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Book specifications:
Published September 2009 by Woodland Publishing. ISBN 978-1-905547-09-8
Hardback (242 x 210mm) 112 pp. £15.00
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Mike McCartney's North Highlands
Through the years, the North Highlands of Scotland have fascinated and drawn in artists from all over the world. Here is Mike McCartney's journey.
From LS Lowry, who painted Wick and Thurso, to the poet Norman MacCaig and the writer Neil Gunn - just to mention a few - art has tried to imitate life in this beautiful stretch of the British Isles.
Following in that great tradition is Mike McCartney. For two weeks in April, 2008, McCartney recorded his impressions of an area that he admits is almost impossible to capture fully. That is part of its elusive allure.
But this resulting photographic exhibition - Mike McCartney's North Highlands - is another important contribution to the eternal quest to define one of the most stunning areas in the world. The North Highlands are impossible to capture in a single phrase, painting or photograph.
That is because the light, the seasons and the people are constantly changing on a landscape that is timeless - yet, simultaneously shaped by the past, absorbed in the present and embracing the future.
It is to this physical and social landscape that McCartney has brought his sharp eye and keen intelligence - but also his trademark Scouse humour, well-honed from his earlier days in the satirical group, the Scaffold.
McCartney was commissioned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise to highlight the area's beauty and diversity and as a place in which to live, to work and to escape. His journey was an epic one and his days long. But his sheer enthusiasm and passion for his art - and The North Highlands - shines through this stunning collection of images.
McCartney's photography has a poetry and a rhythm but also a sense of reportage, that magical quality of capturing a time, a place and a moment in a single image. He has a talent for taking pictures that never leave you because they often contain more complex messages than is obvious at first glance.
McCartney is not a complete stranger to the area. He mounted an exclusive public exhibition of his Live8 photographs for the award-winning John Lennon Northern Lights Festival at Durness in September 2007 - including portraits of his brother Paul, of Travis and of Annie Lennox. The exhibition attracted worldwide interest. After travelling to Durness to open the exhibition, McCartney was struck by the diversity of the area.
'It left quite a mark and I wanted to return to take part in this big project, but I feel that I�ve only touched the tip of the iceberg,' he said. 'I think the North Highlands are unique and there are few more fascinating places. The area has the rare ability to keep drawing people back - including me! In fact the North Highlands were a well-kept Scottish secret ... till now.'
Every picture tells a story, but Mike McCartney takes his art one step further. For him, as you will see, every story tells a picture.