Stornoway Historical Society, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland /  by Christoph Corves

This is Malcolm Macdonald. He is the Chair of the Stornoway Historical Society. I met him in March.

George Orwell once said, “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”

In the long period of English “colonial” rule over the Outer Isles, the use of the Gaelic language, traditional music and other aspects of local culture were prohibited.

Today, in many villages of the Outer Hebrides, you find historical societies which research, collect and present the local history, ensuring that the stories and views of local communities are kept alive.

I am grateful to Malcolm for reviewing photos from my project “Cracks and Holes” with me, adding stories, historical background and facts I was not aware of.

Check out the Historical Society’s website for information, events and books:

https://stornowayhistoricalsociety.org.uk/

This photo is part of the visual geography project "Cracks and Holes" which maps places and their stories on the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

Hushinish, Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Scotland /  by Christoph Corves

I first came to Hushinish more than 40 years ago. I have been coming back many times since. Something is drawing me to this place. Walking along the cliffs, enjoying the wind, the rain, the sound of the waves, replenishes my soul. In the winter months, this is a very peaceful place. This year, one of the four houses came up for sale. I just hope, this place will stay as it is, not become another location where people with money convert the traditional houses to oversized holiday lets.

This photo is part of the visual geography project "Cracks and Holes" which maps places and their stories on the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

The Giant's Bath Tub, Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Scotland /  by Christoph Corves

I like to call this "The Giant's Bath Tub". It is situated on the coastal cliffs on the Husinish peninsula, on the Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides. This rockpool has always been there since I first visited some 40 years ago. It looks out to the Atlantic, capturing the sound of the wind and the waves. Could a giant, living in the mountains, have a more beautiful bath tub?

This photo is part of the visual geography project "Cracks and Holes" which maps places and their stories on the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

Shieling, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland /  by Christoph Corves

As land and food for animals were scarce on the Isle of Lewis, women and children used to spend the summer months with the sheep in the moors. They lived in small shielings that still exist in some places.

This photo is part of the visual geography project "Cracks and Holes" which maps places and their stories on the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

Chains and Grass, Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Scotland /  by Christoph Corves

It was a gray day in March. The clouds were coming down the hills. My mood was as misty as the weather. One of these days when I make photos, feeling that I don’t manage to achieve much. A fine drizzle started to fall. The wind began to pick up. The next front was moving in from the Atlantic. Soon it would be too wet to take my old film camera out of the bag. I walked down to a small pier in West Tarbert, took photos of the pier and the landscape. Walking back to the road I knew, I had not managed to capture the essence of this place. Suddenly it struck me, that focusing on the landscape I had noticed but overlooked the old chains behind the workshop. I went back and was struck by the beauty of these chains in the grass. I shot half a film. This photo captures the heart and beauty of the place - for me.

This photo is part of the visual geography project "Cracks and Holes" which maps places and their stories on the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

The Great Wall of Bhaltos, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland /  by Christoph Corves

I like to call this wall "The Great Wall of Bhaltos". Building dry stone walls is a craft and an art on the Outer Hebrides. This wall is a beautiful example of this land art. It crosses the Bhaltos Peninsula, which is owned by the Bhaltos Community Trust. The Bhaltos Community Trust was the first community trust that was founded to take over the community's crofting land on the Outer Hebrides, in 1998. It set an important example for other communities to follow suit in the comunity-based Scottish land reform movement.

Find out more about the Bhaltos Community Trust here:

https://bhaltostrust.co.uk/

This photo is part of the visual geography project "Cracks and Holes" which maps places and their stories on the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

SS Metagama, Stornoway Historical Society, Isle of Lewis, Scotland /  by Christoph Corves

This painting shows the steam ship Metagama. On Saturday 21 April 1923, the SS Metagama sailed from Stornoway to Canada, with 300 young Lewis emigrants on board, all but 20 of them young men, with an average age of 22 (Wikipedia). This journey was part of a wave of mass emigration from the islands. After the highland clearances, the loss of many young men in the British imperial wars and the first world war, this emigration in the 1920s left a lasting trauma on the isles.

