-- GALLERY 3 -- Orkney Islands, Scotland

The view towards Hoy, one of the Orkney Islands, as seen from Scrabster, on the mainland. Scrabster is the main port linking Orkney to the mainland and also a small fishing village. Not a wonderful place for a long stay, but desolate and windswept and at least while I was there, grey and rainy. I love this shot. It's almost like a black and white picture.

These gorgeous sandstone pillars decorate the facade of the Viking-built St. Magnus' Cathedral, in Kirkwall, the capital town of the Orkneys. Time has not treated the soft stone well, but I love the effect that nature has wrought. It sometimes seems like the cathedral is a living creature, ravaged by age.

In the Orkneys, ancient monuments abound. Chambered tombs like Maes Howe, the ancient village of Skara Brae, and many more. So it seems almost cheating that this pic isn't from Orkney at all. This is the main stone circle at Callanish, on the Isle of Lewis. But Orkney has plenty of its own stone circles, so it's not completely inappropriate here.

Two of the things I most think of when I think of Scotland are rainbows and sunsets. Perhaps it was a function of the rainy winter weather while I was there, but I found that Orkney has some of the most spectacular skies that nature has to offer. These two shots come from a long walk I took on the island my last day there, which of course was the driest as well. The first was taken about 2:00 in the afternoon, the sun making a rare and brief appearance through the clouds. The second is a shot of the spectacular sunset a mere 2 hours later.