Before the crossing

Ruins are usually associated with time.

But sometimes distance can create its own kind of ruin.

Standing above these castle ruins, I began thinking about places, cultures and communities that slowly lose their vitality because no one connects with them. Somewhere within these walls are stories, experiences and possibilities that may never be seen by those who remain distant from them.

The image asks what happens when there is no bridge between a place and the people who might value it.

Perhaps some things do not disappear because they are no longer beautiful.

They disappear because we stopped looking.

FUN FACT
The castle in the photograph is called Smuggler’s Bothy, which still sits precariously on a rocky shelf above the North Sea. Built around 1760 by local merchant John Robertson, it was once a hub for the illicit importation of tea, reportedly through a secret partnership with a Swedish shipping line.