We have gradually got used to the idea of using aerial photographs in the study of Scotland's past. Only a few weeks ago I was poring over photos, stretching back to the 1940s, in the library of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS).
A splendid book is just out. James Crawford, Scotland's Landscapes; The National Collection of Aerial Photography (RCAHMS, 2012).
Spendidly printed and designed and with hundreds of full-colour photographs, it is first and foremost a record of Scotland today, in all its diversity. There are wind farms and industrial sites as well as historic landscapes, coasts and mountains, houses and fields.
The text is clear and vivid, too, highlighting the ways in which, for thousands of years, human activity has moulded the land - and our perceptions of it.
RCAHMS has such a good track record for this sort of production that we have almost 'come to expect it'. This one reminds us that, each one is a triumph.
The cover price is £25 (a great present for some) but you can get it for less.
A splendid book is just out. James Crawford, Scotland's Landscapes; The National Collection of Aerial Photography (RCAHMS, 2012).
Spendidly printed and designed and with hundreds of full-colour photographs, it is first and foremost a record of Scotland today, in all its diversity. There are wind farms and industrial sites as well as historic landscapes, coasts and mountains, houses and fields.
The text is clear and vivid, too, highlighting the ways in which, for thousands of years, human activity has moulded the land - and our perceptions of it.
RCAHMS has such a good track record for this sort of production that we have almost 'come to expect it'. This one reminds us that, each one is a triumph.
The cover price is £25 (a great present for some) but you can get it for less.
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