Tour Scotland photographs and videos from my tours of Scotland. Photography and videography, both old and new, from beautiful Scotland, Scottish castles, seascapes, rivers, islands, landscapes, standing stones, lochs and glens.
Photograph of T in the Park Music Festival, Balado, Perthshire, Scotland. T in the Park is a major music festival that has been held annually in Scotland since 1994. It is named after its main sponsor, the brewing company Tennents. It was originally held at Strathclyde Park, but since 1997 has been held at a disused airfield in Balado, near Kinross, Scotland.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of a Pearl Fisher in Perthshire, Scotland. There has been pearl fishing in Scotland for centuries. First mentions of British pearls come from the time of Julius Caesar. Tacitus noted that the pearls from Britain were dusky or brownish. In 1355 Scottish pearls were being exported to Paris, France, as there is a statue from that time of the Parisian Goldsmiths saying that gold and silver smiths were not to set Scottish pearls alongside Oriental ones. The only exception being for large projects such as for churches, where it probably was not possible to acquire sufficient Oriental pearls without an item becoming too expensive.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland photograph of a painting by Joyce Cairns in the Art Gallery in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland. An oil painting title the " Deadly Wars. " Joyce Cairns has lived in Aberdeen for the past 30 years. Born in Edinburgh in 1947, Cairns was brought up in North East Scotland, where her father was a school master. In 1966, she went to Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen where she studied until 1970. She then took a Master of Art at the Royal College of Art in London, England, from 1971 to 1974. This was followed by a fellowship at Gloucestershire College of Art and Design in Cheltenham. She went on to undertake a further period of study at Goldsmith’s College before returning to Aberdeen in 1976 to take up a teaching post at Gray’s School of Art. On returning to Aberdeen, she moved into the small fishing village of Footdee at the mouth of the harbour in Aberdeen.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland photograph of a painting by Stella Steyn in the Art Gallery in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland. A painting titled " Two Women. " Stella Steyn, born 1907, died 1987, was an Irish artist of Jewish heritage. She was born in Dublin in 1907 to dentist William Steyn and Bertha Jaffe, who met and married in Limerick, having moved to Ireland from the town of Akmene on the borders of Latvia and Lithuania. In 1938 she married David Ross, a Professor of French at the University of London, England, whom she had met while in Germany in 1933. They lived in England, where Ross worked as an academic in a number of universities.
Photograph of a self portrait by Stella Steyn in Perth, Scotland.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Tour Scotland photograph of a painting of Medieval Perth, Perthshire, Scotland. The name Perth derives from a Pictish word for wood or copse, and links the town to the Picts described by the Romans, who subsequently joined with the Scots to form the kingdom of Alba which later became known as Scotland. During much of the medieval period the town was known colloquially as " St. John's Toun " or " Saint Johnstoun " because the church at the centre of the parish was dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Perth's Pictish name, and some archaeological evidence, indicate that there must have been a settlement here from earlier times, probably at a point where a river crossing or crossings coincided with a slightly raised natural mound on the west bank of the River Tay, thus giving some protection for settlement from the frequent flooding. The presence of Scone two miles north east, a royal centre of Alba from at least the reign of Kenneth I mac Ailpín, later the site of the major Augustinian abbey of the same name founded by King Alexander I, will have enhanced Perth's early importance. It was for long the effective ' capital ' of Scotland, due to the frequent residence of the royal court. It was at Scone Abbey that the Stone of Destiny was kept, and on it the Kings of Scots were crowned down to king Alexander III.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
