A Community Photo Story by Eddie Barclay, Fiona Jamieson, John Jamieson, Kacho Naseem Haider Khan, Lorraine Kerr, Catherine MacDonald, Natalie MacDonald, Francis Reilly & Adrian Wyer
The Vale of Leven has a fascinating heritage and, if you know where to look, there is evidence of its proud past all around our community.
As part of Clydesider’s creative storytelling projects, we teamed up with members of the Vale Trust to explore the past lying on their doorstep and capture it on camera.
Over six weeks the group learned new photography skills from Clydesider’s Creative Lead, Caroline Finn, before heading out to different areas of the Vale with their cameras and phones.
The sun shone on the group as they enjoyed a walk along Main Street and around Christie Park practising architectural photography and composition techniques.
The following session Clydesider volunteer Katie Kennedy, who helped support the group, ‘blagged’ (an important photography technique) everyone a guided tour of the Maid of the Loch.
Here they looked for details and patterns as each participant looks at the vessel and the Loch from their own point of view.
The final heritage walk took the group to Renton where, thanks to Duncan Thomson at the Strathleven Artisans, they discovered the village’s links to King Robert the Bruce and practiced their environmental photography before enjoying a peaceful stroll beside the Leven capturing images of its natural heritage.
The group then selected their favourite images to be included in their booklet and displayed in an end-of-project exhibition; a selection of these photos will also be showcased at Clydesider’s annual Community Exhibition on November 1 2024 at Dalmuir Barclay Church.
These fantastic images clearly show the past is all around us and it still has a story to tell…
