I was going through my photos when I came across these photos I took while I was living in Scotland.
I lived in Edinburgh from August 1992 to February 1998 and these photos were taken in 1997. The ones I've chosen for this post are of scenes that would have changed little, if any, since then. There aren't many of Edinburgh, as there have been quite a few changes since I left, and none of Glasgow. There are quite a few photos from the Isle of Skye and the highlands, as well as others of rural scenes and towns.
Instead of writing about every photo, I've used links in the captions (where possible) to take you to further reading on the photo/subject. At the end of the post are several links to various Scottish tourism links (including Edinburgh and Glasgow).
I have discovered that this post runs slowly if viewed on Internet Explorer. It's best viewed on Google Chrome or Firefox (not as fast as Chrome).
We'll start in Edinburgh...
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| Hanover Street in the city centre on a foggy November day. |
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| Waverley Gardens in the city centre on a summer's day - the locals were out catching some rays. |
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| Looking down on the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen's official residence in Scotland, from partially up Arthur's Seat. |
The above photo is of two golfers playing a round at
Prestonfield Golf Course and was taken one January morning in 1993, during my first Edinburgh winter (it was taken from the road that circles Arthur's Seat). I was driving around looking for a 'winter' photo and saw the lovely light cast across the undulating surface of the golf course. I parked the car and got out to have a closer look when I saw these two, who were the only people playing that morning. The problem was they were about three holes away from where I'd framed up this photo, so I had to wait around nearly half-an-hour for them to walk into frame. For those of you who don't know, Edinburgh gets 'a bit chilly' in winter and, this being my first Scottish winter and me being from sub-tropical Brisbane, I nearly froze to death waiting for them. Luckily for me, when they did walk into frame, I couldn't have asked them to do a better job of doing what I wanted. My patience was rewarded when the
Edinburgh Evening News, who I was working for that day, used the photo on page 17 of the newspaper and ran it as the entire page.
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| Portree harbour. Portree is the largest town on Skye. |
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| Sheep have right of way. |
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| The Fairy Bridge. |
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| Grey seals near Dunvegan Castle. |
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| A thatched roofed cottage on Skye. |
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| Cold and blustery day. |
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| English and Gaelic road sign. |
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| Stream beside the road. |
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| Boats tied up. |
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| Petrol pump. Don't think it worked. |
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| Give way... |
The highlands
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| Not very far from the Skye Bridge is the village of Plockton. |
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| You don't want to hit one of these! |
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If you like the photography in my blogs, it's because I am a professional photographer. My photos don't merely show something, they tell a story. And visual stories i.e. photos, are more interesting than pictures that merely show something.
If you'd like to know how to turn your images into visual stories, I've published a book that takes a whole new slant on photography and 'translates' the art of taking photos into a language we all understand.
To read more about my book and see some of its 100+ visual examples,
please click HERE.
***I use all the tips and hints from my book in every photo I take, including those in Travel With Giulio.
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| Kintail Pass. |
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| Winter, highlands style. |
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| Always tartan for sale somewhere! |
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| Who needs a fridge? |
Leaving the west coast and heading east...
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| St. Andrews - looking down a street to the old abbey (ruin). |
The
Old Course at St. Andrews is the home of golf. I never photographed an Open at the Old Course but I was lucky enough to be there the day one of the game's greats,
Arnold Palmer (above), played his last ever round at the Old Course. His last Open at the Old Course was in 1995 but he returned in 1996 to play one last round (why, I can't remember) and I was lucky enough to get sent along by the
Daily Mail to photograph the event. Quite a few photographers were there to get him teeing off at the 1st but I followed him all the way around and got this photo of him on the
Swilkan Bridge on the 18th fairway. He stopped on the Swilkan Bridge during his final round in 1995 and posed for a similar photo or the world's sporting media but I was the only one there that day.
Many people travel to Scotland to play golf and there are a myriad of sites. A Google search of 'golf tours Scotland' will bring up many sites for you to choose from.
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Anstruther - a lovely fishing village around 15km (9 miles) to the south-east of St. Andrews.
It's home to the Anstruther Fish Bar - possibly the most famous 'chippy' (fish'n'chip shop) in Scotland. |
So we come to the end of this wee Scottish journey and what better way to end it then with a photo of a whisky distillery, this one being
Glenturret, two miles north-west of Crieff...
Links that may come in handy -
Visit Scotland website
Edinburgh and the Lothians
See Glasgow
Loch Ness
Castles in Scotland
Visit Highlands
Scottish whisky distilleries
St. Andrews Links (golf course)
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I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of Scotland. If I'd known about this blog in 1997 I would have taken more photos but it wasn't to be.
I lived in Scotland for over five years, so if you do have any questions, please drop me a line and I'll see what I can do - TravelWithGiulio@gmail.com
Ciao,
Giulio
All photos and text by Giulio Saggin.
© Use of photos and text must be via written permission
TravelWithGiulio@gmail.com
Love these old photos of Scotland. I lived and worked in Crieff in 2002. The old castle gate at Monzie had been lovingly restored at the time, and I believe someone lived in it. Not sure about 2016 though! I am South African and has not been back to Scotland since then.
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