Fine Art Giclée Print Store

For a number of years the website has had its own print store selling framed Fine Art Giclée Prints. As part of an update to the website, the store has been temporairly close while a redesign of the print store takes place.

The biggest change will be that framed prints will no longer be sold due to the cost and inconvience of shipping. Instead the store will sell Fine Art Giclée Prints in three different finishes – lustre, gloss and metallic. Other print finishes may be made available at a later date.

Later additions to the store will include photobooks and photozines. Currently, only orders from the United Kingdom are to be accepted via the upcoming website shop. This may change in future however.

The print store will reopen in the late summer.

RedBubble and TeePublic

Prints are still available from the print stores of RedBubble and TeePublic providing framed prints, canvas prints and other items with delivery availableto the UK, USA, Asia, Australia and Europe.

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One White Horse

Here’s another image from a recent stay near Hawick in the Scottish Borders. The image was taken during a rather long walk and explore. So far I’ve been really pleased with the black and white images produced so far. The shot of the white (maybe a bit grey too) horse was a quick photography moment. A fast grab or lose it. With the 50mm lens being close to the focal length of the human eye, it was easy to frame and get the shot within seconds. It certainly lived up to the ‘nifty fifty’ name.

Nifty Fifty

Before Christmas I replaced an old 50mm lens that, quite honestly, never really worked properly. Over the years I’ve blamed camera metering but it seems like the real fault was a sticky aperture blades, made all the more difficult to identify a fault by its intermittent appearance. Wort of all, I suspect that the problem was always there right from purchasing the lens new.

The new lens has reminded me of the love I’ve always had for the 50mm. Simple, fast and light to carry, the 50mm standard lens has always been in my camera bag since my distant Pentax owning student days. Zoom lenses are great but I’d always recommend having a 50mm tucked away somewhere in the camera bag.

Scottish Border Prints on RedBubble

A number of the photographs from the Scottish Borders are now available via RedBubble as both monochrome and colour editions.

If you would like to purchase a print of one of the photographs, the Richard Flint Photography RedBubble store has a wide range of images available.

Framed prints, canvas prints, art boards, metal prints, acrylic blocks plus lots more can be found on the RedBubble store HERE.

The post Lone Horse Landscape appeared first on Richard Flint Photography.

A Glimpse of Colour

It seems to have been a long, dark winter (not helped by events in the news) but finally the signs of Spring and an approaching summer have started to appear. Even more opportunities to get out and about and see what images can be made. Fortunately a trip into the Scottish Borders delivered a impressive long walk and some great scenery with a few surprises.

Lost Track

My leanings towards black and white images continues on from the Northumberland images of last year with the first image ‘The horses of Hassedean’ being an excellent start. The horses were spotted during the mid section of the walk but it was the unusually shaped field behind them that really stood out. The field marks the route of a long closed railway line from Hawick (pronounced Hoyk) to Carlisle as part of the Waverley line. The Hawick to Carlisle section of the line opened in 1862 and operated for just over a hundred years until its closure in 1969 as a result of the Beeching Report.

What Colour?

Considering the title of the post, there isn’t very colour to be seen so far. Very true. I’m enjoying the monochrome adventure I’m currently having though. It’s like getting acquainted with an old friend again reminding me of my TMAX, FP4 and HP5 film days. The colour images will, however, be posted later including the colour version of the above photograph.

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Lindisfarne

Over the past week or so I’ve been working on the black and white images from the Northumberland trip in December. I’ve been pleased with the results. The image taken on Lindisfarne seen below is probably my favourite and the strongest of the bunch, even managing to catch two Northumberland castle in one image!. On the left is Lindisfarne Castle and on the right, way off on the horizon is the imposing silhouette of Bamburgh Castle.

Back to Selenium

Back in my darkroom days, selenium toner was my toner of choice for new prints. The powerful combination of Agfa Record Rapid and selenium toner was just unbeatable for quality and warmth. After a long period of adding copper toner in Photoshop, Just recently I’ve gone over to digital selenium. So far I’m liking the colder, silvery tones that photoshop produces though I think I need to experiment a little more to refine the tone. The Lindisfarne Causeway image uses selenium rather than the copper featured in the other two images.

