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Michael Faint
Michael Faint is a photographer who lives on the island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides. He divides his time between his photography practice and running SkyDancer Coffee Roasters with his wife Sarah in Lochboisdale where his gallery space is located.
Stephen Ely
Steve Ely is a poet, novelist and biographer based at the University of Huddersfield, where he is Director of the Ted Hughes Network. He has written over a dozen books of poetry, including the award winning/nominated books Oswald’s Book of Hours, Incendium Amoris and The European Eel. He has also written a novel, Ratmen, and Ted Hughes’s South Yorkshire, a biographical work about the poet's formative years. His most recent books of poems (all 2024) are all explorations of nature and landscape in the context of culture & the self: Eely explores autobiography, ecology and the anthropocene through the lens of the European eel; Orasaigh is a visionary improvisation set in the landscape of the eponymous Hebridean islet; Apocalyptic Landscape is an anthology he edited comprising entries to an international competition based on his course, ‘Writing the Apocalyptic Landscape’.
Charlotte Parkin
Head of Marketing & Sub Editor for On Landscape. Dabble in digital photography, open water swimmer, cooking buff & yogi.
Orasaigh is a collaboration between poet Steve Ely and photographer Michael Faint, inspired by the tidal island of Orasaigh, just off the coast of South Uist at Boisdale. The project reflects their shared response to the island’s landscape and wider themes connected to the area.
Stephen’s poem, while rooted in the place itself, explores broader issues such as rising sea levels, environmental change, history, culture, and class. Michael’s photographs offer a strong visual impression of the island, standing alongside the poem as a distinct but connected perspective.
Together, the poem and images offer a thoughtful and layered view of Orasaigh, presenting the island as both a fragile and hopeful symbol in the face of current global challenges.
What’s your connection to Orasaigh on the Isle of South Uist?
SE: I’ve been holidaying once or twice a year in South Uist since 2008. I’ve come to love the place – landscapes, wildlife, people, language, culture - and in 2019, I unexpectedly found myself writing about it.
MF: I’ve lived and worked in South Uist since 2019. Most of my photographs over the last six years are of Uist. My website, ansolasoir.com, is a translation of The Golden Light to Gaelic.
Both: Tell us more about how you two connected and how the project came about.
SE: After I’d written the poem, it struck me that it was very visual and that it would work well with photographic accompaniment. I found Mike’s website online and was very impressed with his work, which seemed to address landscape in a way congenial with my own approach. At about the same time, the photographer Alex Boyd, who was aware of the poem, recommended Mike to me. Mike and I connected online, and the collaboration developed from there.
MF: Steve dropped me a mail, we had a chat, and he sent the poem over. Once I had read it, I thought that there was a lot to work with and was intrigued by the potential for a collaboration.