Iain Gilmour

Winter Scene in Norway Today's painting is another from a Geoff Kersey tutorial set in a winter landscape in Norway. It’s one of those scenes that looks deceptively simple at first glance, but quickly makes you work for it. The real challenge was the background. Geoff balances looseness with just enough structure to suggest distance, snow and atmosphere without it tipping into fussiness, and that’s a tricky line to walk.

Winter Scene in Norway

Today's painting is another from a Geoff Kersey tutorial set in a winter landscape in Norway. It’s one of those scenes that looks deceptively simple at first glance, but quickly makes you work for it. The real challenge was the background. Geoff balances looseness with just…

New England Farmyard I’ve eased myself into 2026 with a Geoff Kersey tutorial that’s quietly deceptive. At first glance it looks like a fairly straightforward rural scene: a pair of red barns, a dense, wintry backdrop of trees, and a light dusting of snow under cool blue shadows. But, as Geoff points out, the real attraction is the old tractor sitting in the foreground — rusting, weathered, and clearly well past its best. The snowfall doesn’t disguise it; if anything, it helps to pick out the shapes, edges, and scars of a machine that’s seen far more seasons than it was ever meant to.

New England Farmyard

I’ve eased myself into 2026 with a Geoff Kersey tutorial that’s quietly deceptive. At first glance it looks like a fairly straightforward rural scene: a pair of red barns, a dense, wintry backdrop of trees, and a light dusting of snow under cool blue shadows. But, as Geoff…

Winter in Frogatt Woods, 14 x 10” on Arches NOT. Santa courtesy of MidJourney.

Trent and Mersey Canal in Winter I visited Shardlow back in the summer, wandering around its historic inland port with a film camera in hand for the canal project I’ve been working on. It was one of those warm days that felt perfect for photography — so naturally I shot everything on black and white film. Atmospheric, yes; helpful when you later decide to paint the scene in colour… less so. Which means this watercolour is very much an exercise in imagination. I’ve invented the colours entirely, and while I was taking artistic liberties, I also removed a few buildings that were cluttering the view and moored up a narrowboat that definitely wasn’t there at the time.

Trent and Mersey Canal in Winter

I visited Shardlow back in the summer, wandering around its historic inland port with a film camera in hand for the canal project I’ve been working on. It was one of those warm days that felt perfect for photography — so naturally I shot everything on black and…

Hovis Café Another watercolour rather than photography this week though I’ve arrived at attempting Geoff Kersey’s Hovis Café tutorial rather later than planned — it was his final lesson of 2024. The reference photo isn’t exactly bursting with charm: a dull day, flat light, and not much sparkle. But that’s precisely the challenge Geoff sets — taking a muted scene and coaxing something far more colourful and appealing out of it. The title refers to the fact that the cottage was once a café sporting a sign for Hovis bread. My own effort had its moments.

Hovis Café

Another watercolour rather than photography this week though I’ve arrived at attempting Geoff Kersey’s Hovis Café tutorial rather later than planned — it was his final lesson of 2024. The reference photo isn’t exactly bursting with charm: a dull day, flat light, and not much sparkle.…

Farm near St John’s in the Vale Cumbria After a summer break, I’ve found myself drifting back to doing some watercolours as the evenings start closing in. It seems to have become a bit of a seasonal ritual: the clocks go back, the kettle goes on, and suddenly a block of Arches and a fresh Geoff Kersey tutorial begin to look very inviting. This time the subject was Farm near St John’s in the Vale, Cumbria—a quietly beautiful scene with that mix of soft light and rural texture Geoff does so well. His guidance eased me back into the swing of things, even if the first few washes felt a little rusty after a hiatus.

Farm near St John’s in the Vale Cumbria

After a summer break, I’ve found myself drifting back to doing some watercolours as the evenings start closing in. It seems to have become a bit of a seasonal ritual: the clocks go back, the kettle goes on, and suddenly a block of Arches and a fresh Geoff…

Frames from the Footplate This small collection of images comes from a handful of heritage railways I’ve visited in England, the US and France. The engines may be the main attraction, but I’ve always been just as interested in the people who keep everything running. I’m not a proper train spotter by any stretch. Put me next to a locomotive and I’m far more likely to notice the light catching the metalwork than confidently announce whether it’s a Pacific or simply “the red one that goes chuff.”

Frames from the Footplate

This small collection of images comes from a handful of heritage railways I’ve visited in England, the US and France. The engines may be the main attraction, but I’ve always been just as interested in the people who keep everything running. I’m not a proper train spotter…

'There is a human being behind the camera': New doc focuses on life of award-winning photojournalist The new National Geographic documentary 'Love+War' focuses on the life of award-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario. Addario and David Miliband of the International Rescue Committee join Morning Jo...

