Try not to 'should' yourself.

This morning I was shocked to hear the sad news of the death of a lovely guy and great guitar player, Norman Conboy. He lived locally and played with local musicians at various sessions. I met him a few times at the Cromar Folk Club and also on the rare occasion I made it down to the regular Tuesday night sessions in the Aberdeen Arms in Tarland. He recently played on the CDs of Paul Anderson  and David Anderson.

When I watched Norman, and watch other guitarists play accompaniment to trad folk music, I am puzzled as to what exactly they are playing. I learnt the guitar playing some blues, rock and the odd bit of bluegrass and jazz. None of what I could play seemed to fit with what trad folk guitarists did. So one night I asked Norman what was he doing? He never really answered my question. He just said come along to the Tuesday night sessions and watch. He also hinted that you kind of had to know the music and know what was coming in the tune - which is where I struggled a bit as our house was filled with jazz music more than folk music.

I knew he was right and I should try to get to the Tuesday night sessions and watch him.

But sadly, I found excuses - during the week I rise at 6am, commute 64 miles every day, work as a Principal Teacher at a secondary school and on average, see 190-200 pupils come through my door every week. When 9pm comes along on a Tuesday night, I really struggle to find the energy to go to a pub session which may end at 11-11.30pm.

Of course, deciding every Tuesday to not go to the sessions and sit beside Norman and learn from him for the fairly pathetic reasons given above, I regret now. Isn't it always a shame that some lessons in life seem only to be learned this way.

You should never 'should' yourself! I have to try harder to stop saying 'I should try to get to ...' and instead say, 'I will get to...', 'I am going to...' more often.

Norman will be sadly missed by many musicians, friends and of course his family. The few times I spoke with Norman, he was a gent. He was a handsome, funny and talented guy.

Rest in Peace Norman.

Give up.

Technical problems are plaguing me tonight. The post I typed up has disappeared as well as the images.

I'm tired.

I give up on a post tonight.

Basically it was a post about the length of time I've been taking images of abandoned places (1996) but have yet to do much with the body of work. Why?

It could be that that is not my motivation.

Or it could be that the full time job I do is leaving me just plain tired and lethargic.

Anybody in the same boat?

Why I am slowly using Flickr less and less, sadly.

CaixaForum - foyer, a photo by James_at_Slack on Flickr.

I am sharing this image direct from my Flickr photostream. It appears on the very first page (p.37) and I took it when on a holiday in Barcelona, April 2006. This is where I saw the Diane Arbus exhibition which made me decide to go straight back into photography and to never neglect being creative ever again.

But back to Flickr. I, like many other people, set up my Flickr page for the simple purpose of allowing friends and family to see holiday snaps. The idea of e-mailing a link to friends who could then look at my snaps seemed a great idea to me.

I now have 3,555 pictures on there and often consider deleting most of them. But then I stop and remember that those images tell a story and some people still enjoy looking at them.

Since Yahoo took over Flickr, images from other photographers now take so long to appear on my PC that I barely use it anymore. A real shame which no amount of complaining to Yahoo is going to change. (They have also killed Tumblr for me for the exact same reason.)

Tomorrow, I will no longer be able to share my images direct from Flickr to Blogger as Flickr/Yahoo have decided it's not in their interest to allow that function. So no doubt I will use Flickr even less now, so time to find some alternative.

Anybody feeling the same way? Maybe you have better broadband than me.

I know many get disappointed by the lack of constructive and helpful critique of their work on Flickr but that was something I never expected anyway. I met some fine people on Flickr but twitter and Facebook do that now.

Some days are just plain awesome.

Do you ever have a day when you can think of a few good reasons/excuses to get out of something that will take a fair bit of effort on your part but you ignore that lazy voice in your head, go do it and then have a truly memorable day? Well, today was such a day for me.

Yvonne and I met up with Michael Marten and Mike Colechin again today to continue walking in the Cairngorms. It had snowed already that day and the wind was getting up. Yvonne and I wondered if heading up onto Carn Liath (2,828 ft) was wise on such a cold and windy day, especially after Mike and Michael had spent the night camping. Everybody was keen, so after a quick cuppa and some of Yvonne's freshly baked cheese scones, we headed off.

