Sheona Elliot ARPS

Statement of Intent

Fittie, a village in transition.

Footdee or Fittie is found on a narrow tongue of land between Aberdeen, Aberdeen harbour and the sea. Once a fishing village, remote from Aberdeen, Fittie was moved in 1809 to accommodate the expansion of the harbour.

Fittie’s redesign of two then three squares of single storey cottages, initially with net storage sheds in the middle and a mission hall dominating one square, is unique amongst east coast fishing villages. The cottages soon saw storeys added as families increased in size.

Now becoming part of an expanded Aberdeen Fittie has seen many changes over the years with each generation augmenting, personalising or replacing old with new resulting in the village becoming both a popular place to live and now a tourist destination.

Two centuries of changes have made Fittie distinctive and characterful.

Fittie (Footdee) has always appealed to me both as a place to visit and photographically. When I successfully achieved my ‘L’ this was the first place I thought of for my ‘A’.  I decided Fittie fitted into the travel category as I had to travel there, and it would be different being local rather than abroad.  

My initial statement and photographs however, were more documentary than travel but taking on board the good advice given at advisory days and photo forums, and lots of visits to Fittie in all weathers, I managed to successfully produce my final ARPS Travel panel.