As Clark pointed out, the treatment he had given these photographs meant that the initial shot was in some ways the least of what he did. Given the naturalness of his subjects and the quality of light in his work he was being modest. Yet, using his printmaking skills, he has turned what would have been beautiful conventional photos into something closer to canvases, emphasising colours and shapes to enhance and dramatise elements of each photo. The resulting images have a mesmerising painterly quality that reflects not just the writer but their portraitist.

The objects selected were fascinating for anyone with a nosy streak. AL Kennedy picked a reclining chair, akin to a psychiatrist’s couch. Bernard MacLaverty was clamped into headphones for his iPod: “It looks attractive, like the fob watch my grandfather used to flip from his waistcoat pocket”; and Matthew Fitt stood before the Falkirk Wheel: “It’s a brig atween past and future, a past that jined Scotland thegither and a future that micht whummle it completely.”

As with Catlin’s work, Clark’s forms a bridge between Scotland’s literary past and present. Sadly, it will just make the newspaper snapper’s job even tougher. Now there’s proof that in the right conditions today’s writers can actually enjoy being in front of a camera.

Inspired is at The Hub, University of Aberdeen, until June 3. Call 01224 272965

Rosemary Goring