Case Study - Eleanor Cunningham

eleanor Cunninghame

The Dunbar-based artist Eleanor Cunningham has commissioned me several times over the years, beginning with what remains one of my favourite projects.

The brief was simple, and perfect: to capture the varied geology of the East Lothian coastline. So, on a calm midsummer morning, I set off before dawn, 4am at Port Seton, where the sea was as still as glass. From there, I followed the coastline east, flying at Longniddry Bents, Tyninghame Salt Marsh, Dunbar, and finally across the council border to the hidden harbour of Cove.

By the end of the day I’d used nine drone batteries, three drones, and two memory cards, and witnessed something extraordinary. A basking shark, gliding just beneath the surface, appeared in my frame. These huge, gentle creatures are rarely seen in these waters, and the footage later featured on STV News.

Eleanor used the imagery as inspiration for a series of paintings exploring geology, texture and movement along the coast. The collaboration has since continued, including a joint exhibition with Eleanor and East Lothian composer Chris Tolley, combining art, music and aerial imagery in one creative response to the landscape.

What began as a dawn flight became something more, a shared expression of East Lothian’s natural beauty through three different creative lenses.