pigeon fanciers

An unidentified doomen stands with one of his birds in Niddrie, Edinburgh

Anton Barclay prepares to release one of his male pigeons, in order to in entice a female pigeon back to his hut in the Lochend area of Edinburgh. Twenty-one-year-old Anton has flown doos for 12 years. Anton previously worked as a labourer but recently has been unable to find any work. He has a 18 month old daughter and currently works collecting rubbish for the council

Billy Pryde, 52, at his home in Niddrie, Edinburgh. Billy worked as a trackman for British Rail until his wife was diagnosed with MS. He is now a full time carer and flies pigeons as a means of escape

Billy Pryde, 52, at his home in Niddrie, Edinburgh. Billy worked as a trackman for British Rail until his wife was diagnosed with MS. He is now a full time carer and flies pigeons as a means of escape

Father and son Ian and Mark Wilson dye their newest pigeons yellow in Southhouse, Edinburgh. The yellow colour helps the bird attract members of the opposite sex

'You want your children to have some sort of thing, because there is nothing for children to do here.' Ian Wilson inside his hut in the Southhouse area of Edinburgh

John proudfoot, 19, stands for a portrait in his friends living room in Southhouse, Edinburgh

Paul Casment, 19, with one of his doos at his house in Niddrie, Edinburgh. Paul is a father of a six-week-old baby and trying to move out of his parents house. He admits to stealing motorbikes for fun before getting into flying doos: ' We used to steal motorbikes and take them to the police station car park so we could get a chase. The pigeons take you away from that and remind you that theres more to life.'

Dooman Paul Smith lost his love of flying pigeons after his son was stabbed to death six years ago, but it has now returned

Sinead Wilson is one of the few doowomen and girls

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/sep/21/pigeon-fanciers-doomen-edinburgh-photography

interesting facts/quotes from article

• "When you capture somebody else's bird, you get a buzz. That's the whole point."
•   It's kidnapping as competition.
• Flying doos is a working-class sport in Scotland. 
• Doomen tend to live tough, hard-drinking, sometimes lawless lives. While flying doos does not necessarily keep them on the straight and narrow, it does keep them on a path that is a bit straighter and narrower than it might have been.
• Back then, you could buy pigeons for 50p. That's how I got hooked." The most he's paid for a pigeon is £75.
• smith's own wife tells him he cares more for his pigeons than he does for her. Is it true? "Probably 50%. The pigeons never give me grief!" He laughs.
• Photographer- Everything about them is fascinating, he says – the passion, the lifestyle, the battles, the birds themselves.
• Many doomen live unpredictable lives and are hard to track down – they might agree to a photograph one day and not want to know you the next.
•  He hopes that if Sinead becomes a fully-fledged doogirl, it will keep her out of trouble
• Mind you, he says, you can get into plenty of trouble flying doos You strive for years to get good pigeons, then if someone comes into your hut and steals them, it makes your blood boil. Once you get a good pigeon, everybody knows about it."
• "The worst thing is that it brings out emotions that it shouldn't bring out." Such as? "Anger.
• I could be sitting in the pub having a laugh. Instead, I'm standing in this garden going off my head at the pigeons." So why does he keep doo-flying? "Pure addiction. Aye, it ruins your life."