Photography Prints

If you would like to purchase a print of one of the photographs seen in this post, the Richard Flint Photography RedBubble store has a wide range of images available.

Framed prints, canvas prints, art boards, metal prints, acrylic blocks plus lots more can be found on the RedBubble store HERE.

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Darker Skies

Yesterday on my Darker Skies blog i posted some images taken in Northumberland a week or so ago. This beach shot stood out but I did wonder what a monochrome version would look like.
The colour version can be found HERE.

Windswept

I’m rather liking the tones of the black and white version. The windswept sand is looking especially good though it didn’t look bad in the colour version. It’s always worth checking out ideas with images. A bit of experimentation can go a long way to understanding an image and help inspire new ideas.

More Northumberland Images Soon

There will be more Northumberland images from December’s trip posted to the website in January. Have a great New Year. See you all in 2025.

The post December Beach Tones appeared first on Richard Flint Photography.

A New Book Called Southerly Point

The New Year will see the release of my third photobook called Southerly Point featuring over forty black and white images shot around the Mull of Galloway including the iconic lighthouse. Currently work is still underway on the final bits of text for the introduction. As soon as that is complete the photo zine will be made available to purchase via the Blurb website. More details about the book and the price will be released in January.

My Previous Books

For more details about my previous books check out the photobooks page at https://www.richardflintphoto.com/photobooks/

Mull of Galloway Gallery

To view a collection of images from the Mull of Galloway go to the gallery page HERE

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Scotland in Miniature

From the mountains to the north of the island, and the lowlands to the south, the Isle of Arran has often been referred to as a Scotland in miniature. Located in the Firth of Clyde, Arran has it all and is easily accessed by ferry. After spending a week on the island i have to agree. Like Scotland itself, the Isle of Arran is a great place to visit for a photographer. The images in the gallery also look at the nearby neighbour of the Kintyre Peninsula, a long strip of land that also has the feel of living on an island, even though the A83 guides you through the magnificent Argyll and Bute landscape to reach Campbeltown.

Over the Sea to… Arran

The Isles of Arran is located in the Firth of Clyde and can be reached by using the regular ferry service from either Ardrossan or Claonaig.. The journey across to the island was made using the MV Caledonian Isles route to Brodick on a very humid and hot day. The ferry was busy and most passengers seemed to take advantage of the breeze on deck as the ship made its way from Ardrossan to Brodick, a trip of around one and a half hours. When we think of transport we usually think of cars, buses and trains but across Scotland ships act as a vital lifeline for island communities and the Isle of Arran is no exception.

There are problems with ferry service as the strain of running a service with an ageing fleet takes it toll. Plans to renew the Caledonian MacBrayne fleet have seen costs soar, delays incurred and news headlines made as the current ferry routes encounter cancellations and changes to timetables due to increasing maintenance challenges. The original plan had been to travel on the Ardrossan to Campbeltown ferry until the entire route for 2023 had been cancelled due to a fleet shortage. At the time of writing (September 2024), MV Caledonian Isles has been out of action most of the year.

Passing Ships in the Day and Night

The Isle of Arran has a close knit community feel to it as soon as you arrive. Tourism plays a major role in the local economy as it does in many parts of Scotland, but the paddle boarders often shares the Firth of Clyde with container ships coming in and out of Port Glasgow. The Firth of Clyde has some of the deepest sea channels in Northern Europe. The close proximity to the mainland and relatively easy access to Glasgow seems to be an aspect of the isle of Arran’s location that appeals to many visitors. Why travel long distances when you can have everything on one island.

The weather may also be a factor. A series of images were taken during a very calm, quiet evening at Whitling Bay. There was barely a wave in the sea and no sound to pollute the experience. Just sitting on the picnic bench (somewhere to put the cameras) and watching the world go by, the waves gently coming in, seemed to help recharge the batteries. It was the perfect place to gather thoughts and dispense with the cacophony of modern life. The next day, however, could see larger rolling waves along with gusty winds blowing along the Firth and bringing squally showers that would quickly arrive and then disappear. Having a car to dash to was a great way of avoiding a soaking. The gusty winds provided the perfect opportunity to blow some of the cobwebs away. The images taken in Claonaig at the end of the gallery were exhilarating to take as the waves crashed against the shoreline. Even the ferry had gone over to the winter timetable.

