broad daylight

28/10/2024

Wonderful to have our () portrait of The Proclaimers included in ‘Celebrating 40 years of Scotland’s Photography Collection’, an exhibition currently on display at The Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

The exhibition features world-class photographers such as Diane Arbus, Don McCullen, Julia Margaret Cameron, Bert Hardy, Robert Mapplethorpe, Joseph McKenzie, David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson, Oscar Marzaroli, Annie Leibovitz, Alfred Eisenstaedt and many, many more.

The first five images in this post were taken during the private view on Friday evening. We’re chuffed that our portrait of The Proclaimers has appeared in several exhibition reviews, the final photo here shows it featured in The Herald.

See project the portrait is from at: www. broaddaylightltd.co.uk/-as-others-see-us/gallery

Thank you to everyone at National Galleries of Scotland and The Scottish National Portrait Gallery for your hard work putting this exhibition together.

The exhibition is on until Sunday 16 March 2025, open daily from 10am-5pm.

All images copyright and subject to terms and conditions.

14/10/2024

14/10/2024

For a’ that and a’ that
Then let us pray that come it may,
As come it will for a’ that
That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth
Shall bear the gree, and a’ that.
For a’ that and a’ that
It’s comin yet for a’ that
That Man to Man the warld o’er
Shall brothers be for a’ that.

Over the years we created several portraits of Alex Salmond mostly commissioned by Holyrood magazine. The shoots took place in our studio, on location and at Bute House.

This particular image shot at the Scottish Parliament was taken for our Burns inspired ‘as others see us’ project, stands out as our favourite. Alex chose ‘A Man’s a Man for a’ That’ as his favourite Burns poem. While we could have opted for the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland, Bute House in Edinburgh’s Charlotte Square, we wanted a modern setting that embodied a progressive Scotland. This powerful poem strips away pomp and the deals the themes of liberty, equality, and universal human rights. Also, it was sung at the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. For these reasons we chose to depict Alex within The Scottish Parliament, using the building's clean lines and simple forms to convey a contemporary, forward-looking Scotland.

This was the last portrait to be shot for the project. It took place just before Christmas and there was a celebratory mood all round, during the shoot we could hear school children singing Christmas carols in the main building.

Despite having a bad cold, Alex arrived on time and was incredibly cooperative, trusting our direction and recognizing the significance of the imagery we aimed to create.

He was later quoted as saying “This project celebrates Scotland's cultural past and also our current creative talent by showcasing the excellent work of the photographers Tricia Malley and Ross Gillespie and also the enduring legacy of Burns' vast canon of work. The perfect accomplishment to mark a fantastic year of Homecoming.”

RIP Alex Salmond.

10/04/2024

So sad to hear about the death of Professor Peter Higgs. We met Peter when we were shooting his portrait as part of ‘Portraits of Excellence’, a project commissioned by The University of Edinburgh in the late nineties. This image was also used in the University in-house magazine Edit illustrating an article on Peter. Due to it’s usage in this publication we received the accolade of ‘Best B/W image’ in a prestigious industry magazine award, no one was more surprised than Peter. He was reserved in front of the camera, almost shy, but he lit up when we asked him to describe his theory as simply as possible. He spent 25 minutes of his precious time attempting to explain it to two d***y photographers. Peter was truly an exceptional physicist and teacher and a thoroughly lovely man.

The Portraits of Excellence project is held in the permanent collection of The Scottish National Portrait Gallery.