Blog Archives

but we have to find our own paths

I wonder how the water decides which path to take, the exciting and fast one, or the calmer and slower one? Likewise, I wonder how people make that same decision.

(An example of the things I thought about while I stood in some very sticky mud and photographed this stream. Curiously it is also an example of why you don’t really want me to always tell you what I’ve been thinking about when I make these photos. You’re welcome.)

near Loch Leathan, Scotland
photographed 11.7.2023

Old Man of Storr waits for the sun

OK – so here’s a more traditional sort of landscape photo (because it includes, you know, landscapes and stuff.)

Specifically what this includes is Loch Leathan in the foreground and the famous rock formation Old Man of Storr way back there on the ridge.

Here’s a legend about the Old Man:

A giant was minding his own business on the Isle of Skye until he fell over and died. Just like that. Pretty short story, don’t you think? The earth covered him, and the big pointy bits of rock are said to be his fingers. Well, this is the polite version of the tale.

Some say that The Old Man of Storr’s original Gaelic name translates to the ‘Penis of Storr’.

Yes, you can stop giggling now.

When the historians discovered this, they were too polite to keep this name, so they incorrectly translated it to the ‘Old Man of Storr’. So, when the giant died, the locals didn’t say his fingers were sticking out, it was his…his you-know-what!

The ancient Gaelic tribes even worshipped this large piece of rock as a symbol of fertility.

   – http://www.rabbies.com

So, there you go.

Loch Leathan
Isle of Skye, Scotland
photographed 11.7.2023