THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Photographer Alex Boyd showcases his stunning portfolio of photographs which were taken using a 170-year-old technique
Sometimes, the old ways are the best, writes Rosie Morton. Acclaimed landscape and documentary photographer Alex Boyd, who has adopted a Victorian photographic process to record Old Alba’s peaks and glens, is on a mission to prove just that.
Alex, who was born in Germany but grew up in Ayrshire, uses a technique known as glass plate collodion photography – a process that was invented 170 years ago. A far cry from the lightweight digital cameras and smartphones we now carry in our pockets, Alex has spent years lugging cumbersome equipment, including a large format wooden camera, glass plates and a portable tentlike darkroom to the likes of Stac Pollaidh in Assynt and the Cuillin peaks on the Isle of Skye.
As Alex walks me through the complex process (which involves liquid silver, a thick honey-like chemical called collodion and cyanide) I can’t help but think of him as an alchemist. Certainly, the resulting antique-like images that Alex has become known for capture our wee nation in a unique, haunting light. What’s more, the environment itself is frequently embedded in his images.
‘When you’re making images using this sticky material, things like midges or heather get stuck in it – they’re caught like amber in the picture,’ says Alex, who was first bitten by the photography bug as a teen when experimenting in his school’s darkroom. ‘It’s pure theatre. When you’re out in the landscape, it’s wonderful to have an image appear out of the gloom.’
Alex’s early work led to a residency at Ballinglen Arts Foundation in County Mayo, Ireland, and in 2013 he became the Royal Scottish Academy’s artist in residence on Skye – a place he still feels incredibly fortunate to have called home. Today, he is working towards a Doctorate in photography, and is a fellow of the National Library of Scotland, The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and the Royal Society of Art. His work is held in a number of national collections including the National Galleries of Scotland, the Royal Scottish Academy and the Victoria & Albert Museum.
But Alex isn’t just out to capture the romance of sweeping Celtic vistas. Many of his images centre around wider themes, including military landscapes, Scottish and Irish poetry, and the conservation of the natural world. His work has even taken him to Australia, where he is currently working with the Noongar aboriginal community to document the country’s south-western landscapes. It is Scotland, though, that Alex holds dear in his heart:
‘Scotland has it all really, and for such a small country it packs so much in,’ he says. ‘With its mountains and coastlines, it has a fascinating and multi-layered history. Last year I hiked in Assynt, climbing through millions of years of geological time, with truly dramatic scenery.’
After producing two books – St Kilda: The Silent Islands and The Isle of Rust – Alex is about to launch his third, The Point of Deliverance. A 132-page love letter to the coastlines of Ireland, the Hebrides and the Scottish Highlands, it features a decade’s worth of Alex’s spectacular collodion photographs.
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As Alex walks me through the complex process, I can’t help but think of him as an alchemist
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When you’re making images using this sticky material, things like midges or heather get stuck in it
It’s pure theatre – it’s wonderful to have an image appear out of the gloom