Whisky and Cheese

Arran has two distilleries on the Island (both owned by the same company Arran Distillers) with the Lagg whisky distillery located on the south coast of the island and the Arran whisky distillery located in Lochranza to the north. As to which whisky you may prefer, well that’s all in the tasting and your own tastes but for me the Lagg was my preferred choice.

Arran is also known for its cheese, which I have to say is absolutely fantastic. Arran cheese is available in a variety of flavours, oak smoked was my favourite, and you can even get to see the cheese being made through the window in the shop. On average 1500 cheeses per day are made each day.

Island in the Mist

The photograph of the island of Ailsa Craig was taken on one such squally day where the rain could be seen making its way towards you over the sea. The conditions added an unusual light to the image as well as a softness in-between the downpours with even a little sunshine poking through the clouds briefly before dark clouds rolled in again . Located some 16 kilometres from Arran, the imposing island looks like it should be in a movie, however, it does have an interesting history which includes the quarrying of microgranite to make curling stones. The island also acts as a bird sanctuary, providing a home for huge numbers of gannets and an increasing number of puffins.

Aye See You in Everything

One of the more unusual photo finds was of graffiti on an old picnic table located a couple of miles outside of Brodick. The battered old table had seen a lot of picnics and was scratched, faded and even burnt on it surface. Close to the centre of the table were the words ‘Aye see you in everything‘ which immediately caught my attention. I’m not really sure what to make of the statement. It seems a little sad, as though it refers to a long lost love with the writer desperately wanting to tell the world what they think. I asked others and some found it rather creepy, so it can be read in a variety of different ways.

The photograph also reminded me of a graffiti image I took for the Sea, Sky, Sand and Street project back in 2011, although that message was very different.

Kintyre and Campbeltown

At the top of the Isle of Arran stands the ferry port of Lochranza which connects the island to the Kintyre Peninsula. The ferry that takes around 30 minutes to cross the Firth to Claonaig. Originally the plan had been to return to Ardrossan and travel by ferry to Campbeltown, but earlier in the year the summer route timetable had been cancelled due ship availability issues. There was simply no spare ferry to complete the route .The Campbeltown route was cancelled again in 2024 for similar reasons.

The drive down from Claonaig to Campbeltown is recommended and only takes around an hour. Considering the proximity of Kintyre to the Isle of Arran, both places have their own very different landscape and vibe. Often it feels like your on an island off the west coast of Scotland, rather than on a peninsula. Campbelltown is famous for its whisky distilleries with both Springbank and Glen Scotia being based in the town.

The A83 road takes you towards Campbeltown and passes through an amazing landscape and coastline giving plenty of excuses to stop and take in the view. The wide variety of homes, sometimes static caravans or cabins located along a large stretch of the coastline, were a notable addition to the landscape.

A Photographer’s Memorial

Tucked away in a Campbeltown side street is a fantastic memorial garden to Linda McCartney. Paul McCartney had purchased a farm near Campbeltown in 1966 during the heyday of The Beatles, and became the most famous resident on the Kintyre Peninsula. He even wrote a song about Kintyre that became a big hit in 1977.

In November 2002, around four years after Linda’s death, the Linda McCartney Kintyre Memorial Trust opened a memorial garden in Campbeltown near where the family’s Scottish farmhouse was located, complete with a bronze statue. I had a brief visit on my final day in Campbeltown and loved the serene calm of the garden. I will definitely make a return visit. I’m not a fan of headstones or graveyard memorials. I much prefer living memorials such as Linda’s garden, the Commando Statue near Spean Bridge in the Highlands or even the Lancaster, Hurricanes and Spitfires of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

Linda’s photography is well worth checking out, and I’d especially recommend, if you a fan of sixties music, the sixties section of her website with great portraits of The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Doors and more.

My Favourite Image

Both Isle of Arran and Kintyre locations provided fantastic opportunities for photography so I’m going to cheat slightly and pick two.

