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JIM RICHARDSON

SCOTLAND . . . All Galleries
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36 images Created 30 May 2020

SCOTLAND: Orkney

Orkney, the islands off the Northeast tip of Scotland, consist of twenty inhabited islands with a rich history and richer farmland.. Gifted with phenomenal Stone Age and iron Age archeological wonders it includes a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Seabirds and unique island culture heavily influenced by the Vikings make for a vibrant island realm. Photographed here by National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson over several assignments spanning twenty years. Subjects include churches, villages, cathedrals, dancing, music, Highland cattle, whisky distilling, island landscapes, fishing and farming.
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  • Stromness is an historic fishing town in Orkney, Scotland. Once a whaling port with houses laid out along the harbor.
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  • Views of the Rackwick Valley on the west coast of Hoy.  This valley was one of the first to be settled by Norse incomers (Vikings) and was for centuries a properous community in an idyllic setting.  Now it is largely abandoned but has lost none of its scenic appeal.  Only one crofter still farms here but others have come to convert old croft houses into summer cottages, including the composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.  These views look over some of the ruined croft houses and other views look down on a small seaside cottage with the cliffs and beach beyond.g
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  • Lobster fishermen return to North Ronaldsay in Orkney, Scotland after a morning working their lobster pots.  The boat is a North Ronaldsay Pram, unique to this small island of about 60 peope. The lighthouse is the Old Beacon at Dennis Head, built in 1789 by Thomas Smith.
    Orkney-20200506-0218-Edit.jpg
  • Students at the Stomness Academy, Orkney, scotland take a nautical class which is best described as "Drivers Education" on the water. Almost all students take the class which strives to give them a modicum of knowledge and familiarity with water saftey on an Island where water is one of the few constants.  This was a fairly new class, just trying to learn to row together.  Some of the kids had a bit more experience than others.
    Orkney-20200512-0398-Edit.jpg
  • Children try on their elaborate costumes for their part as "horses" during the St. Margaret's Hope Gala in August.  The gala in the little South Ronaldsay community features boys plowing at the Sands of Wright outside of town, a century old competition.  Each plow is accompanied by a "horse," with the mothers of the children assembling highly decorated costumes for the competition, which can be quite fierce.
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  • Rowing out to his boat in the evening in Stromness harbor, Orkney, Scotland.
    Orkney-20200506-0293-HDR-Edit-Edit.jpg
  • Orkney farmer Ronald Simison in the Tomb of the Eagles holding one of the skulls he discovered during his excavation of the site.  He discovered the tomb in 1958 and excated it some 20 years later, tired of waiting for the officials to get around to the job.  Now he and his daughters have made a small business of the tomb, operating it as a hands-on museum.  It is on Isbister Farm on South Ronaldsay.  Eagle claws found with the skulls indicated the status of the people burried in the chambered cairn.
    Orkney-20200505-0069-HDR-Edit.jpg
  • The Broch of Gurness on the shores of Mainland, Orkney, Scotland.  The Broch is a large stone dwelling in the form of a circular stone fortification.  These views look across from the top of the wall, down into the central dwelling and then across the sea to the island of Rousay to the north.  Brochs are a common feature of the coast of Orkney which is littered with stone age sites.
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  • Orkney, Scotland
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  • Looking down on the Pierowall and its natural harbor on Westray, Orkney, Scotland.
    Orkney-20200526-0425-HDR-Edit-Edit.jpg
  • The Old Beacon lighthouse at Dennis Head, built in 1789 by Thomas Smith, on North Ronaldsay, Orkney, Scotland
    Orkney-20200512-0608-HDR-Edit.jpg
  • A North Ronaldsay Pram, a type of fishing boat particular to that island, on the shore of North Ronaldsay, gOrkney, Scotland
    Orkney-20200505-0103-Edit-Edit-Edit.jpg
  • Island Ceilidh, Orkney, Scotland.  Saturday night on Eday and the Sanday Fiddle Club is at the community center to perform for the folks of Eday.  The thirty or so young fidders rode the ferry over from the neighboring island and stayed the night in the center before taking the morning ferry back.  This is a pretty typical island ceilidh, a dance and dinner with traditional Scottish dancing and Scottish food (as well as a fair amount of drink.)
    Orkney-20200505-0086-HDR-Edit.jpg
  • Highland cow grazing in Orkney, Scotland
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  • Sheep bedding down for the evening amongst the Stones of Stenness, Orkney, Scotland
    Orkney-20200506-0308-HDR-Edit-2.jpg
  • Cat at an abondoned croft house in the Rackwick Valley on the Isle of Hoy, Orkney, Scotland
    Orkney-20200506-0264-Edit-2.jpg
  • Farms with rich grazing land in Orkney, Scotland
    Orkney-20200506-0243-HDR-Edit.jpg
  • Spreading malted grain for drying in Highland Park Distillery, Orkney, Scotland
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  • Composer Peter Maxwell Davies conducting the London Symphony in Orkney, Scotland at the St. Magnus Festival.
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  • Members of the St. Magnus Chorus rehearse in  St. Magnus Cathedral for a performance during the St. Magnus Festival, a weeklong event that brings major performers to the island towns of Kirkwall (here) and Stromness. Orkney, Scotland