MSNBC: 'There is a human being behind the camera': New doc focuses on life of award-winning photojournalist www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/... @msnbc.com @lynseyaddario.bsky.social‬ #photojournalism #journalism #photography‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

#photography
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#monochrome
#blackandwhite

A Shore Fit for Myths The “Côte des Légendes” — or, sometimes more poetically, the Pagan Coast — sounds like something from a Breton ballad, and in many ways it feels that way. Stretching along the north of Brittany between Meneham and Amiets-Plage, this rugged stretch of shoreline is a place where granite and myth share equal billing, and where the weather seems to have a mind entirely of its own. The skies here are gloriously indecisive. One moment, a heavy overcast flattens sea and stone into a study in greys; the next, sunlight bursts through in sudden, brilliant shafts, turning the granite outcrops into sculptures of light.

A Shore Fit for Myths

The “Côte des Légendes” — or, sometimes more poetically, the Pagan Coast — sounds like something from a Breton ballad, and in many ways it feels that way. Stretching along the north of Brittany between Meneham and Amiets-Plage, this rugged stretch of shoreline is a place…

Blue Hill, Maine — JWSmithPhotography A day trip to Blue Hill, Maine and the Jud Hartmann studio

A day trip to Blue Hill, #Maine and a visit to the Jud Hartmann studio and gallery. #photography #mid-coastMaine #downeast #NewEngland

Corps de Gardes, Meneham

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#classicmono

Fish and Fiddles — Honfleur’s Fête de la Coquille et de la Pêche Honfleur has a way of reeling you in. It’s not just the postcard harbour or the light on the water — though that helps — it’s the tangle of cobbled lanes, the crooked timbered houses, and the sense that it’s still a proper working port beneath all the charm. We stopped off there on the way back along the coast after a week in Brittany. Just a short wander through the old streets — enough to stretch the legs and build an appetite — before heading to our favourite restaurant. The place was already packed, …

Fish and Fiddles — Honfleur’s Fête de la Coquille et de la Pêche

Honfleur has a way of reeling you in. It’s not just the postcard harbour or the light on the water — though that helps — it’s the tangle of cobbled lanes, the crooked timbered houses, and the sense that it’s still a proper working…

To the Lighthouse

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Merci Ronan, je n'étais pas sur la géographie.

Le Pays pagan

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#highlands #iceland #classicmono #blackandwhitephotography

Very nicely done Shaun, and the close crop is such a great composition.

Sunday Colour Supplement – Autumn in the Fens I don’t often venture into colour, in fact this is the first colour post on this resurrected version of my blog. Most of the time I’m quite content in the company of blacks, whites, and the greys in between. But every now and then a place insists on being seen in colour, and Holme Fen in Autumn, tucked away in Cambridgeshire, was one of those places. It was a cool autumn day when we stopped off last Tuesday, the sort that sits on the edge of something wilder — the next named storm was already swirling its way across the forecasts.

Sunday Colour Supplement – Autumn in the Fens

I don’t often venture into colour, in fact this is the first colour post on this resurrected version of my blog. Most of the time I’m quite content in the company of blacks, whites, and the greys in between. But every now and then a place insists on…

This is an image of a cathedral-like sea stack sitting in the waters of the Pacific Ocean off the West Coast of California.

pointy rock

Corps de Garde des Amiets, Bretagne

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The Shape of Time

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Entre Marée et Mémoire: Rostellec’s Boat Graveyard I’d known about the Cimetière de Bateaux de Rostellec long before our recent trip to Brittany — one of those places that quietly lodges in the back of your mind. Weathered timbers, a name that sounds like a photograph — it had been on my list for a while. The more I read about its history, the more it intrigued me. It’s been photographed countless times, yet its story — at least in English — is rarely told. I began to wonder if I could share some of that history while trying to capture something of what still remains.

Entre Marée et Mémoire: Rostellec’s Boat Graveyard

I’d known about the Cimetière de Bateaux de Rostellec long before our recent trip to Brittany — one of those places that quietly lodges in the back of your mind. Weathered timbers, a name that sounds like a photograph — it had been on my list for…

A bend in the path - a rare (for me) colour image from a stroll along the banks of the Grand Union Canal.

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La Maison de garde des Amiets, Bretagne

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Thanks Shaun, much appreciated.

Thirty Seconds in Finistère Brittany has long been a magnet for artists and photographers — the meeting of sea and sky, the rugged beauty, shifting light, and the drama of storms rolling in from the Atlantic. Among those who have captured its spirit are Jean Guichard, best known for his images of the La Jument lighthouse during storms, where waves crash and human scale is utterly dwarfed by nature, and Philip Plisson, whose work celebrates the gentler side of the Breton seascape — lighthouses, changing light, and enduring maritime traditions. Together, their work defines much of how we see the Breton coast: dramatic yet deeply human, shaped by both weather and memory.

Thirty Seconds in Finistère

Brittany has long been a magnet for artists and photographers — the meeting of sea and sky, the rugged beauty, shifting light, and the drama of storms rolling in from the Atlantic. Among those who have captured its spirit are Jean Guichard, best known for his images of…

Phare de Pontusval, Bretagne
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#blackandwhite
#classicmono

Medium format photography | Milton Keynes | The urban landscape | Fujifilm GFX | Street Photography YouTube video by John Wildgoose

A great video of a photowalk around somewhere I lived for 25 years.

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youtu.be/qZuDBh_IiPc?...

Phare de Pontusval, Bretagne

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#classicmono
#blackandwhite