The Pitcorthie Blog

I'm a big fan of fine photography. So it suited me well going AWOL for a couple of weeks into the inner more depths of Fife shire, to assist Travel and landscape photographer Alex Lindsay and his most trusted mounter Terry, in preparation for his up and coming exhibition in Capetown. 

I also love large scale photography. So it works that for this job we have been printing and mounting photographs up to 3 long x 1.5- 2m high. And while Alex has fun trying to work out how to transport all of these; Terry and I are busy laminating and mounting the colossal pictures onto fragile 'drybond'.

Images laid out after lamination

*spoiler alert- arty crap coming up, press the exit button now*

Alex hard at work editing and selecting images for the exhibition

One of the precious parts of meeting people is uncovering parts of their character you could never before have thought on or imagined. So as each day another photograph was unveiled, mounted and packed; so was another dimension of Alex’s character. Whether it was his endurance in climbing and reaching peaks by navigating rope ladders that would make your stomach drop out of your body; or casually throwing in that he is a ‘dirt bike hobbyist’; you realise that adventure and travel is not simply a way of life but a requirement to fully understand every aspect of a landscape a culture and journey. And the passion and the drive for the subject are clear in every image. Such sharp clarity, locations for which he would have to hike for miles on end, and then wait for hours on end to get the perfect shot. It leads us to ask ourselves what we seek when we travel. What we want to find that we can’t find at home. Perhaps it’s nothing new but only a true understanding of how to endure. And then perhaps there is poetry in the achievement of the traveller.

* who wrote that shite?!*

Terry sorting minor blemishes in the laminate surface

Meanwhile Terry the expert printer and mounter had been working in his profession since the age of 16. It was a privilege to work with him as he spoke about the process of mounting photographs onto ‘drybond’, laminating the images to protect the surface and preventing dust and air pockets from invading the adhesive laminate. We took great care with cleaning each image while it was going through heated rollers and after, Terry and I would apply pressure to any light bubbles or air pockets caused by the lamination.

Terry and Alex survey a complete piece before Terry and I apply the backing frame….

The time rolled past in lamination and smooth jazz to a back drop of Louis Prima and transindental Philip Glass; so by Sunday it was all over and the images were being boxed and prepared for shipping off.

Please Check Alex’s website for his full story.

In the Meantime I should be getting back to reality and this pile of work that’s waiting for me here…..