Arts / Local photographers shine in new exhibition
The work of 12 Islesburgh Photographic Club members is going on show – while vintage cameras are part of the display too
“YOU can speak to people so much more precisely and emotionally with an image than with words.”
That is the view of Islesburgh Photographic Club member Stuart Hubbard as he surveys the group’s latest exhibition at the Shetland Museum and Archives ahead of its opening this weekend.
And who would argue against him? The photo collection, called Seen Furt, is striking stuff, telling tales of Shetland life from Up Helly Aa and the Swan to the Sumburgh Head lighthouse and the isles’ wildlife.
Not only are there the 42 photos hanging on the wall, but Chris Smith has put some of his huge collection of vintage cameras on show, which date back more than 100 years.
There are also four old cameras which people can touch, feel and gaze at, which will no doubt pique the curiosity of the youngest generation who perhaps have never heard of photo film or darkrooms, or even held a proper camera or pushed a shutter button.
Accompanying Seen Furt is Past and Present, a display in Da Briggiestanes area of the building which pairs archival images from the museum’s collection with contemporary recreations, offering an intriguing glimpse into Shetland’s evolving scenery.
The word furt means outside the house, and the club’s exhibition – showcasing the work of 12 photographers – has been heralded as a tribute Shetland’s beauty.
Hubbard said there are around 18 or 20 members in the club in total, which meets monthly at Islesburgh in Lerwick and has been on the go for decades.
“Each one of the member will have a particular strength and they’ll maybe do a talk on what they might do,” he explained.
“So somebody might talk about a particular piece of software, or a particular camera technique.
“There will be competitions with other clubs, there will be exhibitions. There’s a little group of us that likes movies, so we do different bits and pieces.”
Photography, of course, is a different beast in 2025 – given that most people effectively have a camera, a decent one at that, in their pocket.
Hubbard said, though, that developing film is becoming quite popular again, perhaps mirroring how vinyl has made a comeback in music too.
While he acknowledges it does not quite have the same “romance or allure” of age-old methods, Hubbard was quick to praise digital photography as a way of reproducing what the eye can see.
“We’re living in 2025,” Hubbard adds. “We’re all photographers – some of us are better than others. Everybody is taking images nowadays; not everybody will print them out, not everybody will take the same care, not everybody will hang them on the wall.
“But the phone cameras are extraordinary, and what they do excellently – you take a picture of something and you post it on the internet in one slick movement. I can’t do that with a camera.
“But it’s so powerful. You can speak to people so much more precisely and emotionally with an image than with words.”
At the complete other end of the photography spectrum and slap bang in the centre of the exhibition space is Chris Smith’s collection of vintage cameras, which feel a world away from iPhones and touchscreens.
They offer a timeline of photographic technology from 1903 to 1998, and some of the items able to be handled include a Box Brownie camera from 1930 and a Kodak Duaflex from 1947.
Smith reckons he has around 200 pieces in his collection – things “spiralled” after he bought some box cameras.
He will also host a series of workshops offering a hands-on experience with pinhole photography and the printing process cyanotype, inviting young people and adults to explore different techniques.
Shetland Museum’s exhibitions officer Karen Clubb, meanwhile, reckons the Islesburgh club’s “evolution over the years, adapting and experimenting with digital advancements, is remarkable”.
The exhibition has been described as the work of amateur photographers, but the end result feels very professional indeed.
If folk like what they see enough to dip into their pockets – for money, not their phone camera – then framed photographs and prints will be available for sale as well as range of merchandise.
The Seen Furt exhibition in the museum’s Gadderie space opens to the public on Sunday (9 February) and will be on display until Sunday 27 April.
The Islesburgh Photographic Club meets on the first Wednesday of every month. More information can be found here.
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