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  • The Highland Park Distillery warehouse where the casks age for up to 24 years. Highland Park is one of the finest of Scottish whiskies.
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  • Seagulls follow a fishing boat in Orkney, Scotland
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  • Mrs. Sandra Thomson, one of the Sanday knitters works in her tiny house on the island of Sanday.  The knitters are a sort of cooperative, marketing knitwear for several dozen women on the island.  Mrs. Thomson does all her knitting by hand and likes to stand in front of her window so she can see who is going by.  (She had a pair of binoculars there, just in case.) Orkney, Scotland
    Orkney-20200514-0392-HDR-Edit-Edit-2.jpg
  • Sheep and lambs graze by the Standing Stones of Stenness, one of several Orkney stone circles dating from before the time of Christ. The stones are in the protection of the National Trust for Scotland.  The sheep lend a touch of life and continuity to the ancient setting and are often the most memorable sight to the thousands of visitors who come the sight every year.  The Trust feels that the sheep cause no damage and belong in the landscape.  (But they still have a crew mow the grass regularly.)  Orkney, Scotland
    Orkney-20200514-0484-HDR-Edit.jpg
  • David Scott coaches his sons David, 16 and Douglas, 14 (the bigger of the two boys) in practice at the Sands of Wright on South Ronaldsay.  With the competition at the Gala several weeks away the fathers start getting their sons ready for the highly charged contest.  The boys are the third generation of Scotts who have been champions of the plowing, their father and grandfather have been champions as boys themselves.  Judging is on evenness of the furrows, etc.
    Orkney-20200526-0404-HDR-Edit-Edit-E...jpg
  • Grave stones dating from the 1600's line the inside walls of St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall.  The design of the stone is traditional with several Orkney twists.  The skull and crossbones remind us all (as if we needed it) or our mortality.  At the time it was common for an Orkney bride to prepare burial shroulds for herself and her husband at the same time that she was making a blanket for the first bairn (child.)  Orkney, Scotland
    Orkney-20200506-0332-HDR-Edit.jpg
  • A family bible lies open in a deserted croft house on North Ronaldsay, the most remote of the Orkney Islands.  When crofters left (or were displaced by landowners) they often simply walked away, evidenced by the cups and saucers still sitting on the shelves.  The slate roof has fallen in letting in the rain and sunlight.
    Orkney-20200526-0398-HDR-Edit.jpg
  • Owen and Tom Rudge on their father's fishing boat at the Sanday harbor.  Rudge moved to the island some years back for a change in lifestyle and to raise his family in a quiet, crime-free environment.  He uses the boat for lobster and crab fishing. Orkney, Scotland
    Orkney-20200526-0395-HDR-Edit.jpg
  • St. Magnus Kirk on Egilsay, Orkney, Scotland. Believed to be built on the site where St. Magnus was martyred during a dispute with his cousin.
    Orkney-20200512-0653-HDR.jpg
  • The beautiful Rackwick Valley and beach on Hoy are some of the most dramatic scenery in the Orkney Islands of Scotland. The wide beach is strewn with massive stones, polished round by the unrelenting sea.
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  • The islands of Orkney Scotland sprawl across the North Sea, a convoluted combination of low land, beaches, and tidal flats which are in constant flux. The seas between the islands is generally very shallow so that the actual landscape of the Neolithic era may well have been much different, depending on the rapidly rising sea level. For the last five thousand years they have remained in motion, their outlines changing decade by decade.
    MM7902_20130805_12570-Edit.jpg
  • The islands of Orkney Scotland sprawl across the North Sea, a convoluted combination of low land, beaches, and tidal flats which are in constant flux. The seas between the islands is generally very shallow so that the actual landscape of the Neolithic era may well have been much different, depending on the rapidly rising sea level. For the last five thousand years they have remained in motion, their outlines changing decade by decade.
    MM7902_20130805_12585-Edit.jpg
  • Dancing at an island Ceilidh in Orkney, Scotland
    Orkney-20200505-0003-Edit.jpg
  • Mrs. Sandra Thomson, one of the Sanday knitters works in her tiny house on the island of Sanday.  The knitters are a sort of cooperative, marketing knitwear for several dozen women on the island.  Mrs. Thomson does all her knitting by hand and likes to stand in front of her window so she can see who is going by.  (She had a pair of binoculars there, just in case.)  Orkney, Scotland
    Orkney-20200506-0329-HDR-Edit.jpg
  • With a great tradition of myth, music and literature Orkney folk very much appreciate Margaret Leask and a couple of friends at the regular Saturday night entertainment in the bar at the Royal Hotel in Stromness.  They play a lot of Scottish music, reels and the like, and then get around to everything including Turkey in the Straw.  Orkney, Scotland
    Orkney-20200506-0199-HDR-Edit-Edit.jpg
  • Island Ceilidh, Orkney Saturday night on Eday and the Sanday Fiddle Club is at the community center to perform for the folks of Eday.  The thirty or so young fidders rode the ferry over from the neighboring island and stayed the night in the center before taking the morning ferry back.  This is a pretty typical island ceilidh, a dance and dinner with traditional Scottish dancing and Scottish food (as well as a fair amount of drink.)  Orkney, Scotland
    Orkney-20200505-0075-HDR-Edit.jpg