December 19: Kintail – the view from Ben Sgriol, ca. 1985

Kintail – the view from Ben Sgriol, ca. 1985 (HMB-P-224). A print from the Hamish Brown Mountaineering and Scottish Photography Collection.

The view from Beinn Sgritheall (or Beinn Sgriol) was described by Sir Hugh Munro, a founder member of the Scottish Mountaineering Club, who compiled his list of the tallest mountains in Scotland, as “perhaps the most beautiful I have seen in Scotland”.

Hamish Brown mountaineer and explorer, was the first person to climb all the Munros in one trip and under his own power. He has over the years travelled and explored the Atlas mountains of North Africa, as well as mountains in Peru, India, the Alps, Norway and many other notable mountain ranges.

The silver gelatin print replaced the albumen print in the 1870s. This process was chemically more stable and produced a longer lasting, less light sensitive, image.  For the firm of Valentine there was a further advantage in that the printing papers prepared and then stored until needed. A half plate print like this would taken directly from the negative and used as a reference for the image – saving the need to handle the delicate negative.