There are few places left in the world which possess such a mystery and fascination as the seas around Scotland. For centuries people have sung of the Hebrides; the islands have been written about, fought over, dreamt of, longed for and even to this day are still the subject of quite intense curiosity.

Forming a splintered arc of some 500 islands wrapped around mainland Scotland’s north-west coast, the Hebrides make up an area of breathtaking beauty, a kaleidoscope of colour, light and mood with a character created not only by the ever-changing sea and sky but by the geology, climate and still visible signs of the islands’ unique social history. Almost everywhere that much sought after ‘away from it all, edge of the world’ atmosphere seems to prevail with each individual island having its own distinctive characteristics.

This book, packed with superb, evocative images captures that certain, yet sometimes indefinable atmosphere that is unique within the region. Considerable emphasis has been placed on three contrasting islands – Skye, Eigg and Harris, each with their own chapters, but not neglecting several of the remaining islands. This, coupled with an initial chapter describing the mainland western seaboard puts the Hebrides into their true island context as quite literally a place apart, a place beyond.

Iain McGowan is a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and a professional photographer specialising in landscape and environmental photography. Portrait of the Hebrides is his sixth book to be published by Halsgrove. Over the years he has had photographs reproduced not only in other books but also in magazines, postcards, brochures, tourism literature and exhibitions and he now spends a considerable amount of his time conducting Landscape Photographic Workshops around the UK. Living in the south of England, but having travelled extensively around the Hebridean Islands andWestern Scotland and with undoubtedly Scottish ancestry there is still that certain ‘back home’ sensation when he travels north of the Scottish border.

Imprint: Halsgrove. ISBN 978 1 84114 740 6, hardback, 214x230mm, 144 pages. Published May 2008. Reprinted June 2011.