Abandoned Landscapes
This project began with an idea: how to make places considered ‘ugly’ into beautiful images. There are many beautiful landscapes… and sometimes, hidden within them, are some surprising places; places we knew nothing of. My aim with this project was to bring these places to light, to show our disappearing worlds which few of us know about or have ever seen.
Here are a few of those which I photographed in early 2023 as part of this project.
Bogside Explosives Factory, Irvine
Irvine from Bogside
This image was taken as an added bonus on my return from the abandoned Bogside Explosives Factory site in Irvine. It was a rather chilly -4 degrees on the morning of the shoot, which created the inversion layer seen here over the Firth of Clyde, giving the snow-covered hills of the Isle of Arran an ethereal floating appearance.
Crail Airfield
This place is a landscape photographer’s dream - set beside the beautiful coastline of East Fife by the village of Crail. The image here is the most well-known building of the old HMS Jackdaw site, showing the control tower and part of the runway. Shot just before dusk on a cool February evening.
Hartwood Hospital
This building is one of many on the old hospital site near Harthill, in central Scotland. The building is typical of many such asylum buildings seen in central Scotland, which housed psychiatric patients in the 19th century. The two clock towers impose over the site, now derelict and vandalised.
Riccarton Junction - the old Stationmaster’s House
One of the more difficult locations to get to, Riccarton Junction is set south of Hawick in the Scottish Borders. In its day the only way in to this remote location was by rail, and Riccarton Junction housed the railway workers and their families until the late 1960s. To get to this location today there is a good path in along the old railway line from the Riccarton Junction Heritage centre, and a 30-40 minute walk will take you through a Forestry Commission site to see the old railway platform and remaining buildings, now very overgrown.
This image was taken late afternoon in mid-February, with the sun beginning to go down across the Border hills in the background.
Loch Long Torpedo Range - The Launch Site
This site is easily accessible from the main road just round from Arrochar. There is a good path which leads initially to the pier and continuing on to the image seen here where the short-range test torpedos were launched into Loch Long. The range was in operation from 1912-1986. On the day of this shoot, the cloud base remained low around 100 feet, giving rise to the eery mists and a ghostly ambiance.
Loch Long Torpedo Range - “The Raven”
This image was shot at the right side of the building in the first Loch Long image, and shows some very artistic graffiti including that of a raven (zoom in to the centre of the image; it’s on the wall next to the second letter ‘A’). Shot during a break in the rain, there was very little wind at this point which provided a nice reflection in the water under the old pier structures.
Loch Long Torpedo Range - The Rails
Whilst the weather had been very wet and not at all appealing to go out in, for photography this provided a number of benefits - not just the superb misty atmosphere which fitted this project perfectly, but also a number of rather large puddles which provided the mirror effect seen here of the derelict shed roof. These rails led out of the shed and to where I took this image, which was next to the turning point at which the rails then led to the water’s edge (as seen in the Launch Site image). The silence after the rain was tangibly eery in the mists. Well worth the visit!
Struan Jetty, Skye - old farmhouse
The first of two houses down this narrow road at Struan Ferry. I knew when I turned into the single-track road that I was in for a treat; the sun was shining and these now derelict houses told their own story of people and the fishing industry here which has now gone from this isolated yet beautiful landscape.
Struan Jetty, Skye - “The Crumpled Roof”
The second of the two derelict houses, this one is closest to the ferry which sits at the end of this track. The roof of this building caught my eye, the curvy shape creating its own derelict beauty as it falls into increasing amounts of disrepair as time goes by. No doubt if I’m lucky enough to visit again in 5 years time it could look quite different.
Trumpan Church, Skye
This church at Waternish Point on Skye saw one of the (many) conflicts between the Macdonalds and Macleods, when it was razed to the ground in May 1577 with the Macleod clan still inside at Sunday service. This geographically isolated site is full of history which is truly tangible. Well worth a visit - regardless of the weather! It was rather difficult to find, but there is a useful small car park to the other side of the wall seen here.
Tarlair Lido
Situated at the cliffs beside the village of Macduff, Tarlair was opened in 1931 and has lain derelict since the 1990s. The A-listed Art Deco derelict building shown here was once the hub of this busy seaside lido, where the waters were refreshed with each high tide. This shot was taken on the path which runs up the side of the cliffs towards the golf course, where an eagles-eye view of the site can be taken.
Tarlair Lido - Sea View
Shot at low tide, this shows the three pools at the lido which are refreshed by the North Sea at each high tide. Chilly but beautiful!