After school in my library, I host a creative writing club. At our meetings, I often use photos or illustrations as the weekly writing prompt. I love words and photographs and I think they go together like peanut butter and chocolate or like fireflies and summer evenings. For years, I have traveled with my camera in my hand, capturing memories and moments as I roamed the streets of Edinburgh, traipsed across the sands of Miami Beach or floated down a river in Costa Rica. I have collected all of these pictures in albums and used some of them as inspiration for a selection of photo essays.
On a trip to Scotland, I visited the Victorian seaport of Oban. From there, I ferried over to the Isle of Mull to tour Duart Castle. One of the pictures I took on that bright and beautiful day inspired this photo essay:
The Garden Steps
Gardens at Duart Castle, 1995. Photo by L. A. LeVasseur
“Oh, wow,” she sighs, her voice echoing against the stone archway as she descends the stairs into the garden.
Pausing on the last step, she lifts her face to the summer sky and breathes in the romantic scent of the roses, which have wandered rampantly up and over the garden walls. The lawn opens out before her like a velvety green carpet. Stepping out from the shadow of the imposing castle edifice behind her, she can’t contain her smile as she takes in the vibrant flower beds that border the lawn and the dancing cupid balanced atop an ornamental stone fountain in the middle of the lawn. The distant tolling of church bells blends harmoniously with the soothing splash of the fountain.
She lifts her camera and takes a careful snapshot. Then, standing perfectly still, she holds her breath and imagines other voices that have echoed up and down the garden steps. The authoritative tones of the laird of Clan Maclean. The respectful replies of the head gardener. The shouts and laughter of generations of children. The whispered vows of secret lovers. And finally, the awed exclamations of tourists like herself.
Words and Photos by Linda A. LeVasseur 