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MIKE MCCARTNEY’S VIEW
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
Mike McCartney has a sense of humor and wonder that come through in his photos.
The native and resident of Liverpool, England, visited the starkly beautiful but over-photographed North Highlands of Scotland a few years ago. What he came away with is a unique series that goes well beyond the popular perception of this famed corner of the world.
The images comprise an exhibition that premiered in the Scottish Parliament in 2009 and was also bound into a book.
The 30-photograph show will make its U.S. debut this week when it opens at the Butler Institute of American Art’s Howland branch.
The 68-year-old McCartney — a photographer, rock’n’roller, and yes, the younger brother of Paul McCartney of The Beatles — takes a playful look at the iconic castles, misty waterfront villages and lonely mountains of the North Highlands, with a special eye for the people (and animals) who call it home.
For one chapter he lingered at the famed Dounreay nuclear plant, with its “golf ball” reactor — so named because it is a giant white sphere. In the resultant photos, the golf ball is presented in juxtaposition with its earthy neighbors: a crumbling castle, some shaggy cows, and even a “do not enter” sign.
It’s one example of how McCartney puts a fresh spin on this over-exposed region.
“Sometimes it seems as if, north of the Highland line, there is nothing new to see and nothing but tired and predictable ways of seeing,” writes British Minister of Culture Michael W. Russell in an essay in the photo book. “But Mike McCartney always brings to his subject matter a fresh pair of eyes.”
In a phone interview with The Vindicator from his Liverpool home, McCartney said his sense of humor is like a disability that he can’t fight. “It’s in my psyche and soul,” he said. “I try to get rid of it but it’s impossible. I like to make people smile and look at the positive side.”
McCartney, whose exhibition “Liverpool Life” recently stopped at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, will return to Ohio this week for the opening of his “North Highlands” exhibition. He’ll be present from 10 a.m. to noon Friday for the opening reception.
During his brief visit to the Youngstown area, McCartney said his eye will be open for photo possibilities. When it was mentioned to him that northeast Ohio has Amish communities, he was intrigued.
For McCartney, images are everywhere, and so he almost always carries a camera.
“Any photo is just waiting to be taken,” he said. “Wherever I am or whoever I’m with, even if nothing is going on, there is a photo that demands to be taken.”
His eye for the photo didn’t go unnoticed by security guards at the White House during a recent visit. Just before meeting President Obama, McCartney said “they nicked [my camera] and gave it back to me in the next room.”
He did manage to get a shot of the Obama family. “I sent it to Barack and Michelle and got a lovely letter back from Michelle, thanking me for the photo.”
McCartney got his start in photography as a child. He “borrowed” his parents’ Brownie camera to shoot some albatrosses that had caught his eye, but was disappointed when the results yielded just little black dots instead of giant birds.
“That’s when I learned there was more to photography than meets the eye,” he said. “I began to get photography books and learned, and it has been a great joy for me.”
In addition to his photography, McCartney had a band called Scaffold in the late 1960s. Scaffold had a few top five hits, including “Thank U Very Much,” “Lily the Pink” and “Liverpool Lou.”
The North Highlands photo exhibition will run from Friday through Sept. 2 at the Butler’s Howland branch. It will then move to the museum’s main location in Youngstown where it will be on display from Sept. 23 to Dec. 30.
After that, the exhibition could stop in other U.S. cities, although no plans have been finalized.