TOUCHSTONES

Eight small stones on a window sill in a small chapel — St. Columba’s Chapel, Iona, Argyll

“Bring a stone from home and leave it on Iona and you will someday return.” This was told to me while I sat in the bar at the St Columba Hotel on Iona. I had spent the afternoon in a small chapel next to Iona Abbey. It was a cold, rainy Scottish day, and I had become fascinated by the small stones on the window ledge in the chapel. I made many images that day in one variation or another, most involving those stones. Two of the pictures became the opening and closing images for my second book TOUCHSTONES.

White Stone arches form the ceiling in Blackadder Nave in Glasgow Cathedral — The ceiling of Blackadder Nave, Glasgow Cathedral, Glasgow

Scotland had always been a dream location for me. I had Scottish heritage, went to a college founded by a Scottish minister, and lived for over 10 years in East Tennessee, which has strong ties to Scotland. When the opportunity came for me to speak at the Royal Photographic Society’s Scotland Meeting, I jumped at the chance.

The stone carvings of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll — The Duke and Duchess of Argyll lie in Iona Abbey Church.

Jack Dykinga and I were invited to speak at the Society’s in Scotland’s biennial meeting in September 2001. Needless to say the tragic events put those plans on hold. Roy Robertson, head of The Scottish RPS at that time rescheduled our speaking engagement to the meeting in May 2002.

A ring of standing stones on a hill side at Calanais, Lewis — Calanais Standing Stones Site I, Calanais, Lewis, Western Isles

With nine months to plan, we added in a family vacation before the meeting. With a rental car and guidance from friends, Russ Young and Donald Stewart, we traveled around northern Scotland and the Orkney Islands. That trip began my love affair with Scotland which continues even today.

A stone wall leads the eye up the hill tothe row of trees. on the crest of the hill — Plate 28, TOUCHSTONES, Near Dornoch. Firth, Easter,Ross

Returning from that first trip I saw in the developed film the beginnings of a new project. For the next several years I visited and photographed Scotland as much as possible. My first idea was to relate the use of stone as a building material in Scotland and the American southwest. That didn’t work in the end but something kept pulling me to return over and over again.

Each visit Donald and Russ had new suggestions for locations I should visit. Donald often went with me and helped make sure I could get where I wanted or needed to be. There is no doubt in my mind that TOUCHSTONESwould not have become a book if Donald Stewart had not become both close friend and guide to all things Scotland.

A tiny window in with two layers of stones left by visitors to Iona. — Plate 30, TOUCHSTONES, St.Columba’s Chapel, Iona, Argyll

After four years of work, Donna and I felt that there was indeed a book project from the images I made in Scotland. We decided to create a very different book project the second time around. It would be a smaller book, only 31 photographs. More essay than novel, all the images would be in the 5×12 format and we took complete control over its production.

Two Standing Stones and one fallen stone in the woods in Dervaig, Mull.

Back in the St. Columba’s hotel bar on Iona, talking with the man who told me the legend about the stones, I knew what I would call this book. I realized that these stones symbolize the idea of connectivity. By symbolically bringing a piece of your home and leaving it behind you establish a connection, a tie to that new place. These images would be mytouchstone to Scotland.

TOUCHSTONESwas a small edition run of 500 copies. Each was signed and numbered at the bindery before being packaged and shipped. To have the money to go to press we presold a variety of limited edition book + print packages. To our amazement, the book completely sold out within a year! It is this model that we used for the next couple of books, ODIN STONE, and A WALK ALONG the JORDAN. I will write about those two projects in later blogs.

tillman