Archived
A Second Solo Exhibition by James Millar
21st January –
6th March 2022
A Love Letter to Perthshire is a personal photographic journey by James Millar, in response to this magical corner of the world, taken over the past six years. James has had a life-long connection with Aberfeldy, its environs and its people. The collection features tintype portraits and landscape photography in a variety of photographic media.
The tintypes James makes are created with exactly the same process used in Victorian times. They are one-off images that can’t be reproduced, made on a sheet of metal with the image rendered in pure silver.
‘Singer/Songwriter Foy Vance’ | 17 x 24 inch; Glicee print from Wet Plate Collodion Tintype; £520
Two Exhibition Openings
10am – 5pm | Friday 21st & Saturday 22nd January, 2022
Two longer-than-usual all-day free openings to increase the flow of visitors, and ease customers’ minds that the gallery will not be too crowded at one time. Zanna the curator will host on Friday all day, and James the artist will host on Saturday; an opportunity to have questions answered and hear him explain his process. Light refreshments will be served on both days.
‘The Fishing Hut’ | Glen Quaich Road; 13 x 19 inch framed glicee print 🔴
James Millar is an award-winning photographer whose career began in press photography and has since spanned portraiture, documentary, landscape, street photography, and the Victorian analogue wet plate collodion process. James’ photographs have been published internationally, he has worked with the Photographers’ Gallery in London, and has produced four books of his work: Dinner at the Circus: A Month in France under the Big Top; A Winter Journey: Aberfeldy, Kenmore and Glen Lyon in Photographs; Corbenic Poetry Path: Collected Poems; and How to Make Tintypes: Getting Started in the Wet Plate Collodion Process. He was shortlisted for the 2021 Scottish Portrait Photographer of the Year awards.
Selected Small, Medium & Large Glicee Framed Prints
Small: £320 (13 x 19 inches) | Medium £520 (17 x 24 inches) | Large (sizes & prices listed individually)
Framed Tintypes
Each 10 x 8 inch framed print: £520
“It is an honour to have an exhibition that celebrates the wealth of creativity, jaw-dropping beauty, mystery and talented folk of Highland Perthshire. James’ work is a less literal form of photography than you may be used to seeing; the tintype images in particular, with their “maker’s mark” serendipitous accidental artefacts, and unpredictable nature, are close to paintings. He is one of a handful of practitioners in the UK using this technique of picture-making and the show offers remarkable insight into this mercurial vision.”
‘The Chinese Room’ | Taymouth Castle; 10 x 8 inch Wet Plate Collodion Tintype; £520
“I was granted a rare opportunity to take my Victorian camera inside Taymouth Castle to photograph the interior of this Perthshire landmark building in 2018. After an intensive renovation project, with plans to open as a hotel in 2016, this iconic Victorian edifice had once more closed its doors, and only a skeleton staff remained.
Two years before I made this tintype, I’d been welcomed into the castle to shoot the interior. An army of people were buzzing about working on the building, a PR team were marketing the venue, the bar was stocked, and the hotel was poised to open three months after my visit. Fast-forward a couple of years, and one of the few remaining care-taking staff allowed me access back into the space, leaving me to set up my camera while they ran some errands. Buckets has been placed in the grand corridors to collect the rain water coming in from above, the still-stocked bar had gathered a layer of dust, and this golden place was facing entropy once more. The castle had an eery quality, and when I was making the 18-minute exposure in the dimly-lit room, it occurred to me I was the only person left in this huge building. I felt a cold chill, hunched in my little make-shift darkroom, all alone in a vast castle. I packed up pretty quickly after making this image.”
James Millar has been fascinated with photography since the age of seven; he normally works for other people, shooting performers, events, magazine features, or architectural photography commissions. This is his second extensive foray into developing a body of work of a more personal nature on his own artistic journey. James is recognised as a collectable photographic artist.
James’ blog of the same name – A Love Letter to Perthshire – offers fascinating and beautifully composed insights into the work and life of this unique photographer.
‘The Roman Bridge’ | Glen Lyon; 10 x 8 inch Wet Plate Collodion Tintype; £520