The first stage of the walk is just a fairly boring landrover track up the south side of the hill. 

As we got further up, there were a few snow showers and the wind started to pick up. When we crested the shoulder and headed for the top, we were now heading north and getting the full force of the chilly wind and the spindrift on our faces.

When we got to the top, any plans we had about having lunch were forgotten about and after a photo or two, it was decided to head across the top of the hill and eventually drop down into the shelter of a forest.

It was a great day which challenged us all in different ways. 

In this blog I have written about overcoming doubts and fear in relation to art  before and it occurred to me today that some of the greatest rewards will come to you if you push yourself, force yourself out of your comfort zone and try it. It may not work out but you can learn from the experience and congratulate yourself for making the effort. 

The ingredients to make a day go well?

Yes, it's been said many times and we all know it.

The best of times come from being with friends and family, eating good food, conversations that flow effortlessly and doing something everyone enjoys.

Well, my day today had all those ingredients. Mike Colechin, Michael Marten and Lucy Telford arrived at Slack Cottage this morning and after some coffee and excellent home bakes from Yvonne, (during which time my sister Sheila also arrived), we set off for the hills.

The dark clouds and snow flurries we left at Slack, soon passed by and when we arrived at Glen Girnoc there were hopeful patches of blue sky.

We walked up the glen, passing Camlet and the lime kiln and stopped at Bovaglie. The high hills still had plenty snow, especially Lochnagar. To be outside, walking in beautiful countryside with good banter and chat all the way there is hard to beat. Yvonne did manage to make the day even better with thermal cups full of hot drinks and even more home bakes. Perfect.

Funnily enough, despite three photographer there, few photographs were taken. Mike didn't even have a camera with him. I thought I would come home with some snaps of the day, with plenty of people in the pictures. But no. I wandered off to have a look round abandoned Bovaglie and did my usual stuff. Reassuring I suppose.

Anyway, here's a few images:

I did snap one with the wee P&S Canon of the posse:

There you have it. A fine day indeed. It seemed only right to write a wee blog post about it. 

Neglected, Tillydrine House - For Sale.

Neglected, Tillydrine House., a photo by James_at_Slack on Flickr.

© James Dyas Davidson

Being at Tillydrine House saddened me a bit. All these people/companies with so much money buy up these places and leave to the elements and vandals. Appalling, especially at a time of homelessness.

Read this sorry tale about Tillydrine House:

Late 19th century 2-storey, 3-bay irregular-plan house with entrance tower. Italianate and domestic gothic details. Grey-pink Aberdeen bond granite ashlar. Overhanging eaves.

The original Tillydrine House was reputedly dismantled and re-erected in Aboyne at the turn of the century. (Historic Scotland)

May 1990: External inspection reveals the house to be vacant, leaking and suffering disrepair, though it remains structurally sound. SCT understands that its owner lives in Abu Dhabi and does not wish to sell. The house previously operated as a hotel. 29 October 1993: The Deeside Piper reports that the house has lain vacant for 16 years and has been stripped of its interior fittings. It was last leased to oil company Occidental. September 1995: SCT understands that the house has been made secure. Negotiations are currently underway with a developer keen to lease the property. 21 February 1997: The Deeside Piper reports that a Building Preservation Notice is to be served on the house. March 1997: The house is C(S)-listed. February 1998: Local planners report that they are considering serving a Repairs Notice. August 2001: No change reported. October 2006: The agents report that the owner of the property has no further update on the information held. Any contact should be made through the agents. September 2007: SCT is advised of a change of agent for the owner. All contact should be directed through the agents.
December 2007: External inspection finds the building vacant, unsecured and in very poor condition. The rainwater goods are dilapidated and all the window glazings are broken. There are signs of vandalism and a risk of arson.

March 2008: SCT is contacted by a member of the public to advise that the property has changed ownership.

