By Toby SkinnerOctober 1st 2020

Why photographer and ceramicist Ellie Duncan has always been inspired by the colours and shifting shapes of the Shetland sea.

Ellie Duncan has always been inexorably drawn to the sea. Drawn to the way that the light works through the waves, or the way the water creates ephemeral shapes on the sand. Growing up in Gulberwick, just south of Lerwick, she would sit by the sea most days after school. “To me, it’s always been like a very accepting friend,” she says. “It’s really all I think about and see, this peaceful thing in a crazy world. When I’m away from the sea, I don’t feel like myself. I need it.”

The sea has always been like a very accepting friend… this peaceful thing in a crazy world.

She started taking pictures as a young teenager, having been obsessed by the accordion cameras that belonged to her great grandfather, a photographer for The Herald, and inspired by her cousin Joy Allan, who posts epic photos of Shetland seas and skies on Instagram as Islander Joy.

“Photography was just in me somehow,” says Ellie. “I’ve always been drawn to little details. Initially, it was flowers in the garden, but over time it became the sea. Sitting and looking, and freezing my hands on stormy winter days, trying to learn how to capture this thing.”

Now, as well as working at a daycare nursery, she’s also started to capture her favourite subject in the form ceramic bowls, plates and mugs, all in the same duotone of sand and greyish blue. Like her photographs, they’re objects of muted simplicity, created with a rare purity of expression. Here, she explains some of the ideas behind her work.

“I took this on the Trebister headland, between Lerwick and Gulberwick, during lockdown. My sister said she thought I’d missed the shot, but I I love the textures and the colours. I’d go out there for hours on end during lockdown, just watching the energy of the water, and waiting. During the winter, you have to chase the light, but it’s satisfying when images come together. It fills me with a strange sort of energy.”

“With this one I loved that the rocks and the waves seemed to be mimicking each other, with this atmospheric sea spray in between. I took it at the Ness of Burghi, a beautiful headland near Sumburgh Airport, surrounded by signs of otter life. There’s something thrilling about being alone in such a wild place. Quite often, I have to calm myself, to slow down and think about the composition of an image.”

“The first thing I do when I wake up is look at the sea. This one was taken during lockdown, just from our family house. It was this eerie light, and there was a fishing boat out in the fog, hauling up creels. Just this peaceful moment in time.”

“I love looking at sand, and the way that the sea creates textures like this at Banna Minn, on West Burra. I don’t understand how and why the water has done that to these tiny grains of sand, but it speaks to me somehow.”

“I’ll often also go to West Sandwick, on Yell, and photograph otter footprints in the sand or the way that the waves seem to almost make their own footprint on the sand. I like the idea that these shapes are only there for a single moment.”

“I’ve only been doing ceramics for about 18 months, but it’s become this new creative outlet for me. Throwing clay on a wheel is as hard as everyone says it is, and it’s this really messy process of trial and error, with highs and lows and nothing guaranteed. But I love the process, and it makes me feel good.”

“Of course, I’m trying to get something of the sea into the ceramics pieces – a sense of waves, sand and movement. I don’t want to use more than a few colours. They’re all I look for, and all I need.”

“Somehow, I always return to the sea, whether that means attempting to surf or just sitting and watching its awesome power.”

See more of Ellie’s work on her Instagram page and buy prints on her personal site. Her ceramics are available to buy at The Shetland Gallery in Sellafirth, Yell.