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Tim Parkin
Amateur Photographer who plays with big cameras and film when in between digital photographs.
Craig Aitchison's panoramas of Scotland mine a well used vein of place and form probably most well known from photographer Colin Prior. Craig undoubetdly knows this inspiration and should be very pleased to get a testimonial from Colin himself. This isn't to suggest that the book is a clone of Colin's well known output but there is a sense of initial familiarity when browsing the book. The images are nearly all panoramas and come with another feature enjoyed in Colin's books, the annotated map - definitely a useful addition for use landscape photographers who was to visit some of the stunning locations depicted herein.
Although each image is associated with a caption showing the camera and lens used and a short caption, there is a chapter in the back called "Chasing the Light" where Craig talks about the making of a few of his pictures including a dramatic bicycle plummet over the edge of an icy bridge (fortunately riderless!). Almost all are taken on an XPan with 30, 45 or 90mm lenses with the occasional Konica Minolta 5D image from earlier in his travel. It's a testament to the quality of the XPan camera that it is only on close inspection of the full double page spreads (25" x 10") that image quality isn't perfect - not quite Colin's 617 output but perfectly adequate to the task of an oversize panoramic book!
Overall the reproduction is of good quality with only the occasional magenta mountain and would make a great supplement alongside's Colin's mountainous books. You can see more of Craig Aitchison's work at his website Land and Light where you can purchase the book or prints.
