Jack Lowe, photographer, is travelling the UK to photograph and document every lifeboat station, all 237 of them. Our station in Kyle of Lochalsh was number 54 on his list and we had the pleasure of spending the day with him to create some truly unique images of our crew.
Jack works with Wet Plate Collodion, which is the method invented by the Victorians and involves creating the image on a plate of glass. Lots of factors can affect this traditional way of making a photograph such as the temperature and the weather. In true Scottish style we had four seasons in one day, with snow and hail showers making way for bright sunshine. In fact it was actually too sunny at some points (the images work better when it’s slightly overcast).
Jack has converted an old ambulance into his mobile darkroom. It was great to see inside a working darkroom again, it’s such a magical process to watch.
At every station Jack is taking a picture of the view from the boathouse, the senior helm/coxswain, and the crew. He is also working on a smaller side project – the Women of the RNLI – so he photographed myself and Sandra as the two female crew for Kyle station.
I love watching the image appearing on the plate as you are never quite sure what you are going to get. This is my favourite part of the printing process too when I am working in the studio. You can set everything up exactly the way you want it but there’s always the chance of surprise things happening during the process, hopefully happy accidents!
Jack hopes to complete the project by 2020 and have an exhibition to showcase the images he has made from every single station visited throughout the project. I’m looking forward to following his progress and seeing more of his stunning images.
You can find out more about The Lifeboat Station Project on Jack’s website http://lifeboatstationproject.com or follow him on Twitter @ProjectLifeboat or Instagram @lordlowe