My favourite Isle of Arran image has to be of the conversation at the bus stop in Lochranza. The scene just appeared front of me as I tucked into some tea and sandwiches at a café directly across from the bus stop. Initially I thought the two people in the bus shelter were waiting for one of the busy island buses, but after the conversation stopped, the couple gathered their things and started walking again. It turned out to be just a couple of walkers taking advantage of the chairs placed in the bus stop. It’s quite a common sight in many bus stops across the Highland and Islands of Scotland. I took two shots – one with the camera and the other wider one with the mobile phone. The mobile image is the prelude to the conversation with one couple still sat at the café table, that also happened to be a barrel.

The Doors

The second chosen image was taken on a Campbeltown street of an extremely weather beaten door at number 81. By the look of things, the door and walls had not seen any paint in a long time. The textures stood out from the wall and there was just a sense of time and also sadness at the state the door, walls and building had got into. No maintenance and the Scottish weather had done the rest.

A second door image shows the once bright blue door of number 107. The paint is peeling off and the locks appear to have seen no use in many a year. I just liked how the colour still had some power even though the door hadn’t seen paint in a long time. Time and the weather had taken its toll but the door still stood against the elements. I just wonder when either of the letter boxes last had a letter through them.

Photography Prints

If you would like to purchase a print of one of the photographs seen in this gallery, the Richard Flint Photography RedBubble store has a wide range of images available.

Framed prints, canvas prints, art boards, metal prints, acrylic blocks plus lots more can be found on the RedBubble store HERE.

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The Flying Scotman Returns

It’s not often that you get the opportunity to see a legend, let alone photograph one! For the second time in just over six months, I’ve been able to photograph the steam engine legend that is the Flying Scotsman.

Bad Light and Crowds

Back in December of last year i was able to stand on the foot plate of the steam locomotive. It was just a short stay, probably no more than three minutes but just standing in the cab was a thrill. The only problem that day was the weather. A typical British winter mix of grey skies and poor light combined with a lot of people taking a look at the Flying Scotsman. Hardly ideal conditions to photograph such an iconic machine.

Second Steam

Fast forward a few months and the Flying Scotsman is back! This time pulling a couple of brake vans providing a rather fun ( and no doubt lucrative for Locomotion Railway Museum) trip for railfans including myself. It was certainly the best value rail ticket I’ve ever bought! The engine itself couldn’t be photographed during ride due to no bends in the track, but the sound and ambiance more than made up for it. Instead i decided to concentrate my lens on the people enjoying the journey with me.

On the Right Track

Having the ride in the brake van was fun but what i really wanted was to get a great shot of The Flying Scotsman. The photograph had evaded me back in December due to the winter weather and light. I noticed while tootling along the track that there was a great position for photographing the train as it went by. As usual all kinds of railway ‘furniture’ cluttered up the scene and added a challenge to composition of the photograph.Fortunately there was a clear bit of line free of any distractions.

I rather like how the photograph turned out.

Photography Prints

If you would like to purchase a print of one of the photographs seen on this website, including the Flying Scotsman image seen above, the Richard Flint Photography RedBubble store has a wide range of images available.

Framed prints, canvas prints, art boards, metal prints, acrylic blocks plus lots more can be found on the RedBubble store HERE.

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Rainbow Rising

The recent images of a rainbow over the harbour the Campbeltown got me thinking about previous rainbow images I’ve taken over the years. There’s something about the colours shining through, sometimes along with a bit of rain, that has the ability to lift the spirits and acknowledge the wonder of nature.

The Campbeltown rainbow came about during a walk along the harbour front. The weather was starting to turn to rain but the blue sky and sunlight fought a good fight right to the end. Within seconds of taking the photograph the colours had started to fade and then suddenly the rainbow was gone. I did have to run a short distance to get to the right position for framing the image. Had i walked i would have missed it. The Edniburgh rainbows taken on a visit to Calton Hill stuck around for a couple of minutes before fading away. Plenty of time to get those photographs taken.

The Cornwall images were rainbows that just appeared in front of me, sat at a cafe table in Falmouth or walking by an old stone seat at the impressive Minack Theatre on the Cornish coast.