August 2010: External inspection finds no significant change since the last site visit. The building continues to deteriorate and is a cause for concern.
(From 'Buildings at Risk' website)

Now, in March 2014 it is for sale :https://www.aspc.co.uk/search/property/316306/Tillydrine-House/Aboyne/  You will not see any images of what the house looks like inside on the schedule. To quote from the schedule:DUE TO THE CURRENT STATE OF THE PROPERTY IT IS REGISTERED ON THE BUILDING AT RISK REGISTER SO VIEWING OF THE BUILDING INTERNALLY IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED, THEREFORE THE NUMBER OF ROOMS DETAILED ARE AN APPROXIMATION.

Well, here's some of mine:

Sad isn't it?

Kurt Vonnegut's letter to a school.

You're probably familiar with this story about the letter Kurt Vonnegut wrote to a high school, but if not, here's the background.


In 2006, a group of high school students at Xavier High School in New York wrote to their favourite authors as part of an assignment, asking if they would visit their school. Vonnegut was the only one to respond, and while he said he would not be able to make a visit, his inspiring letter made up for it with with wit and charm.


Here's a transcript of the letter:

Dear Xavier High School, and Ms. Lockwood, and Messrs Perin, McFeely, Batten, Maurer and Congiusta:

I thank you for your friendly letters. You sure know how to cheer up a really old geezer (84) in his sunset years. I don't make public appearances any more because I now resemble nothing so much as an iguana.

What I had to say to you, moreover, would not take long, to wit: Practise any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow.

Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives. Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood, and give it to her. Dance home after school, and sing in the shower and on and on. Make a face in your mashed potatoes. Pretend you're Count Dracula.

Here's an assignment for tonight, and I hope Ms. Lockwood will flunk you if you don't do it: Write a six line poem, about anything, but rhymed. No fair tennis without a net. Make it as good as you possibly can. But don't tell anybody what you're doing. Don't show it or recite it to anybody, not even your girlfriend or parents or whatever, or Ms. Lockwood. OK?

Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces, and discard them into widely separated trash recepticals [sic]. You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what's inside you, and you have made your soul grow.

God bless you all!

Kurt Vonnegut

This is the first day of Spring - a time of fertility supposedly. Time to make a fertile imagination into a fertile creative period. As cabin fever bites after the long dark winter nights, time to get some release from containment. Time to 'experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow'. 

Don't waste your time reading this.

It's becoming very clear to me this week that the Easter holidays can't come quick enough.

Skye, I need you.

I am nothing but a transient soul in a white Opel Manta

(For those not familiar with the North East of Scotland, stick with it.)

This morning I went on a course in Banchory. Then I had to go to work in Huntly. The most direct route I felt was to go over the Sluie Hill (or is it Suie Hill?) to Clatt and onwards.

There is car park and a great view at the top of Sluie Hill, so I stopped to eat my lunch. As I sat there I remembered a photograph I took at the the same car park, around about 1982, which showed my late father Jimmy, my mother Catherine and my future wife Yvonne admiring the same view I was enjoying eating my lunch. We were on route from Buckie to Banchory to meet up with my sister for some get together - maybe for Chris Barber jazz band concert? Or maybe it was Christmas time, I can't remember now.

The memory of that picture brought a smile to my face, not only because the frame of the picture was filled with my new white Opel Manta and everybody else squeezed to the left! No, more than that, it was because my father was to die of cancer only a couple of years later and it was one of those simple decisions to just stop and admire the view. We did, and I captured a wee moment in time which I now cherish. 

My father has gone. My mum remarried and found happiness again. My sister lives in Aberdeen and we see her as much as we can. I have been happily married to Yvonne since 1986. That is part of my story. It is just a puff of wind on a heather branch.

When I had a look at the photo tonight, I thought you could remove the car and the people and the view would look almost exactly the same. The land endures and has the biggest and best stories. We are just transient souls on this amazing planet who need to take more time out for ourselves, for our loved ones and for our planet. ( I know, all that from a wee photo!)


Here's the photograph:

Where the Manta went to I've no idea. :-)

(Oh, by the way, to the left was parked my dad's green Hillman Avenger. You'll understand why that was not included in the picture!)

Do you have f1.8 days, or maybe pinhole days?

I know I do.

Some days I just want to go out and shoot anything at f1.8 - like this taken yesterday:

I found this plastic bag  in bondage on a barbed wire fence intriguing.

