DUNCAN McEWAN (Published Sept 2004)
A 21st birthday present of a Kodak Retinette 1b, followed five years later by an SLR (a Minolta SRT 101) first got Duncan snapping, mainly to record hill walking excursions. Soon afterwards, a visit to a showing of the Paisley International Exhibition opened his eyes to what photography had to offer and membership of Paisley Colour Club quickly followed. From there it progressively developed into a full-time pastime (degenerative disease?). Being an exclusively colour slide club had its advantages but meant that he missed out on monochrome and colour printing work.
Bill McCance and the late Dr Ian Bowie were the leading lights in Paisley Colour at that time and a great deal was learned from these two fine photographers, as well as from the many excellent lecturers and judges who visited the Club. Ian's close-up natural history work particularly impressed and, with a degree in Biology, it was only natural that Duncan should drift down this route with botanical and insects being his favoured subjects rather than the more fashionable birds and large mammals. Landscape, sport and general pictorial work grabbed his attention as well, even in those early days. A naturally competitive streak led him into entering national and international exhibitions and for many years this provided great motivation in his pursuit of potentially successful pictures.
Gaining photographic distinctions has never interested him, although he recognises that for many, it can prove a worthwhile and motivating challenge. Maybe he was put off by a certain member of the Royal Photographic Society who told him he would get nowhere in photography without an "F" or an "A". That in itself proved to be something of a challenge!
Priorities inevitably change over a 30-year period both in terms of subject matter and what use is made of the mounting collection of images. Although natural history, landscape and sport are still the main areas of interest, the balance has changed over time with landscape photography currently dominant, partly due to shooting pictures for numerous Scottish calendars. He has no single favourite location - a location being only as good as the prevailing light makes it. Lecturing, judging, writing articles, teaching at workshops and leading photographic courses take up a lot of his time. Apart from running his own photographic weekends he also leads courses/holidays for Light and Land as well as at the Inversnaid Photography Centre.
He is perceived in some quarters as being a bit of a digital dinosaur and has yet to take his first steps down that route - at times he feels he is so far behind that it may not be worth going to the starting line! However, he fully recognises that digital is here to stay and eventually all will be so, but until then it is vitally important that clubs cater for all photographic interests. He is always conscious that Paisley Colour was formed in 1955 as a breakaway from Paisley Photographic Society, because the old guard refused to recognise the arrival of colour transparencies.
Over a twenty-five year period, apart from the odd compulsory year off, he has served on the council of Paisley Colour and has been privileged to serve three terms as President, with another looming to coincide with the Club's Golden Jubilee year in 2005. For many years he organised the Natural History Section of the Paisley International, eventually taking over as Exhibition Chairman. A dedicated Minolta user, he has been Scottish Regional organiser for the Minolta Club of Great Britain for almost 20 years, arranging meetings and outings for Minolta users in Scotland.
He has always been a strong supporter of the camera club scene and believes that there is no better way of improving one's photography. Consequently, he puts much time and work into visiting clubs to lecture and judge and should have greater freedom to travel further afield now that he has retired after 36 years as a biology teacher. He does have one pet hate as far as judging is concerned and that is the obsession with requiring marks for pictures. Having persuaded Paisley Colour to abandon marks about 8 years ago, he seldom misses an opportunity to try to get other clubs to do likewise. The only situation where he finds marking is justified is in inter-club contests.
Most embarrassing moment was when he forgot to turn up at a local camera club - they had sent a reminder but it was about 3 months previously. An enquiring phone call at 7.45pm jolted him into action - no problem, he would be there within 10 minutes, but as he went out of the house he discovered he had no transport because his wife was away in the car. Attempts to phone the venue proved fruitless as the hall keeper was off to the pub. Eventually he got there about 8.30pm to a rousing, good humoured but embarrassing reception.
There have been many highlights over the years - winning awards/prizes always give a boost; invitations to be part of special events such as the NCPF in its centenary year are honours to be valued; being an official photographer for the Millennium Commonwealth Youth Games for sheer buzz and excitement; but perhaps the greatest moment was leading Paisley Colour to two PAGB Club Championship wins back in the early eighties.
Future aspirations are to continue what he is doing at the moment for as long as he can - exploring his beloved Scotland, producing new lectures, helping others to improve and enjoy their photography, to make new friends through photography and if time permits, learn a few digital tricks!
Editor.