Vicki Watson Photography

16/03/2026

Ola peeps, how's this spankingish new year working out for ya?

It has been pretty busy here but I am experiencing a wee ebb to the flow so I thought I would muster the courage to pop my latest blog here before it falls by the wayside. It's a bit of a ramble about loss, of which I sadly experienced too much of last year. It is eloquently called

'I lost a tooth the other day (plus a tale of two s**ts)'

It also has a bit about how I used Therapeutic Photography to help me through it.

I start a new course this week bringing me closer to my goal of becoming a practitioner of it, so I can really start to bore the s**t out of you all with further examples of it!

Anyway, the selection of photos here are from the last few months taken as I try and process my own grief and loss. I don’t always do something with the pics but I do look back and they can remind me of a moment or a thought I had at the time. I really suggest that you give it a shot if you think you would benefit and get out there with your phone or camera and try it. You might be surprised at how much you can see and how it makes you feel.

Link in my bio if you can be arsed to give it a read over. I'll be back soon with some of the photography work I have been up to recently.

Slaters!

05/06/2025

I am back with a chat about my most recent series of therapeutic photographs, where I use a bit of mindfulness to find joy in everyday things and to reset a sometimes anxious and overwhelmed mind.

Join in if you want, just USD the hashtag! I got a fabulous response from the last post, with chats about the joy of washing lines, to a few pictures in my inbox of people finding joy out of the ordinary.

SO a couple of weeks back when it felt like a never ending long hot summer, I drove my daughter to Perth for an exam. I took a wee meander along the River Tay which reignited my love for all things Dandelion. It really struck me that these incredible structures are made up of over a hundred individual seeds that stick to things or float off onto the breeze so that they can propagate elsewhere.  As a 52 year old woman, I began to think of myself in terms of a dandelion. How many seeds will I spread and germinate? How much of my influence in friendships, through ideas, through my children, through work, a momentary conversation with a stranger, a bit of advice I may have offered; will float somewhere and potentially create change? What impact will my time on earth make? I found this a little scary at first but then inspiring like a wee challenge to go and spread my seed, as it were… 🙂 

I love the perfect dandelion heads but also the dandelions whose seeds were already half gone, already off promoting some sort of change. I would no longer be a perfect dandelion head, I would be, hopefully half, if not more, seedless. My influence already germinating in other places, minds and ideas .. 

It's all gone a  bit Minnie Ripperton (Les Fleur) but I loved that wee meander, makes me want to go out and achieve great things but also be aware of how little interactions may make a difference

p.s the leaf just looked amazin' with the light pulsing through it's like first love, when your soul feels translucent.

 

26/05/2025

Well it's my birthday and Bollywood came to the beach to do a wee dance for me! It was pretty cool, 150 extras and a LOT of equipment, check the size of that reflector on the prom! They were chasing the sun and had their coats on and off cos it was bloody chilly. I loved how the general public continued to march through the sc****ly dressed crows not daunted by the curfuffle! Anyway funtimes!

07/05/2025

Therapeutic Photography - I got me a qualification!

I just wrote a wee blog for your delectation, or not as the case may be. BUT it is about my latest venture which finds me the proud owner of a PG Cert Therapeutic Photography course from Robert Gordon Uni! I began it last January and passed with B distinction this January. It's been amazing and it really brought home how powerful a tool photography can be.

In a nutshell it is using photography to get something therapeutic out of it, something good for your wellbeing, such as a sense of empowerment through self-exploration, improved self-esteem and self-efficacy and it can also be used to create societal change. Its amazing!😂

So what now? I hope to bring some workshops into youth spaces, work places, communities and marginalised groups. I will be working on some deliverable shizz over summer so again keep an eye out if interested!

Anyhoo, over the last couple of months I’ve decided to practice what I am learning to preach. I find myself struggling mentally with the world at the moment. So I decided to take pictures of the glorious light as it floods my little hectic house, to try and take my brain out of the darkness and into the light. It isn’t exactly groundbreaking and sounds corny AF but I have actually found it very therapeutic! More info on the blog!

Why don’t you join me? Perhaps you take joy out of the flowers blooming, or butterflies or bits of chewing gum on the pavement. Take a wee bit of time if you like and show me your and put a description of what you are feeling about the image. Sharing is part of the therapy! But if you wanna keep your joy to yersel, that’s ok too!

Thought -just realised wee bits of joy might sound a bit naughty? Or is that just me? 😂

Check out my blog on my website

So here I am, proud owner of a PG Cert Therapeutic Photography course from Robert Gordon Uni!

08/04/2025

Lads! I'm in Belfast at the amazing Healing Through Photography conference run by (Belfast Exposed)

Having recently finished a Therapeutic Photography PG Cert through Robert Gordons uni, I know get me! This is an amazing event listening to practitioners and those that have benefited from using photography as therapy.

My first time in Belfast too, an amazing city, the perfect back drop to talking about trauma and post traumatic growth. Some powerful and emotional stories. Belfast feels like a city that is still healing even 20 odd years late and how photography has helped

Some amazing speakers and workshops, now on day two.. heard some amazing stories from .c.arson a photojournalist, the people that run Belfast Exposed, people in the community, .therapeuticphotography and loads of incredible brave people.

I'm feeling massively insured by all the shizz. I have always felt that photography is a hugely powerful tool. And all this proves it. I have learnt a lot about how to put this into practice the last couple of days. Watch this space!

I have always wanted to come to Belfast but I underestimated the reverberations of the war.

31/12/2024

Well what can I say? 2024 has been a great year, personally and professionally. I actually had no expectations for it as I started the year a bit overwhelmed but maybe that's why?

As I look back at my year in photos, it makes me feel so frickin' grateful. Photography takes you places and into positions of privilege, it is never dull and always a pleasure. You get to witness a family dynamics and hear their story on a family shoot and witness some of the most emotional and intimate moments at a wedding. I have experienced new things this year such as the joy of musical theatre with fringe shows with the wildly talented Captivate Theatre crewe and so much good music with the incredible Oi Musica! I have attended beautiful fundraiser events at Prestonfield and new corporate events and conferences. Photography brings me SO MUCH JOY!

I hope to start to double the amount of joyous work this year as I feel up for it .. SO please get in touch with your photography wants and needs for your life events be they significant birthdays, weddings, a gathering of family visiting from near and far, an event you are hosting. Or if you just wish to capture moments of transition in life such as your young person being on the cusp of adulthood or your family about to change shape before some fly the coop on new adventures. I totally get it.

Anyway here is a wee selection of pics from the year.. and I mean wee, I have had to shave it down as I am a natural over sharer in all aspects of life, haha! Also an example of a wonderful quote that I so love to get to affirm what I do makes a difference.

'Wow Vicki, we've just been through all your beautifully captured moments!! Blown away by them all! Thank you so much for everlasting memories, we are very humbled'

I mean, how nice is that!

Anyway check out my website for info, blogs, portfolio and projects ongoing and past! Take a Wee Gander! https://www.vickiwatson.photography/

04/11/2024

New blog! Some ramblings from me about the ol' ADHD! Give it a wee looksee if you are interested or share to those who may be. I'll write about photography at some point, I promise! 😆

Give us ADHD’ers and the rest of the NDers a freaking break, a diagnosis maybe is ‘labelling’ but it is also fu***ng liberating, and it helps to know where you may fall short and where you excel (which is usually around getting things started and doing creative and fun s**t) We are needed in t...