Scotland 2008 Part XXV: R_ Works in a Broch on Skye

Digital infrared original

I can only imagine an age when towers like this, more than 13m in height originally, dotted the Scottish landscape. Even today, when driving along and catching a glimpse of an old, mostly collapsed tower, my heart leaps in a visceral emotional response.

Digital infrared original

After I spent some time photographing the broch on it's own, R_ came up from the car and we started to work with the ancient site together. This was absolutely the best location to work with a model in on Skye; there was total privacy (with a 10 minute walk up to the broch from the parking lot), and so much visual potential. The above image is looking down into the "guard-room" directly beside the only entrance to the original tower.

Digital original, 7 frame stitch

Much of the haunting beauty of Scotland lay in how the landscape is layered; as the mountains recede into the distance, they become more and more blue. When set against this, it made R_‘s already rich skin tone seem all the warmer in contrast. All through this session, I couldn't but wonder about the people who built these walls, some 1500-2000 years earlier.

Digital infrared original, 4 frame stitch

I didn't find the infrared camera all that useful for much of the work I did in Scotland, as the landscape was so green and evident. The one obvious exception was when working with models; the beautiful rendition of skin on the infrared camera made almost any setting workable - though in this case, when compared to the colour image further above, it is possible to see how much the infrared camera could cut through the distant haze shrouding the hills behind R_ in both images.