A stunning fusion of nature, art and technology in Glencoe have made illuminating subject matter for Edinburgh-based projectionists Double Take.
It may not be unusual for youngsters to quit their jobs in the vain hope of entrepreneurial world domination, but Double Take Projections was born of just such a bold move.
Steven and David McConnachie are Edinburgh-born and raised twin brothers who were inspired to give notice on their jobs as a lighting designer and crazy golf designer (yes, really) by the Queen’s Jubilee Concert in 2012.
‘We were watching TV together and Madness were playing on the roof of Buckingham Palace,’ recalls Steven. ‘The whole building was lit up with projections and it looked amazing. We decided that that was what we wanted to do. We had always wanted to start our own business.’
The McConnachies spent a year pulling together the money to buy the equipment they needed and have now been up and running as a fully-fledged business since early 2014.
The Glencoe Project came about when Double Take decided to create an arts project that would test their equipment to the limits.
It was the 750th anniversary of the Massacre of Glencoe and the 250th anniversary of the publication of Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley, so the McConnachies projected Scott’s poem On the Massacre of Glencoe onto the mountains.
‘We loved the idea of capturing the stars and clouds moving at night, so we linked up with Adam Robertson, a time-lapse photographer, to create a video of the projection,’ says Steven. Four weekend trips to Glencoe followed, shooting two hours’ worth of film at four separate locations so that each shot showed changes in the weather, clouds, stars and environment. ‘In one shot it was snowing, rainy and sunny,’ laughs Steven.
The success of the Glencoe Project has brought business knocking on the Double Take door – the brothers have been working with Glasgow band Prides on their music video, they’ve projected onto a waterfall at Cramond in Edinburgh, lit up Inverleith House for RBGE Botanics Light Festival, projected a poppy onto Stirling Castle, and worked with T in the Park, Cambo Estate and Scone Palace.
As Steven says: ‘it’s never the same day twice.’
For more details visit www.doubletakeprojections.com
(This feature was originally published in 2015)
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