Well-kent faces plea

Photographer on lookout for portraiture project subjects

Ian Black has launched a series of portraits on the social picture-sharing service Instagram, entitled Portraits of a Nation.

His first post is a striking image of well-known harmonica player “Fast” Eddie Lafferty in Dundee City Square — and it has attracted almost 2,000 likes in a matter of days.

Ian, who works in marketing full-time and has 50,000 followers on the social network, said he was taken aback by the reaction.

“I was amazed at how many people had heard of Eddie,” the 53-year-old said.

“Most of my following is not from Dundee, but so many people seemed to know who he was.

“It was as soon as I saw him in Dundee that I thought he would be a great place to start.”

Portraits of a Nation will take Ian all over Scotland as he scouts out interesting people to photograph.

However, he said he is very keen to get as many people from his “home city” as he can – and is open to suggestions from Dundonians.

“I stay out in Errol, but Dundee is my home city and it’s the place I’m proud of — and I want to try to discover more well-known people around here,” he said. “I’ve been sharing photos on Instagram for about two or three years and I’m used to taking pictures of landscapes, so this something new.

“Taking pictures of people is much more interesting — no offence to beautiful places like Glencoe, of course.

“I want to try to photograph the people who aren’t always known, so I may try to do a feature on local refugees too. There’s a lot of potential.”

To contact Ian with suggestions of people in Dundee who could feature in Portraits of a Nation, email him at ian@iangblack.com.

A TAYSIDE photographer is on the lookout for local inspiration as he embarks on an online portraiture project.

Ian Black, right, has launched an online portraiture project — and an image of Dundee harmonica player “Fast” Eddie Lafferty is the first to feature in it.