James Millar

James Millar Photographer based in the London, East Midlands and Highland Perthshire specialising in portraiture and documentary photography

Stories from ShetlandThe ruined Church on the Island of Yell. When the Methodist minister Mr Bruce first got off the boa...
17/04/2026

Stories from Shetland

The ruined Church on the Island of Yell.

When the Methodist minister Mr Bruce first got off the boat in Yell, his delicate sensibilities were so offended by all the effing and jeffing that he is recorded as saying: “the people all round daily utter oaths and execrations of a most horrid and appalling nature.”

He was so affronted that he built this chapel in 1827 to sit looking imperiously down on the Burravoe Harbour in cold judgement over all that bad behaviour.

Locals were compelled to make the sober walk along the harbour wall to be educated in how civilised, god-fearing folk should conduct themselves.

More Shetland tall tales in the blog, link in bio

On Easter Monday, the village of Hallaton in Leicestershire fills to a degree that would alarm a fire marshall. Thousand...
10/04/2026

On Easter Monday, the village of Hallaton in Leicestershire fills to a degree that would alarm a fire marshall. Thousands descend on a village of fewer than 400 residents; locals, diaspora returnees, and the chaos-curious pack the streets for a tradition that predates anyone’s ability to explain it properly.
I seem to gravitate towards these anarchic events, having recently been to another end of the UK to witness Shetland’s Viking fire festival Up Helly Aa
What follows in Hallaton is Bottle Kicking: part medieval riot, part sporting event. Two teams, Hallaton and the neighbouring village of Medbourne, attempt to move small wooden “bottles” (actually iron-hooped barrels) across their respective streams, a mile apart.
There are no formal rules, no referees, no time limit, and no upper limit on participants. It simply goes on until someone wins.

On Easter Monday, the village of Hallaton in Leicestershire fills to a degree that would alarm a fire marshall. Thousand...
10/04/2026

On Easter Monday, the village of Hallaton in Leicestershire fills to a degree that would alarm a fire marshall. Thousands descend on a village of fewer than 400 residents; locals, diaspora returnees, and the chaos-curious pack the streets for a tradition that predates anyone’s ability to explain it properly.
I seem to gravitate towards these anarchic events, having recently been to another end of the UK to witness Shetland’s Viking fire festival Up Helly Aa
What follows in Hallaton is Bottle Kicking: part medieval riot, part sporting event. Two teams, Hallaton and the neighbouring village of Medbourne, attempt to move small wooden “bottles” (actually iron-hooped barrels) across their respective streams, a mile apart.
There are no formal rules, no referees, no time limit, and no upper limit on participants. It simply goes on until someone wins.

An extract from my blog on Shetland - link in bioWe headed south to our home for the night, a pitch on Uyesound’s Gardie...
07/04/2026

An extract from my blog on Shetland - link in bio

We headed south to our home for the night, a pitch on Uyesound’s Gardiesfauld Campsite.
It’s a struggle to imagine a more beautiful spot; we were right there on the pebble beach, looking out on cottages gradually being reclaimed by nature next to chic homes in this beautiful harbour village nestling on the south coast of Shetland’s most northerly isle.

A harbour light pulsing gently in the distance, the sounds of the waves on the pebbles and the wind on my face, as I gazed over a darkening Indian ink bay. Exquisite.
A perfect evening moment as it faded to deep blue.

Another exquisite creation by Angus Ross Furniture which I had the pleasure of shooting for them recently. They call it ...
31/03/2026

Another exquisite creation by Angus Ross Furniture which I had the pleasure of shooting for them recently. They call it the Stargazer Garden Chair, designed to recline and view the starry sky.
It’s great working with these superb makers, right at the top of their game. This was a fun shoot, as on the face of it not the best day; miserable, overcast and raining fairly heavily most of the time. But I like a grotty day - allows you to creatively use flash to make the subject pop and give a moody feel.
Shot overlooking the Tay Valley, on the Birks of Aberfeldy and in the Angus Ross workshop on Mill Street in the town.

Another one from fire festival.
27/03/2026

Another one from fire festival.

The incredible Viking fire festival on Shetland
27/03/2026

The incredible Viking fire festival on Shetland

This lot know how to throw a party. Been having some serious fun shooting the Brae Up Helly Aa fire festival in Shetland...
24/03/2026

This lot know how to throw a party. Been having some serious fun shooting the Brae Up Helly Aa fire festival in Shetland Isles this week. Blog to follow about our adventures.

Had the immense pleasure of spending time with the supremely talented this week. Tom came up to the Saxby studio to mak...
19/02/2026

Had the immense pleasure of spending time with the supremely talented this week. Tom came up to the Saxby studio to make some tintypes in

Tom is a wonderful performer whose Cockney Singalong events Carradine’s Cockney Sing-a-long have become a runaway success over the past few years. An authority on music hall history, he and Lili Redman also host a fascinating podcast the A to Z or Wartime Song. Check it out.

These are all genuine 10x8 inch tintypes and ambrotypes made in the studio. Do drop me a line to discuss commissions.

Erwin Wurm’s Narrow House — a full-scale home compressed to the point of discomfort. Enterable, but not inhabitable.Set ...
02/01/2026

Erwin Wurm’s Narrow House — a full-scale home compressed to the point of discomfort. Enterable, but not inhabitable.

Set against the vertical pressure of the city, it questions shelter, proportion, and what we accept as “home”.

Part of The Sheiling — an ongoing tintype project exploring huts, shelters and architectures of impermanence: places made to be occupied briefly, then left behind.

Leads and suggestions welcome.

tintype slowphotography

Findhorn’s beach huts are more than colour on shingle — they’re a re-imagined piece of coastal history.Huts stood here t...
02/01/2026

Findhorn’s beach huts are more than colour on shingle — they’re a re-imagined piece of coastal history.

Huts stood here through the mid-20th century, vanished, then returned after a hard-fought local debate and a narrow council vote. Built now on deep piles to withstand wind and tide, they’ve become simple timber retreats again: places for flasks, notebooks, watching seals drift past the shore.

They sit firmly in the tradition of the sheiling — temporary dwellings, seasonal, modest, shaped by weather rather than permanence.

This image forms part of The Sheiling — an ongoing tintype project exploring huts, bothys, beach shelters and places made for leaving.

If you know of locations — coastal, upland, forgotten or still quietly used — I’d love to hear about them.

morayfirth highlands tintype slowphotography liminalspaces winterseries

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Saxby
LE142RU

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