When photographer Gösta Sandberg travelled to the Western Isles in the 70s, he was looking for “the place the rain came from”.
The Swede – who had first heard of the Hebrides on weather forecasts as a child – fell in love with the life and the people of the islands and captured them in a series of striking black-and-white photographs.
Touring the islands with his wife Kirsten, he snapped everyone from crofters to shopkeepers, textile weavers and children.
In the decades that followed, the respected photographer and museum curator displayed the photos at exhibitions in Sweden and France.
Now 40 years on from his trip to the Hebrides, Gösta has returned to the Western Isles to give his collection of more than 100 photographs back to the community he captured on film.
He has presented the collection to the Museum nan Eilean at Lews Castle, Stornoway, as part of their Tasglann nan Eilean or Hebridean Archive project.
And his one sadness is that more of the people he met in 1977 weren’t still alive to see the images of their younger selves.
Gösta, 69, from Alingsas in Sweden, said: “When I was a young boy growing up in Sweden, I always wanted to visit the Hebrides.
“I used to listen to weather forecasts on our radio and they always said the rain would come from the west – from the Hebrides.
“So, I would look at my map and say, ‘Where is the Hebrides where all this rain comes from?’
“I visited in 1977, with my then girlfriend – now my wife – and we met so many kind people.
“We didn’t have a car, so we walked for miles.
“Or we went out with the postman, or with the man who collected the tweeds for the mill in Shawbost.
“We would talk to all the people we met, and I would take their photographs.
“I just wanted to capture their lives.”
Gösta – who visited Lewis, Harris, South Uist and Benbecula on his 1977 journey – decided to donate his images from the trip to the Hebridean Archive after hearing about the official opening of the new Museum nan Eilean earlier this year.
He travelled back to the Western Isles in August where with the help of Lewis photographer Fiona Rennie he retraced his footsteps in the hope of finding out more about the people and places he had photographed in the past.
His nostalgic journey was filmed for BBC Alba by production company Mac TV.
Gösta said: “When I took the pictures in 1977, I took the names of some of the people I photographed, but not many.
“I could remember a lot of the places I visited, the people I had spoken to, what they had been doing when we met. But a lot has changed in 40 years. Some places haven’t changed much but other places, particularly the small crofts have changed a lot.
“And, of course, sadly a lot of the people are no longer with us.
“It has been nice to see people looking at my photographs, recognising their old friends and neighbours, or even recognising themselves.
“It was quite emotional to reminisce about the old memories and encounters.
“I’ve seen many tear-filled eyes and heard numerous stories about the people in the photos.
“Gifting the photos back to the islands seemed like the right thing to do.”
Gösta’s Gift is available to watch on the BBC’s iPlayer.