You can see this painting in the office of the Stornoway Historical Society. Malcolm Macdonald, the director of the Society, found the painting in a container of construction debris at the harbour. When the harbour office was renovated, the painting was simply thrown away. Now it hangs on Malcolm's wall.

Information on the SS Metagama:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Metagama, 20.09.2025

This photo is part of the visual geography project "Cracks and Holes" which maps places and their stories on the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

The Rock, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland /  by Christoph Corves

I had walked to the end of the road. Past all the houses. Past Uig, Breanish and Mealista. I had seen the Giant’s Beach. The sun had set over the Atlantic. The only sound was the wind in the grass.

The photo is part of the visual geography project "Cracks and Holes" which maps places and their stories on the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

On the boat from Tarbert to Uig /  by Christoph Corves

On the boat from Tarbert, Isle of Harris, to Uig, Isle of Skye. The lady at the Cal Mac ferry terminal in Tarbert had told me, "Don't worry, my dear, there will be no waves at all." I had told her that I got sea sick easily. She was not quite right with her forecast, but a good plate of fish 'n chips and a cup of tea from the boat's cafeteria made this a beautiful journey.

The photo is part of the visual geography project "Cracks and Holes" which maps places and their stories on the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

Photo exhibition "Land am Rand" by Christoph Corves in the Probstei Museum Schönberg /  by Christoph Corves

The gallery of the Probstei Museum Schönberg is showing 40 photos from the project “Land am Rand” in a solo exhibition from July 20 to October 26, 2025.

Land am Rand

“Land am Rand” is a portrait of the Probstei region and neighboring areas northeast of Kiel, one of those rural regions that are at least as typical of Germany as Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich. A region on the edge of everything. On the edge of the republic, on the edge of the Baltic Sea, and on the edge of time. The laconic images, taken between 2010 and 2022, capture the austere charm of this region. The text adds a bygone era to today's photographs. It is taken from the travelogue of J. Taillefas, who spent the summer of 1817 in the Probstei. The result is a portrait of a small, charming country that has no need to be the center of the world. A declaration of love for the north German province.

Exhibition

Probstei Museum Schönberg | Ostseestraße 8-10 | 24217 Schönberg | Tel. 04344 3174
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 2-5 p.m., Thu also 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Public guided tour on September 4 at 3 p.m.
The exhibition ends with a closing event on October 26, 2025.

Sponsors

The Sparkassenstiftung and the district of Plön supported the project, which resulted in a photo exhibition and a photobook.

Land am Rand

The Giant's Beach, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland /  by Christoph Corves

The Giant's Beach. This beach is right at the end of the road. I always wondered how these pebbles got onto that beach. Did they roll down the mountain? Did the sea wash them up on the shore? Did a giant play with them on the beach?

The photo is part of the visual geography project "Cracks and Holes" which portrays places and their stories on the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

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Stornoway Castle /  by Christoph Corves

Stornoway Castle, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, 2025

In the visual geography project "Cracks and Holes" I map places and their stories on the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Stornoway Castle was built by Sir James Matheson who bought the entire Island of Lewis in the 19th century. Matheson was a drug dealer. He made his fortune trading opium to China. When China attempted to stop the opium trade, Matheson convinced the British government to start the opium war against China. He evicted dozens of villages on the Isle of Lewis to establish hunting estates for the British elites. Organized crime was part of the British establishment. Scotland and particularly the Outer Hebrides were treated as other colonies of the British empire.

Shot on Kodak Tri-X400 film.

How to create camera scans from Widelux panoramic photos? /  by Christoph Corves

The Widelux F8 camera makes photos in the format 24*59mm on 35mm film. They are too large for the usual 35mm film scanners. I decided to try the valoi camera scanning system. First trials showed that it is important to exclude any stray light, which may come from windows, any other light souce but also from the valoi light system itself. As no mask is available from valoi that fits the Widelux format, I decided to build a simple mask from card board myself.

The setup works quite nicely. I work with a Fuji X-T1 camera (16 megapixel) mounted on a 45 years old very stable Kaiser enlarger. 16 megapixels seem to be at the bottom end of what is required for a medium format wide photo (59mm). After scanning, I postprocess the photos with Photoshop. The results look nice and are of sufficient pixel resolution for 20*30cm or even slightly larger prints.