Stereoscopic photograph of the entrance to Fingal's Cave, Staffa in the Inner Hebrides in Scotland. Standing on the right of the cave entrance are two men; one with his back to the viewer and another who stands in left side profile. Like the Giant's Caus

The wildest districts of Scotland

George Washington Wilson produced some of the first photographic souvenirs of Scotland

    GEORGE WASHINGTON WILSON (1823–93)

    Fingal's Cave, Staffa

    1859

    Stereoscopic albumen print | 7.5 x 7.1 cm (image) | RCIN 2514412

    This photograph is one of George Washington Wilson’s most popular images of Fingal’s Cave on Staffa. Viewed as a stereoscopic image, the viewer is invited into the very mouth of the cavernous cave which is made possible by the three-dimensional effect of stereoscopic photographs. Wilson has placed two figures on the right of the foreground, not only to give a sense of scale, but also to add to the image’s depth; this enhanced the three-dimensional view. Fingal’s Cave was one of the most visited locations on Thomas Cook’s Tartan Tours of Scotland during the mid-19th century.

    Watch the short video below to see this photograph as it would have appeared through a stereoscope.

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