Alan Dimmick is hosting his collection – Daytripping – in the upstairs basement of the Wyllieum until the end of this month.
In 2006, Alan took a selection of photographs of George Wyllie at his home in Gourock.
Alan Dimmick is showcasing his work at The Wyllieum (Image: Alex Craig)
Two decades later, Alan is thrilled to be presenting his work at the gallery which is helping George’s artistic legacy to live on.
Alan, 65, said: “George had a lot of character. He wanted art to be for the masses.
“The idea that art is elite has never entered my head.
“I hope that my photos are quite accessible for people.
“I don’t show my work in posh art galleries. A lot of it is in cafes and pubs.
“Even if I didn’t have an exhibition, I would still be doing what I do.”
(Image: Alex Craig)
Daytripping is an exhibition of photographs – some taken on short trips from home, and some taken on planned outings with friends and family.
Many of the shots were captured on jaunts down the west coast.
Alan said: “We would go to Millport a lot when I was growing up.
“I wanted to show that daytripping can quite important to people, and this all came about in a natural way.
“The photos show that even the briefest of trips can shift how we see and how we feel.”
(Image: Alex Craig)
Alan bought his first camera in 1977, the same year that he converted the toilets in his secondary school annex into a darkroom.
He started to process his own black and white films in 1978, and went on to study photography at Glasgow College of Building and Printing from 1979 to 1982.
Alan was a founding member of Glasgow Photography Group and exhibited at their inaugural exhibition in Hillhead Library in 1988.
Since the mid-1990s, Alan has documented Glasgow’s contemporary art scene, capturing many of the events and the people that have shaped a significant period in Scottish culture.
Exhibitions of his work have been held at venues including Street Level Photoworks and the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) in Glasgow, and Stills: Centre for Photography in Edinburgh.
Alan said he has amassed a collection of thousands of photographs which ‘keeps on growing’.
(Image: Alex Craig)
Funding from Creative Scotland allowed him to bring people in to help him digitise his work.
Alan said he loves that the Wyllieum hosts creative workshops and said that’s very important for the Inverclyde community.
He has plans to host dark room photography workshops in colleges.
Alan said the best thing about what he does is having the freedom to create what he wants.
He added: “I still have a drive to take photos of things that mean a lot to me.
“I’m lucky that I’ve never lost the curiosity and love for taking photos.
“As I get older, it gets more intense.
“People get emotional when they remember times in their lives.
“They tell me how much my photos affect them. Photography is a very powerful thing.
“I love what I do. I don’t do it for the money; it’s a vocation and I need to do it.”