Author’s note: Lochbuie on the Isle of Mull is off the main road and a good way down a narrow single track of the sort not suitable for extensive motor-homes (or Winnebagoes). When you get to the end there is some space to park and a small but generous shop staffed only by an honesty box. With a small red post box outside announcing the next collection at 4pm should you be in doubt that you will ever see another person…
A hardened track leads down the waterfront to even more remote places and possibly a hermit or two, passing by a small kirk just a couple of hundred yards from the shop, St Kilda’s Episcopal Church.
I do like these churches and kirks though my relationship with their religion is a little more complex. So after a good long walk along the front to the beach and almost as far as the first hermit we were back at the camper with the kettle on. “I’m just of to the kirk to have a look, back in a mo,” and off I went.
It was open, as all good kirks are, and pretty dark inside. The sort of dark where you close the door and stand still while your eyes adjust. So in the entrance I stood for a short while. I had a look round the kirk and it was good, and paused again in the entrance on the way out.
Back at the camper tea was ready and bread was being marg’ed. A few gulps of tea later and the kirk was calling, “I’ve just got to go and take this photo.” So off I went and here it is, shot on LF film, FP4, and a 90 second exposure, [using a vintage 1950s Linhof camera].
