St Andrews is a small place that for any of its ex students holds a hoard of memories, all of them inextricably linked to the time as well as the place. I remember going back a few years after my graduation and feeling mostly a sense of loss. People I knew had left, their places … Continue reading St Andrews, its place in time
Amongst the many delights of signing with Linen Press has been the unexpected joy of having an editor. I’ve been in more than one writing critique group and learned lots from writing workshops, so I consider myself quite a good self-editor, but having lived with Blink for several years and in multiple versions, I hadn’t … Continue reading The Joy of Being Edited – and a festival in St Andrews
D.O. Hill’s daughter Chattie is best known from the iconic portrait taken near the start of her father’s partnership with Robert Adamson, but we have very few further calotype images of her (calotyping was too expensive for regular ‘family shapshots’) . All we know from the playful letters, notes and sketches her father made for … Continue reading ‘Poor Chattie’ comes to Novel Nights
The white chocolate shortbread may be gone, but this week has been a good one for feeding my early photography obsession. First of all Rob Douglas, the contemporary calotyper who I met in St Andrews, sent me prints of his own calotypes. I apologise for giving you a poor digital version of Burnside Farm and … Continue reading More Photographic Treats
Going to the first ever St Andrews Photography Festival was such a thrill, only part of which was having my first ever one woman show. I’m happy to say the show was everything I wanted it to be with an attentive and appreciative audience. But in a way the real thrill was discovering I wasn’t the only one … Continue reading To healthy obsessions
Ali Bacon / Books and Other Things 