Two photographers from Cumnock have had their work featured in an exhibition in the Baird Institute which aims to capture the essence of our “bonnie” area in 50 photos.

Willie Lee and Jim Johnstone met through the Cumnock Camera Club in the 70s and have now embarked on a photographic exploration of the natural and man-made beauties of the South West corner of Scotland.

The photographs encompass imagery from some well-known sites such as the Ayrshire and Galloway coasts to some of the lesser known hidden gems of the area.

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Jim said: “The idea of the exhibition came about when Willie and I were discussing just how bonnie our local area was – just as bonnie as anywhere else in the world. Willie commented that it was a pity that we couldn’t show the local folk just how bonnie it was and the idea of an exhibition sprang up.

“We approached East Ayrshire Leisure who agreed to our proposal. We supplied the framed pictures and Geraldine Greene of EAL mounted the exhibition.

“It was supposed to run in the Spring of last year but was postponed because of Covid.”

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Jim is a largely self-taught landscape and wildlife photographer specialising in images of Galloway and Ayrshire.

His images of Galloway have been sold in places such as New Zealand and North America.

Interested in photography from the age of nine, Willie’s most ambitious project to date has been a black and white panorama composed of 10 digitally stitched overlapping images which he took through the windows of the viewing cabin at the top of the Glasgow Tower.

A giant mural-sized enlargement of this image is now on permanent display in the boardroom at Glasgow Science Centre.

The exhibition runs from July 1 until September 16.

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