The Wanderlust Issue #9
February 2025 // Flowers in bloom, icy lochans, bold prints, Edinburgh and my new website.
Welcome to Issue #9 of The Wanderlust, my monthly zine where I share what I’m up to, encourage you to dance, wander and explore and discover amazing new creative talent. I delve into my photo archives, share snippets from my travel journals and drop in the odd freebie. So if you know someone who you think might like this, feel free to share it with them.
As I write this month’s newsletter, i’ve just finished setting up the bones of my new photography website Lesley Gray Photography. There’s still loads to add, but that can be done gradually as I slowly start working my way through my archives and processing new work too. Yesterday I finished setting up a new photo journal to run alongside the website. It’s called Moments and I’m going to be sharing stories and memories from my travels and day’s spent behind the lens. I’ll take a deeper look at photos from my archives, some of which have never been seen before and share unheard stories from my adventures. I’ll also be sharing projects I’m working on as they unfold.
I’m taking part in a group exhibition for the first time in what feels like forever next month. The Landscape Exhibition opens at the Glasgow Gallery of Photography on the 5th of March. It’s free and runs alongside the Women in Photography exhibition until the 29th that month.
You might remember I mentioned the Coire Àrdair trail in Issue #8. We got up there last weekend and I’d highly recommend it if you love being in amongst mountains without the serious mountain terrain. There’s also short family friendly trails at Creag Meagaidh National Nature Reserve too.
Time to read: 5 mins
Time to dance: 4 mins 22 secs
The days finally feel like they’re getting long enough for a decent hike and I’m in full planning mode as Spring starts to tease its arrival.
Seeing the tulips of Amsterdam in full bloom has been on my bucket list for decades. The Tulip Festival starts on the 20th of March this year and runs until the 11th of May with the best chance of seeing the most beautiful tulip fields from the second week of April.
Closer to home, we’re taking a day trip into Perth to have a stroll through Heatherworld Riverside Park. Heather in bloom might sound a bit underwhelming compared to tulips, but with a coffee in hand on a nice sunny day, it’s such a pretty spot and there’s some interesting sculptures on the Art Trail too. Sourdough pizza and craft beer at Cullach Brewing will top the day off nicely.
We never walk the high slopes in Winter so I’m sticking with walks below the heavy snow line for now. The Loch Garten trail at Boat of Garten looks like the perfect option with a stop at Nethy House Cafe in Nethy Bridge to refuel with what I’m told is some delicious home baking.
Cafēn is a new speciality coffee shop in Edinburgh that we’re looking forward to popping in to, followed by a stroll down to Söderberg Bakery. Their Pavillion branch serves up their famous Swedish Meatball Brunch which sounds amazing!
I’ve taken my Winter wreath down off the front door but I’d really like to have one for the other seasons too. Enter Layla Robinson. I’m in love with her colourful everlasting displays, like this one with all the flowers grown, harvested and expertly dried from her own garden. You can see loads more on her Insta too.
I recently came across Glasgow ceramic artist Laura Lightbody and was instantly drawn to her colourful wall panels. She shares more of her process over on her Instagram.
I briefly mentioned Irregular Sleep Pattern in Issue #7 but wanted to give them a proper slot in the Lust List. The Glasgow based duo create the most bold and colourful prints you can imagine to produce bedding, sleepwear and accessories that are real statement pieces. I won’t be a surprise to anyone that knows me well, that their pink and red combos are my favourites. I first spied this washbag at Dundee’s V&A last year but got a chance to see their amazing quilted throws in person in December and they are lush!
I’ve been following Concrete Nature Studio for a while now on Instagram and have been looking forward to going to one of their creative collage workshops at some point, but I’ve just learned today that they’ll be at Artists Bookmarket at the Fruitmarket in Edinburgh this weekend. Have a mooch around their cool website to see all the different projects, design work and publishing that they do.
I’ve mentioned Edinburgh a bit this month so I thought I’d take you back to an evening up at Salisbury Crags on a cold November day in 2014. There was a lot of cloud and by dusk there were only a handful of people still on the crags. We’d decided to wait it out and see if the sunset would bring anything. Fog and mist started to roll in shrouding the city in a pastel blue just as the sky started to pink up. The lights of the castle briefly matched the sky before turning a deeper red.
I can’t get enough of the Paper Kites right now. It was a toss up between this and Electric Indigo. Turn it up!
Don’t fancy a boogie? Then chill to this from Active Child.
I know the struggle with the website. I am rethinking how I share photography this year. One step was eliminating several social accounts to focus on Substack and Instagram, which I have done and started my Substack a couple weeks ago. The next is to redo my website to focus on portfolio shots for landscape photography. I haven't started yet, but it is on the list!
So many good recs 🙌