JULY 2005 – The Macduff Arms in Macduff, Scotland. © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
We found the Scottish coast between Fraserburgh and Elgin to be an extremely beautiful area. You’ll have beaches, towns, cliffs, secluded villages, lighthouses, golf courses. Countless photo stops slowed us down, so it took us almost a day to get from Rattray Head to Elgin, a distance of just 70 miles!
The photo shows the Macduff Arms in Macduff directly at the harbour. The building has a long history. It was built in 1763, originally as a ‘public house’ and it was one of the first buildings in the newly planned village of Macduff (which was called Down back then), established by the Earl of Fife in the mid-18th century. Since the 1860s it was used as a restaurant and pub. Originally it was called the “Ship Tavern”. In 1904 it got its final name Macduff Arms. A lot more about the building, including a more recent image, can be found here.
I shot this photo when we visited Macduff in July 2005. The poster mentions the year 1763 and the services provided: “Fine Selection of Beers & Ales, Lounge Bar, Public Bar, Bar Snacks, Satellite T.V., Pool Table”. That summer it was probably still operating as a pub but it was closed in 2008. When the maintenance works stopped the building quickly detoriated. Between 2010 and 2011 the white plaster has been removed, but the building had not been refurbished any further until after 2016. Images from 2021 show that the windows were replaced, and first signs of life were visible. Today the building is used as residential accommodation.
The poster, by the way, also shows a coat of arms which seems to be closely associated with Clan MacDuff, a prominent Scottish clan with historical roots in the Fife region. It is very similar to the official coat of arms of Macduff. More information is available on heraldry-wiki.com. There is one deviation that can be seen at the coat of arms on the poster, though: The shield at the bottom (showing the lion) has been tilted to the left. It is unclear why this change was made, but I guess it was for aestetic reasons.
Design ideas
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | 20-JUL-2005 |
| Location | Macduff, Scotland |
| Camera | Canon AE-1 Program |
| Image Source | Fuji Slide Film |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 6540 x 4193 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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