Romantic Camera: Scottish Photography and the Modern World

The recently reopened National Portrait Gallery is undoubtedly a stunning space. It still retains a strong sense of its deep-rooted history but now it's married with quaint and chic modern touches. Once you have taken in the grandeur of the architecture and its complimentarily decadent decor, cast your gaze upon one of the gallery’s current exhibitions Romantic Camera: Photography & the Modern World and you will be pleasantly surprised.

The exhibition has the potential to be unexciting and twee, chronicling the traditionally romanticised works of Scottish photographers. However, it is in fact a diverse compilation of images that explore the themes of romanticism and modernity in a way that compels the viewer to assess their understanding of what makes truly great photography.

One of the first and most spectacular images in the exhibition is Michael Reisch’s digitally altered account of a landscape. The inherently nostalgic scene has an almost translucent glow to it, drawing the viewer in like a moth to the flame. Emotion-arousing images such as these and John Muir Wood’s evocative sepia collection are nicely contrasted with the photographs that have a more sinister sense of modernity.

Romantic Camera: Scottish Photography & the Modern World powerfully showcases an array of Scottish works whilst posing the question: is romanticism the antithesis of modernity or are they in fact composites of one another?