Somewhere over the Rainbow

You don’t always win with photography. Often you can see an image but actually being able to capture it with the camera can be foiled by other events. As i was passing Kennacraig in Argylle and Bute, a rainbow was shining down on the CalMac ferry MV Finlaggan. It wasn’t a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow but a Scottish ferry instead! It would have made a brilliant image but the lack of a place to stop the car and take the photograph stopped the picture taking opportunity dead . I learned long ago not to mourn for missed images. If the picture is made then success, if the photo is missed then it just wasn’t meant to be.

Photography Prints

If you would like to purchase a print of one of the rainbow photographs seen one this page, the Richard Flint Photography RedBubble store has a range of images available.

Framed prints, canvas prints, art boards, metal prints, acrylic blocks plus lots more can be found on the RedBubble store HERE.

The post Looking for a Rainbow appeared first on Richard Flint Photography.

555 Images on Redbubble

The Redbubble store continues to grow further with the recent addition of photographs from around Campbeltown and the Isles of Arran bringing the total number of images available on the store to a memorable five hundred and fifty five!

The newly added images include images of fishing boats returning and moored in harbour at Campbeltown plus other landscape and seascape images from around the coast of Arran and Kintyre.

More images from around the UK

A great range of photographs are now available to buy as framed or canvas prints, t-shirts, phone cases etc via the online shop. Other recent image additions to the store include photographs from Northumberland, the 2015 Two Towns project and several archive photographs dating back to the mid-1990s.

More images will be added over the next few months with theaim to expand the images available on Redbubble to 600+ by the summer of 2024.

Visit the store

Check out the great photography and products at the Richard Flint Photography Redbubble store  https://richflintphoto.redbubble.com/

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New TeePublic Store

I’m pleased to announce the Richard Flint Photography TeePublic store. A great range of photographs are now available to buy as wall art, clothing, phone cases etc via the online shop..

The site features many of my best images including landscape and documentary images from locations around England, Wales and Scotland.

The Richard Flint Photography TeePublic store can be found at https://www.teepublic.com/user/richardflintphoto

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Castles and Coast

Over the years, the northern county of Northumberland has played a pivotal role in my life as a photographer. It remains my favourite English county due to its rugged landscape and fascinating history. The landscape, shoreline, castles and history of Northumberland come together to create the perfect canvas for photographers. Around the same time as my visit, the photojournalist John Tordai visited the county as part of the Photographer’s Britain book series. Tordai had been brought up in Northumberland and the book was a fond look at the landscape, people and history of the ancient county. The fantastic documentary images remain a big influence on my work to this day. A small selection of images from earlier visits will be added to this gallery at a later date.

Northumberland

To say that the county has a rich history would be a bit of an understatement. As a border county with Scotland, Northumberland has seen its fair share of events that have defined the county’s history. The south of the county saw the rise of the Industrial Revolution with shipbuilding, coal mining and armaments manufacturing. Cragside House near Alnwick is an example of the wealth generated during the Victorian and Edwardian periods. it is the north of the county, however, that I’ve always found more fascinating with the castles, coastline and rugged landscape providing a lot of source material for the photographer to work with.

Once you get out into the more rural and rugged areas of Northumberland it comes as no surprise to find out that the Northumberland is the least densely populated county in England. Northumberland also has more castles than any other county in England, including those at Alnwick, Bamburgh, Dunstanburgh, Newcastle and Warkworth.

Bright Light and Bumpy Seas

The weather certainly did smile on me that week. A mixture of blue skies and clear sunshine combined with occasional more moody and darker weather. The light quality was just perfect and that helped with finding photographs in the locations visited. I had wanted to visit Lindisfarne, otherwise known as Holy Island, but time and tides got in the way. Making the most of the time on the island would have been tough due to a very early low tide. An exciting alternative idea for a return is to take a boat trip along the coast from Seahouses to Lindisfarne where the boat docks to let people look around the ancient island. Something to consider on another visit.

