Well-known Scotland-based photographer Aase Goldsmith has died at the age of 73 after a long period of ill health in Victoria Hospice, Kirkcaldy.
Born in Denmark, Aase had a lifelong passion for photography from her childhood on a farm.
She became fluent in four languages and held a variety of jobs in Denmark from tractor driver to Naval Wren. She married Peter, who came from Lincolnshire, in 1969 and by then they were both serious photographers, moving to Australia in the early 1970s.
Returning to Glenrothes in 1972, Aase got more involved in documentary photography, and along with Peter, documented the Balbirnie Craft Centre.
From 1978 to 1990, they organised and ran the Corridor Gallery at Fife Institute for Physical Recreation in Glenrothes. This gallery was one of the first to bring photography to the mass public and was an early starting point for many aspiring photographers who went on to make careers out of their photography, in many cases encouraged by Aase’s enthusiasm.
Among them were David Williams, Robin Gillanders, Colin Wishart, Glyn Satterly, Pradip Malde, Gunnie Moberg and Peter Goldfield, all now well respected names.
At the same time Aase exhibited widely, in the likes of the Crawford Gallery, St Andrews, Collins Gallery, Glasgow, and Image Gallery, Denmark, and was awarded the prestigious Richard Hough bursary in 1989 for her project Tribal Memory.
Moving to Perth in 1985, she did a major documentary on the village of New Scone where she stayed. This is archived in Perth Museum.
On Peter’s retiral, they moved back to Fife to Largoward in 1996 and continued to exhibit.
Her personal work has been exhibited in such diverse places as Texas to Czechoslovakia.
Along with Peter, she was an early member of the Scottish Photographers, a group of independent photographers and gave great encouragement to young photographers, in particular Alicia Bruce from Edinburgh whose documentary of Menie Estate was lauded, and Alina Kisina from Ukraine who is now operating in London.
Aase’s work is in many collections in Scotland and overseas, including the McManus Gallery, Dundee a lasting tribute to a great photographer.
One of her close friends said: “Any meeting with Aase will be remembered for lots of laughter, mugs of coffee and lots of photographs being passed around.
“She is greatly missed by all who knew her and were inspired by her enthusiasm and great humour, but has left a great legacy with the images she has made.”