Dotted around Skye you’ll find a small number of traditional red phone boxes that remain in place. Once the mainstay of communication before the advent of the mobile phone, the red phone box is an icon of the British landscape and cityscape. Over 20,000 of them dotted street corners, shopping precincts and country villages up and down the country. Many a night out with friends has been arranged in these, and many calls to parents for to be collected after closing time have happened (in my personal experience!).

The red phone box was introduced in 1924, and upgraded in 1935 to the “K6” design. Made from cast iron and built to last, they weigh three quarters of a ton.

This one is in Aird of Sleat, on the Sleat peninsula at the southern tip of Skye. And it is a working example, with a payphone installed and operating.

This was a bit of a tricky one to photograph as it involved being in a field on the other side of the road, and triggering a flash that I’d mounted inside the roof of the phone box using a radio transmitter on my camera while the shutter was open for about 30 seconds. I particularly like the little cluster of very Scottish stone houses on the hillside below that give some context to the shot. In the far distance, a fishing boat is sailing down the Sound of Sleat from Mallaig on the mainland, which can be seen on the left.