Some days of late, I just want to see stuff through a cheap pinhole lens, just to see what it looks like - that's all. Like this gable wall of the steading at Ardoch:

Better still, leave it in colour. Most pinhole images - that is REAL pinhole images (which mine are not really) - are always in black and white.

As well as the cheap pinhole, I have a cheap plastic Holga lens and my mood of late is to take 'pretty' pictures with a messy, plastic lens. Most end up in the delete bin but some just about get saved due to happy accidents, like this one of Lochnagar:

None of this on their own means much but if I can add them all together in the right way for the right image, something may happen.

Hassles and issues at work this year has seen me in a real mood or mixture of feelings - mostly negative. I think there is a connection with my frustrated, negative mood and this desire to just get out with my camera and do stuff, like some form of anger release.

Anybody else experience this?

Does productive, creative work only happen when your mind is in a 'good' place?

Buckie - Captain Scott Schooner Launch

The internet can be great sometimes.

The picture in the previous post of the three girls, I took on a day I was wondering down the harbour area of Buckie.

I also found this picture of the schooner Captain Scott in Buckie Harbour:

I wondered what happened to it, so I turned to Google and the first thing that was on the results was this video:





I'd never seen this before and it made me sad to think how a town like Buckie no longer BUILDS stuff like the Captain Scott.


It is now called the RNOV Shabab Oman!

3 Girls, late 1970s

3 Girls, late 1970s, a photo by James_at_Slack on Flickr.

A recently found old picture I took way back in the mid to late 1970s when I was just a lad.
I was walking around the town of Buckie taking pictures of stuff down beside the harbour. Somewhere near the Star Brae, these three girls wanted to know what I was taking photos of and demanded I take their picture. It was a hot summer's day which makes me wonder if it was 1976?

This is a poor scan of the print.

If anybody recognises these Buckie girls, I'd love to let them see this.

© James Dyas Davidson

Where can I find 'ordinary street make up'?

Some more useful hints from my old Photography Diary 1977, this time regarding taking portraits.


Statistics show that 90% of all amateur photographs are of people. Very often these photographs become treasured records of the past, a factor which is rarely appreciated at the time to judge by their quality. The inexperienced photographer who wishes to achieve something better than the average snapshot portrait should keep in mind the following points.

1. Try to have their subjects looking their best and don't force them into being photographed when they are not ready.
2. For colour portraits of women ordinary street make-up, carefully and moderately applied, is quite suitable.
3. It is usually better to avoid or discourage women from wearing dresses of very vivid colours as this can adversely affect the colour of the complexion. Touches of a vivid colour can be added by way of scarf or hat.

I'll spare you the other 9 points, good though they are. I fear the dreaded lurgy is lurking in me and I'm off to bed.

The design of the diary cover was by Iain Love but there is no mention of who wrote the text inside.

Photography with a Purpose: 1977 advice

I found my 'Photography Diary' from 1977!

There is a section in it called 'Photography with a Purpose' and it starts:

The novelty of owning a first camera is usually enough in itself to keep it in frequent use with subjects ranging from family portraits to scenic beauty or anything else that strikes the owner's fancy. The results may not be all that is expected, particularly if the camera is an expensive model, and it is at this stage that interest in photography can rapidly diminish. This can happen even to the photographer who has reached a high standard, but who arrives at a stage where the search for and recording of photogenic subjects can begin to pall, or, worse still, no longer seem worth the time, effort, and expense. It is all too easy to accumulate a large and miscellaneous collection of transparencies or prints of excellent pictorial merit and finish up putting them away in a drawer. Experience shows that this can happen to the most enthusiastic.

In this situation you should start thinking seriously about applying your camera skill to some purpose. Given a definite project, it is surprising how quickly enthusiasm can revive. Projects can offer both interest and a challenge to one's skill and imagination. There is the double reward that the results may well prove of interest to others whether as a slide documentary or as an album of prints complete with text and captions. If the results take the form of an illustrated article, it may even prove saleable.


If only I had read that and acted upon it in 1977 instead of 2007 .... who knows? :-)