Pictures: Edinburgh man’s ‘gravity-defying’ art that washes away

His precarious looking rock sculptures are simply mesmerizing to look at.

But fine art photographer Laurence Winram is incredibly modest when speaking about his creations, despite only finding joy in the calming nature of stone-stacking a year ago.

He says his inspiration was the European stone-stacking championships in Dunbar which took place in April last year.

Laurence's latest artwork at Portobello beach.

The 50-year-old, who lives in Brunstane by Portobello, said: “I went along to it and it changed my life. I absolutely got addicted to it and entered into the ‘most stones stacked in 20 minutes’ section.”

He says he asked last year’s competition winner about how to balance the stones who told him: “It’s about making a tripod - find a hairline crack and the stone clicks into place.”

Laurence explains: “I found a stone and looked at the crack in the stone and you have to look to balance it on three points.

“I’ve seen others (sculptures) that look a lot more precarious than mine.

This rock scuplture was crafted on the Humbie water in East Lothian.

“One of my sculptures is built from rounded granite stones, but because granite has a rough texture, it grips. It’s about finding the balance point, it’s just a matter of patience. I am new to this and I’m enjoying it.”

The photographer says he has been encouraged by others with more experience in stone-stacking, including artist Michael Grab who posts videos of himself doing the work under the alias ‘gravity glue.’

Laurence, who is originally from Aberdeen but has been living in Edinburgh for 30 years, says he spent just over two hours carefully stacking his latest 7ft-high scuplture at Portobello beach on Sunday (top picture).

He describes stone-stacking as ‘active meditation’ and stresses it’s both safe and environmentally friendly, as the beach materials are either washed away by tide or he knocks them down shortly after completion.

This was his first scuplture of 2019.

Laurence shares pictures of his beach art on Instagram, ‘thestoneplaced.’

He says that during the summer months, he aims to build rocks about once a week. In the winter, poorer weather makes stone-stacking a bit trickier.

Join our Facebook group Our Edinburgh to share images and news from and around the Capital