The sense of emptiness is always there with Northumberland. The beaches especially provide a space to be able to wander off and barely see another human for some time. Bamburgh Castle has always been a great place to try to photograph the iconic building in a new fresh way. The first images were taken from a grassy dune infested with midges around a mile south-southeast of the castle back in 1992. Some fifteen years later the photographs were taken close to and around the castle in the village of Bamburgh. For the most recent images, the location was further along the beach heading towards the distinctive Bamburgh lighthouse near some brightly decorated World War Two sea anti-tank defences painted as Rubik’s cubes, dice and toy bricks.

The biggest challenge and thrill came with the tour boat out to the Farne Islands. The wind had made the sea swell rather bumpy which made using a camera just a little more difficult. The movement of the boat and the use of an 80-200mm lens made framing the image in the viewfinder a game of timing and chance. Just the removal of a solid physical foundation to compose and shoot photographs made it so much more of a challenge. The only respite from the waves was as the boat got closer to the shore of the Islands where the waters were calmer.

Super Fast Puffin Flyer

If you enjoy a challenge then try photographing a puffin in flight. It’s not as easy as it sounds. The Farne Islands has a vast population of Puffins numbering around 37,000 pairs whose agility in the air is quite incredible. Although the puffins seem rather awkward on land they come into their own when they are in flight. They rarely fly in a straight line, Weaving and bobbing in the air at what seem incredible speeds, makes the task of getting a shot of a puffin in flight with a telephoto lens extremely challenging. I took many shots but came away with the opinion that it would take a lot of time and practice to get the photograph I’d be happy with.

The Guillemots colonies were easier to photograph from the tour boat and I was especially pleased with several of the photographs. I even managed to get one with a flyby from a passing guillemot. Fortunately, the movement of the boat was less energetic than further out to sea which helped reduce the problems of correctly framing images. I did wonder how some of the more dedicated bird photographers with their big lenses had got on. I’d found it tricky shooting with a 200mm let alone a 400mm or more.

The Darling Lighthouse

The Longstone Lighthouse looked fabulous in its red and white paint with a blue sky background. The tour guide even pointed out the window that had been Grace Darling’s where she had seen the wreckage of the Forfarshire, a ship carrying 62 people. The Forfarshire had foundered on the rocks and broken in half; one of the halves had sunk during the night. Darling, aged just 22, and her father, William, determined that the weather was too rough for the lifeboat to put out from Seahouses, so they took a 21ft rowing boat across to the survivors, covering a distance of nearly a mile (about 1.5 km). Darling kept the coble steady in the water, while her father helped five survivors into the boat.

Grace’s story after the rescue is sadly a short one. She died from tuberculosis four years later. During that time she became a national heroine for her actions during the rescue. Both Grace and her father were awarded the Silver Medal for Bravery by the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, later named the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

Monochrome or Colour?

A number of the images in the gallery are in black and white, in some cases next to the colour version of the same image. I’ve added both versions because I couldn’t decide on which I preferred. Some images just worked better in black and white. I do enjoy working in both colour and monochrome and I can see myself doing more of that in the future. The Mull of Galloway Gallery provided a valuable lesson in not trying to limit the work created to just colour or monochrome. I have found a good workflow for black-and-white images, after probably too long a period of being too set on digital colour photography and being unsure about what digital black-and-white could deliver. It’s just about experimenting and finding some process that delivers the result you want.

My Favourite Image

So many great shots were taken during the week-long visit to Northumberland. I recorded a couple of podcasts detailing my favourite photos, and to be honest I cheated and picked two. For this page though I’ll stick with one image – the couple on Alnmouth Beach. There are two versions in the gallery. One colour and the other the image I’ve chosen. I like both but prefer the monochrome tones better. I think it concentrates the viewer on the couple without the distractions of the yellow, green and blue tones of the colour version.

There is also something else there. Photographs usually say a lot about the photographer who has taken the image. The sheer sense of fun and joy shown by the couple adds an element of envy. Who wouldn’t want to be young and in love again? Are they embracing because they have just got engaged? Or is it because they are just having some fun on an empty beach, enjoying the distraction-free moment of just being together?

We’ll never know.

Photography Prints

If you would like to purchase a print of one of the photographs seen in this gallery, the Richard Flint Photography RedBubble store has a wide range of images available.

Framed prints, canvas prints, art boards, metal prints, acrylic blocks plus lots more can be found on the RedBubble store HERE.

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