The organisation dedicated to the promotion of photography in Scotland will celebrate its 40th anniversary at a special event at the National Galleries on The Mound on Friday.
Studies in Photography will celebrate its history and the launch of Edinburgh-based photographer David William’s first retrospective book, Dreaming Difference.
Williams’ photographs are held in museums and galleries across the world and in the private collections of Helen Mirren, U2, and Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason. He won the BBC’s 150 Years of Photography prize, was nominated for Japan’s prestigious Kyoto Prize and served as Head of Photography at Edinburgh College of Art until he retired in 2017.
A Portobello resident for more than 40 years, the beach and promenade have featured frequently in his work.
Ms Mirren said: “I own two of David’s photographs which I endlessly enjoy. His personal humanity is communicated through his imagery, which overcomes the technical to reveal the soul beneath.”
Williams was a songwriter working for Ringo Starr’s music publishing company before taking up photography, and he sees image-making as a further part of a broader artistic practice. Like music, his images capture moods.
Like the best popular songs, his images show deceptively simple unions of opposites such as young and old, light and dark, playful and serious.
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