LHM Photo UK - Exhibitions and Commissions

A collection of my Fine Art Photography is on display at Hullabloo in Dumfries until the 4th August. Please do call in for a coffee or book in for lunch/dinner if you have time, the food is very good! 

Many thanks to those of you who have been and enjoyed your time there and given me such lovely feedback about the exhibition. Some of you even taking selfies standing next to the frames and tagging me in on social media!

Plans for my next exhibition at Shambellie Walled Garden are well underway (dates and more details to follow soon). I've been having a blooming lovely time taking photographs of many of the flowers and plants at the garden and in the studio. It's such a peaceful place to spend time and each time we have guests to stay at the Tower we enjoy sharing the beautiful garden with them. It's good to have it so close by, as our own garden looks rather too much like a jungle at the moment.

I've been adding my own textures and backgrounds to images and I'm happily discovering new ways of creating depth and interest.  When out and about with my camera, I never let a good texture pass me by and have built up quite a library. I love to experiment by overlaying multiple images or blending together one or even two different textures. The results can be really satisfying.

  

Today I received a commission from two lovely ladies who popped up to the Tower. They both live in the village and have asked if I can supply them with a collection of my own Fine Art greeting cards. I'm delighted!! 

I created a range of cards featuring my own work and the work of a number of other artists a few years ago and can't wait to get started with a new collection. 

Nexus - The Journey

I look for the beautiful and the good in everything. I've never been one who finds it easy to express myself freely in words and so my camera has become the tool to help communicate my own thoughts and feelings. 

My work often takes me off into other worlds far away. In these out-of-the-ordinary places I find myself inspired by the magic of forests and enchanted places. I search for doorways between two worlds, nexus points which seem to almost suspend time, a moment of revelation, a flash of inspiration...

And dare you enter through these gates

To seek another world beyond?

And will you leave these life estates,

To dabble in the Lucid Bond?

But thus compelled to venture forth

Each step more certain, more secure,

Dare you push the iron girth

To enter into life more pure?

Only the strong in heart and mind

May enter through this nexus point

Thus move between two worlds combined 

And sweet release do then appoint.

Taken from 'The Journey' by Laura Hudson Mackay, poetry Hudson Mackay Collaboration

LHM Fine Art - Website Update

Hello, it has been a mixed up weekend so far, as due to illness we have sadly had to cancel plans at the last minute to head up north in Herman our campervan. We were very much looking forward to a lovely weekend out and about with friends in the fresh Scottish air with a wedding ceilidh to join in too!

But, there is some good news... at long last the finishing touches have been added to my website and I can now share it with you!  Check it out here...

Laura Hudson Mackay Photography

There are now five galleries in total, which include images of places been and people met along the way. There are a number of flower and still life photographs, many not seen before. There are also some images from my popular and ongoing 'In Arabian Nights' collection, which I will add more to soon.

Other new additions are a link to my facebook and Twitter pages.  I'd love you to visit and give me your feedback. Please feel free to say 'hello' and leave a comment.

Thank you for looking!


Laura x

Places and Spaces

I'm always on the look out for interesting places to hang my work for sale. Having just moved to South West Scotland, I'm looking to organise exhibiting my artwork as much as possible. Excitingly, the first exhibition I have planned is for the month of July 2014 and at Hullabaloo, in Dumfries! I'll be posting more about the exhibition nearer the time, but I'm looking forward to it. Hullabaloo is a great space, the food is delicious and the setting, a converted 18c Mill, which also houses the Robert Burns Film Theatre (the smallest in Scotland) is on the banks of the River Nith. 

If you are the owner/manager of a place which would like to host an exhibition or commission me to create a special image for your wall. Please send me an email, I'd love to say "Hello".

If you have a photograph by LHM, then please email me a picture of it hanging in your home or restaurant, I'd love to add your images to this collection. 

Love, Laura 
email: info@hudsonmackay.com

All On A Misty Morning

We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright!

Looking Back

I've not blogged for a while as I moved house a few weeks ago and things have been a little hectic. Now thankfully, everything has calmed down again and my husband and I, along with our two Scottish Terriers are enjoying our new life in the country.

So, to kick off this blogging year (better late than never), I thought I'd say goodbye to last year with a quick round up of some random images I took during 2013.

 We stumbled upon a number of wonderful windmills at Consuegra, on our road trip from Toledo to Cordoba. 

A macro image of the rope on a lobster pot taken at the Isle of Whithorn, South West Scotland.

This Moroccan orange looked so good, i just had to photograph it half eaten.

Riad Romm'an, our holiday home in Marrakech, Morocco.

From a collection of photographs I called 'Small Faces' taken at Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes in Toledo, Spain.

Gnawa musician, Morocco.

Sunflower, spotted in Carcassonne on our road trip through France.

A square near the Mellah in Marrakech, Morocco.

An exhibition piece entitled 'The Djinn of le Palais de Bahia' exhibited and sold at a Bespoke Art Gallery exhibition at House For An Art Lover, Glasgow.

On our road trip to the Sahara desert. A photo of our guide Jbillo, who lead us on camels into the desert to camp overnight under the stars...magical!

I took this photograph when I was busy packing up the contents of our home. Phew, we made it to our new home, now for more unpacking...

Thank you for taking time to look through these images from 2013, I hope you like one or two. Please feel free to leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you.  More soon, Laura x

Hasselblad - Vintage Love

I love photography, I live and breathe it. 

So I'm delighted to introduce the latest edition to my camera collection.... A Hasselblad 500c from 1957, Isn't it gorgeous?

I've cleaned the camera, its lenses and numerous, beautiful accessories. I've read all the original manuals, still in perfect condition that were tucked neatly in the front pocket of the leather kit bag. The 120 roll film has arrived, so ready to go! 

It has been a while since I used film. At college I managed to source a Large Format 5x4 camera and the most sturdy tripod to be found to take the weight of it. Both of these things could hardly be carried, but the results from the camera were worth all the effort of lugging the equipment around.

It will take more than a couple of rolls of film to get used to this Medium Format camera, there will no doubt be more than a few mistakes, but images that happen to be blurry or imperfect, that are shot on film, can turn out to be beautiful mistakes.

Another consideration is that in these days of digital photography, buying film and having it processed isn't cheap, every time the shutter is clicked it will cost. That all being said, I'm delighted with this new addition and have already begun getting to grips with analogue again.

I'm also working towards a new exhibition (more details coming soon) and I plan to shoot a collection of images using these wonderful vintage cameras.