Hello – this is Tom today rather than Kate – I’m here to tell you about Ootlier 2, which has just been published today.
I enjoy many different kinds of photography, and my Ootlier zines give me the opportunity to explore my ideas and practice in different ways. Last year you may remember that I used the zine to produce a documentary project about the Drymen Show – an important local agricultural event (which takes place the week after next, for those who live nearby)
Ootlier issue 2 similarly has a local theme, but a rather different focus . . .
. . . the landscape around my home.
Landscape photography can be an odd discipline. It’s tempting for the photographer to seek out iconic subjects or locations, to travel far and wide in the hope of collecting “that shot”. But do we, in our hunt for the perfect “capture”, risk overlooking the visual interest of the spaces and stories that surround us every day? For me, the most fulfilling landscape photography often communicates a sense of intimacy, or familiarity: a distinctive personal connection, or a sense of place.
I’m lucky in that I live in Carbeth — a fantastic location, halfway between Glasgow and the Highlands (now incidentally known to many of you from Kate’s popular designs of that name). This part of Scotland has proud associations with open access and the outdoor movement. It’s a place familiar to thousands of people from all over the world who, each year, undertake epic pedestrian journeys on the John Muir Way and West Highland Way. And it’s also a spot beloved of countless local runners, cyclists, walkers and hutters of all ages, who here happily exchange the city for the country. Carbeth is a space of leisure, but it’s a working landscape too: a place of grazing and planting, growing and rearing, a landscape shaped by the interests of numerous farms and small businesses as well as those of larger estates. In spring, the songs of cuckoos and curlews ring out over muir and woodland, but these habitats are now threatened by the intensive forestry favoured by some of those who own this land.
Though I love the outdoors, I was born and raised in cities. When I first came to Carbeth, I was almost equally perturbed as I was fascinated by the daily and seasonal rhythms, by the rapidly shifting light, by the unfamiliar sounds and sensations of my new rural home. My camera became a tool with which I immersed myself in my environment, and through it I came to develop a deeper understanding of my locale. Every image in this portfolio was made within a mile or two of where I live: my home range, if you like.
Ranging about my home range with my camera, I soon found that there was something enormously rewarding in documenting my ever-changing local landscape. I began to see things differently, I started to look more attentively, and I was interested to discover that I never experienced my restricted range as any sort of limit. On the contrary, the idea of range itself acted as a prompt that stimulated my creativity, my ideas and my aesthetic. Ranging became a meditative act as I slowly explored, recorded and reflected upon changes in the light or the weather; upon alterations in the environment; upon the movement of time itself. In selecting the images to include in this collection, this sense of range as meditative focus has often been at the forefront of my mind.
Range has frequently seen me return to the same subjects time and time again; the same oak tree, golden with autumnal foliage, then stark with black bark against the white snow; the skies above the Campsie Fells, dark and starless one night, alive with the green glow of the Northern Lights the next. Occasionally, I am asked if I ever get bored of repeatedly photographing the same subjects. I reply that I do not, because such subjects are, in fact, never the same.
Range
noun:
1. the area covered by, or included in, something.
2. the scope of a person’s knowledge or abilities.
3. a set of different things of the same general type.
4. the distance between a viewer and subject.
5. an area of open land for grazing.
verb:
1. to vary between specified limits.
2. to travel or wander over a wide area.
To celebrate the launch of Ootlier 2: Range I have produced a small number of limited edition fine art prints. These fine art, or Giclee, prints have been produced at home, by hand, by me using pigment based inks on exhibition quality, 100% acid-free archival textured matt paper. This results in a velvety, painterly finish and superior light-fastness and stability. Each print is also hand-embossed and signed by myself. This print is run limited to just 53 prints, and as a thank you for your support, the first 50 orders of Ootlier 2: Range will each receive a complimentary hand-made print.
You can now find Ootlier 2: Range in the shop.
Thanks for reading!
Tom
A very big thank you to Kate, Tom and Mel, Ootlier 2, a lovely print and delicious yarn arrived today. Just a note – labels say ‘Tarbert’ not ‘Tarbet’.
Anyway. A lovely surprise on a rainy day. Many thanks again
Isabelle
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Astonishing
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So excited to order this newest Zine… I love the concept of looking closely and carefully in a close range… LOL, that still doesn’t keep me from traveling from Northern California to Scotland again this summer to see your backyard. I love all that you, Kate and Bruce write… Many many thanks!
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Stunning images!
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I am so excited to see your collection in this book along with your special edition Shetland Oo. Between Kate’s design and your amazing photographs I am able to imagine your beautiful range from afar in Maryland. They will have a treasure space with my collection of art books!
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Zine purchased! I fell in love with Scotland on a visit a couple of years back.. And as such I love your photography (along with Kate’s designs) and was excited to see this collection. Fingers crossed I made the print giveaway! One day I hope to go back..
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Apart from the amazing photographs I was interested to read of your ‘conversion’ from townee to country.person. I applaud your decision to ‘see’ what is in your back yard…so to speak!
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Absolutely stunning photography Tom and lucky you living in such a picturesque country. Keep up the good work.
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Your photography Tom is outstanding. Pauline and Gordon.
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Tom…your work is absolutely stunning! Thank you for sharing your considerable talent with us!
Julie
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LOve your Art. Can’t wait til I receive your book, and hopefully quick enough to receive a print.
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Yay, Tom! I have been so hoping you would do another zine. I hope someday you will do a zine of Bruce.
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Ordered for my father-in-law, who is a nut for both Scotland and walking, and is currently in withdrawal from no longer living in the Highlands.
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What a fabulous collection of your photography Tom! Inspirational images.
I have ordered my copy and am greatly looking forward to receiving it. (Hope I was quick enough for the wee complimentary print, too.)
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Absolutely adore your photographs and am thrilled to be able to have a whole book now, so I can visit the range at will! Some day I hope to see it in person!
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These photos are fabulous and you have certainly immersed yourself totally into your now, not so new life in the most beautiful countryside. I just wish my husband, as a confirmed “townee”, would be open to spending the rest of his days in such beautiful splendour, but that’s not going to happen, ever, I’m afraid….!
I have been a fan of Kate’s work for quite a few years but have never managed to be able to even “like” her posts as I am told that my email does not exist, despite getting regular emails from your (Kate’s) site. I wonder if it will accept this comment….?
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I love living vicariously through your photography! Your photos of Kate, Bruce, your range, all bring me back to my first visit to Scotland. The country seeped into my very being and so thank you, Tom, for sharing your gift!
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I and my farming friends really enjoyed the Drymen book. We still look at it when eating lunch or resting from chores. I will look forward to this one as well.
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Tom, your photographs invoke in me a sense of peace and wonder. Such beauty. Thank you for sharing your vision.
Amy Evans
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Hi Tom , I love it ..!!!
Do you ship the rest of Europe ???.
Thanks
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yes, absolutely! We ship all over the world
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