Tillman Crane Portfolios


	As my friends and fellow photographers turned their gaze towards Ireland and Tuscany over the past decade, my interest has aimed more towards Scotland. Why? I have no idea. I do have a wee dram of Scots heritage in my bloodlines, and I did go to a college founded by a Scot minister in 1819, but who knows why a fascination for a particular places grows over another. When in the spring of 2002 I had the opportunity to travel to Scotland, it lived up to my expectations. I found myself drawn to the built heritage of the country. Standing stones, kirks, and even the humble croft all received my unabashed gaze. Over the next two years, I traveled around Scotland trying to understand the mystery that Scotland is to me. The language and landscape is familiar enough to be comfortable and yet different enough to be fascinating. So over 18 weeks in two years I traveled and explored the countryside. What you see in the following portfolio is the beginnings, and perhaps more, of my next book. The working title was Kirks, Crofts, and Standing Stones. Kirk is the Scots word for church. I photographed in and around many churches, both those still in use and those that are simply ruins.


What I thought of as a croft were the stone houses left behind after the highland clearances. During my early travels through the highlands I saw many abandoned farmers cottages dotting the landscape. I assumed these were the famous crofts. And many were. But the reality of the croft is that it is a way of life that is still alive and well in many areas of the highlands and islands. Crofting as it is called, involves more than simply a farm building. It is usually a plot of land about 5 acres, on which the owner can plant crops or run a few head of sheep. So to call old stone houses sitting in a field "crofts" is misleading and wrong. But I can still appreciate the beauty of a dry stone building that has been in use for hundreds of years. I photographed many of them.


	The stones at Callanish I are truly amazing. They have been shot by countless photographers. I have never seen anything like them. But the circles at Callanish II, III, and IV are also amazing in their own right. Why are they here? What do they mean? Why are so many located on the Isle of Lewis? Why are there so many Neolithic sites on Orkney? The Stones of Stenness are fewer in number but taller than Callanish. The Ring of Brogar is a much larger circle than any on Lewis. Maeshowe is another Neolithic site, and all three are aligned to form a straight line.


	But in addition to my curiosity about churches, crofts and stones, I found the landscape enchanting. Surprises were hidden at every place I stopped. The project expanded. Although a great title I thought, Kirks, Crofts, and Standing Stones had to give way as the title. Now the book will be simply called Tillman Crane / Scotland. It will be a book of visual memories and observations about a land that has become part of my soul. There are fairy glens, clootie wells, cathedrals, churches, cairns, landscapes, and statues as well as kirks, crofts and standing stones. I have photographed from Orkney in the north to Lewis and Harris in the west to Iona in the southwest and Dunino in the east. These are not the images from a tourist brochure, but the impressions and memories of a soul that has been beguiled by a mysterious and wonderful land. Tillman Crane