Wednesday 22 July 2015

A Review of Recent Happenings

If you're a fan of my Facebook page (and if you're not, you REALLY should be!), you've probably noticed that I have been keeping fairly busy this summer with the photography and I wanted to give you a quick update on how things are going.


At the start of the summer, I decided to make the effort to visit some new places around the Scottish coast. It's dead easy to slip into the habit of only going to the same places over and over again because you learn quite quickly that those are the places where you've got a good chance of getting a few nice photographs. But then of course, you don't know what you're missing! So far this year, I've tried out a few new places on the east coast of Scotland, and have visited coastal reserves around Tayport, North Queensferry, the Solway Coast and Seaton Cliffs which have been pretty nice!


To make it extra simple for you to find the blog posts about different sites, I've also put together a Google Map which lists all the various locations with links to my thoughts on them (under "Location Guides" on the drop down menu). The map works better in full-screen view rather than embedded in the blogger template, but I've left a handy link for you so can enjoy the more spacious version!


I've also done a bit of work for the Glasgow Science Festival this year, which has largely involved taking photographs of some of their big events. One of the projects I was particularly involved with was the "Creel to Meal" event, which followed the journey that Scottish seafood makes from the sea to your plate. My role in that project was to document that journey, all the way from a creel boat in Loch Fyne to kitchens in Stravaigin, Glasgow. I also took photographs at their two big weekend events: the Kelvingrove weekend and Science Sunday, which showcase some of the best research happening around Glasgow for the public. It's an incredible amount of fun, and an awesome way to spend a couple of weeks taking photographs and playing with science!


After the science festival, I was straight on a ship and heading back out to the Porcupine Abyssal Plain for three weeks of work. We were lucky enough to be visited by dolphins and baby whales on the way out, but the trip also gave me an opportunity to catch up on some old projects. The longest-running project is one I started about 4 years ago when I began my PhD and which is currently (and very imaginatively) called "Days at Sea". You can read more about that particular project here.


All my current projects and commissioned work also have their own space on my Wild Ocean Photography website too!

So it's been a busy few weeks all in all! Here's to a few more!


Tuesday 7 July 2015

Gone fishing...

On the offchance(!) that you aren't currently following the official Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP) Observatory blog, I thought I'd leave you a wee link to the post I wrote for them at the weekend about our trawling work. Enjoy!

https://papobservatory.wordpress.com/2015/07/06/gone-fishing/

Bringing the nets on board

The armoured grenadier, Coryphaenoides armatus, caught from 4850 m down!

Some of the other animals from the trawl catches. Left: Brittle stars (Ophiuroidea); Middle top: A sea cucumber (Holothuroidea); Middle: an Abyssal Grenadier (Coryphaenoides profundicolus); Middle bottom: an isopod; Right: A sea spider (Pycnogonidae)