Opening preview of "Chasing Tractors" exhibition by photographer Rob Davis

Chasing Tractors: A showcase of Ayrshire’s farming landscape and community.

by photographer - Rob Davis

For some 40 years Rob has been a keen amateur photographer and an active member of Ayr Photographic Society for more than two decades. Some of his earliest pictures were snaps of family at local agricultural and vintage vehicle shows. Photography has always remained a constant source of relaxation, expression and new friends for him. Rob grew up in Stoneleigh, Warwickshire: home of the famous Royal Agricultural Show throughout the 1970’s & 80’s. He worked as a Saturday lad in a commercial bedding plants nursery and spent plenty of his time in the local countryside. He also owned a vintage tractor for a period. Rob has lived and worked in South Ayrshire for nearly 30 years, falling in love with the way its coastal margins blend with the rolling inland fields so reminiscent of his Midlands childhood.

During the social restrictions of the Covid 19 pandemic, like many others he felt cooped up, stifled and longing for the spark of new adventure. In the late summer of 2021 as these restrictions began to ease, he decided to embark upon an outdoors photography project combining his hobby, and the rural influences of his youth with the immediate local area. A couple of existing friendships and loose contacts sprang to mind, and from there the idea of an opportunity to showcase the dedication, resourcefulness and skill of, what he considers, an often unsung community was born.

Rob received a wonderful, open (if occasionally camera shy) welcome into a close-knit world for which special thanks is due. He hopes that this has enabled him to show our beautiful county in a practical but revealing, fascinating light. He also hopes the images show the warmth and trust endowed upon him by local families in their own homes, workplaces and daily lives; without which, he wishes the viewer to know, this project could not have succeeded. These personal interactions are the true joy of his photography.

Rob hopes you enjoy this view of South Ayrshire from the inside of our ever-changing agricultural landscape.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

MAKE by Narture Studios 30 Newmarket St, 30 Newmarket Street, Ayr, United Kingdom