Image Details
On a bitterly cold January afternoon, late, and thinking that all landscape photography opportunities were probably over, I came across this ethereal scene. At the time I didn't know the history of what I was looking at, but years later I did learn of its history, and it only increased my feeling that I had arrived at this place at the most opportune moment.
I was on the north shore of Scotland's Loch Leven looking south to the dreamlike tree-covered island, Eilean Munde (right), the village of Ballachulish, and beyond to the ghostly mass of Beinn a' Bheither. The peat smoke from the chimneys of Ballachulish gave the scene an ethereal feel.
The view was irresistible and I took a variety of images on Kodachrome film, revealing a bluish grey colouration, but I have emphasised the blue as it seems to fit well with how I felt about this view.
Years later, when I was framing some work in my studio, I was listening to the radio, a travel program discussing the Glen Coe area, and I heard Eilean Munde mentioned. Then I learned that this was the island that the MacDonalds of Glen Coe, massacred in 1692, were subsequently buried on.
I immediately stopped what I was doing and brought the image up on my monitor and enlarged it to its maximum extent. There, quite clearly, were the ancient tombstones scattered amongst the trees. For me this just added some other spiritual element to this image, one that I was not aware of at the time.
Copyright © 1992 Gordon C Harrison All Rights Reserved