One of the most important exhibitions in Scotland during 2002 is entitled 'Facing the Light' which features 200 of the most striking images captured on calotype by the partnership of Hill and Adamson between 1843 and 1847. The exhibition, sponsored by TSB Lloyds Scotland, is part of the exhibitions and celebrations across Scotland in what has been designated the Year of Photography by the National Galleries of Scotland. It's centrepiece, in the bicentenary year of the birth of painter David Octavius Hill, is 'Facing the Light' at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1 Queen Street, Edinburgh. It runs until 15 September 2002 and entry is free.

 

David Octavius Hill teamed up with fledging photographer Robert Adamson to form one of the most famous partnerships in the history of photography. Adamson died, tragically young at 27, but their output was prodigious. Between May 1843 and 1847 they produced more than 3000 portraits, city views and landscapes, using the calotype process developed by Henry Fox Talbot in England but never patented in Scotland. In 1843 they started on a project of recording the faces of the 450 ministers who had left the established kirk to set up the Free Church of Scotland. This was the basis of Hill's impressive painting of the 1843 Disruption. They captured forever the changing face of 1840's Edinburgh and immortalised amongst others the fishwives of Newhaven. These women traditionally walked from Newhaven on the Firth of Forth, south of Edinburgh, into the city to sell their fish, carrying their creels tied round their foreheads with a leather strap.

 

In honour of the pioneering work by Hill and Adamson, and their famous images of the fishwives, this week's recipe comes from Newhaven and the main ingredient is, of course, fish. The basis of Newhaven Cream is smoked haddock.

 

Newhaven Cream

 

Serves four

 

Ingredients : 1 lb filleted smoked haddock; 3 oz white breadcrumbs; 1 1/2 oz butter; 1/4 oz chopped parsley; 3 beaten eggs; 1/4 pint cream; salt and pepper

 

Cook the fish in some milk, strain and flake fish. Mix all ingredients together until well blended. Grease individual or one large mould and fill with the mixture. Cover with greaseproof paper and steam for half-an-hour. Serve hot with a parsley or mushroom sauce using as a base the milk in which the fish was cooked. The dish can also be served cold with salad.