPS plotting device which marked the latitude and longitude of every picture I took. The portraits of the Roman soldiers I lit with a Elinchrom Ranger Quadra flash, fired into an umbrella. IG: What plans do you have for future projects? At present I’m shooting a series of portraits of people who partake in the Common

Riding festivals of the Scottish Borders area. These will be exhibited in Street Level Photo Gallery, Glasgow, in September and October 2014. IG: Do you have any recommended reading to further contextualise the project? This first book below was crucial for me in undertaking the project. The Antonine Wall – A Handbook To The Surviving Remains- Anne Robertson and Lawrence Keppie, ISBN 0-902018-13-2 The Antonine Wall by David Breeze, ISBN 0-85976-655-1