Catching the Tide: Book Launch and In Conversation with Colin McPherson

Tuesday 6 October / 6pm – 8pm / Open Eye Gallery / free, RSVP

Join us for the launch of the new book Catching the Tide – Salmon Net Fishing in Scotland, and an in conversation event with photographer Colin McPherson!

The book celebrates Colin’s thirty-year project documenting a tradition which goes back hundreds of years. Net fishing has been part of the fabric of coastal life in Scotland for generations and the photography focuses on the fishermen who have made their livelihoods catching wild Atlantic salmon this way. With the practice currently banned and the industry gone, Catching the Tide is a tribute to men whose lives were imbued with skills, knowledge and a love for the work they carried out.

Colin will talk about his relationship with the subject, developed down the years through collaborating and working alongside the fishermen and about his current efforts to secure protected status for net fishing via the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which was recently ratified by the UK Government.

Catching the Tide – Salmon Net Fishing in Scotland was published in September 2026 by Dewi Lewis Publishing. It is available to buy during the event and later in Open Eye Gallery’s independent bookshop.

Colin McPherson is a Merseyside-based documentary and editorial photographer, writer and filmmaker. His career began in his native Edinburgh in 1989, since then he has worked in over 40 countries worldwide on news, features and stories. He worked for the Independent for 21 years until 2016 and still contributes to a number of national newspapers and publications, including When Saturday Comes, the monthly football magazine. His main focus is on long-term projects, including Catching the Tide. Colin is a founder member of the Document Scotland and SixBySix collectives. His work has featured in over 30 solo and group exhibitions and his photography resides in a number of important archives and collectives.