Hugh Maxwell is an award-winning landscape photographer, published author and writer, based in Ayrshire in the south-west of Scotland.

My Journey…

“I was always drawing as a child so this was the start of my journey. The creative urge returned in my teenage years when I began to explore the Ayrshire countryside through cycling and walking. I discovered photography was the perfect way to capture and share the beautiful views I saw with family and friends.

My first camera was a plastic, bright red compact, with a fixed lens, that captured ‘out of focus’ panoramic images. I have my parents to thank, and if I remember correctly, it was obtained through a cigarette packet promotion by collecting a number of vouchers. It’s the only time I’ve ever been grateful for my parents smoking!

This was later upgraded to my first proper film SLR camera, a Pentax ME-Super with a bashed pentaprism, from Hector McDonald’s camera shop in Kilmarnock. Despite its dishevelled appearance, it worked perfectly and my creativity flourished. A passion for photography and the outdoors quickly developed.

Lured in by the opportunity to complete several photography modules, I also completed an HND in Media & Communication at Kilmarnock College. This course, and the positive guidance and support I received from the tutors, directly led to the start of my writing career and an increasing interest in local history. I wrote multiple historical interest articles that were published over several years in The Scots Magazine and Scottish Memories Magazine. All were illustrated with my own photographs. The interest in photography, history and writing all continued to develop and led to me becoming an author. I wrote different types of local history books for Stenlake Publishing - a popular Scottish book publisher. I would go on to write 13 books with several ‘Then and Now’ type books being illustrated with my own photography.

I continued to read as many photography books and magazines as I could to learn about light and composition. I also remember winning a year's worth of black and white film through a competition in Amateur Photographer Magazine. My mum certainly wasn’t very happy at the fridge being full of film that’s for sure! Around this time a photograph of Greenan Castle, on the South Ayrshire coast, was chosen for the front cover of the Ayrshire and Isle of Arran tourist brochure.”