alan frost photography

The Isles of Mull and Iona – Part two ….. Capturing the spirit of place

By alan frost on September 25, 2025

There are so many facets to these isles, to the point that trying to capture the spirit of the place with just a handful of images can’t possibly do it justice.

My wife and I have visited the Scottish Isles and in particular the Isle of Mull for over thirty years. However living on the South coast of England and travelling by car, means a minimum of two days on motorways, other stretches of tarmac and ferry crossings to reach our final destination. We take pleasure in the journey but we would probably visit more often if it wasn’t so far away. However being the distance it is does make it that much more special.

Admittedly accessibility is arguably the same for many people which does help to keep the number of visitors down. As a consequence places like Mull and Iona remain wild, beautiful and peaceful in equal measure.

In Part One of this short series I featured Iona Abbey. In this entry I will share a series of images captured during our week long stay back in the Spring. Apart from location they have little else in common but I hope they help to convey why and how much we love coming to this part of the world.

Be Ye Man or Ye Be Woman, Be Ye Going or Ye Be Coming

Be Ye Early or Be Ye Late, Aye Tak Time to Shut the Gate

I shall finish with a Gaelic saying which was on inscribed on a wall in the Abbey which read;

‘Am fear a thèid a dh’l, thèid e trì uairean an.’

It means –

Those who come to Iona will come, not once, but three times.

As this was our second visit to Iona I very much hope this saying will come true, and that we will return on another day.

(A note for fellow photographers – I wanted to travel light this holiday so all these images were captured with the Leica Q3)