Kite Photography in Orkney

I recently had the pleasure of being involved in a collaborative research project working with Aaron Watson and Alice Watterson who organised the project. Focused on Skara Brae, a neolithic village in the Orkney Islands, the project has taken the form of a collaborative mixed media film, which I will post more about soon. In the mean time here are some kite aerial photographs taken during our week of field work around the fantastic ancient monuments of Orkney.

The Ring of Brodgar, Kite Aerial Photograph.

The Ring of Brodgar is a neolithic stone circle and henge roughly contemporary with Skara Brae. It's vast diameter (around 100m) made it particularly difficult to photograph but after a few missed dinners waiting for the illusive evening sunlight we captured this image looking along the narrow spit of land towards the Ness of Brodgar and the Stones of Steness (pictured below).

The Stones of Stenness, Kite Aerial Photograph.

Stenness is a smaller standing stone circle and henge which includes a central hearth. The path which runs through the picture leads to Barnhouse, a neolithic settlement just visible in the background.

Broch of Gurness, Kite Aerial Photograph.

Jumping forward a few thousand years to the Iron Age, a visit to the Broch of Gurness was of interest to my own project which is largely focused on the brochs. John Hamilton speculated that the missing doorway in the broch and courtyard at Jarlshof may have been aligned to create a straight passage way, similar to the entrance here at Gurness, visible on the right.