Eleanor & Clyde Moore

Hello from Eleanor Moore.   I hope you will enjoy the romantic castles and beautiful scenery in this website.   Each and every one of the castles has a unique story of capturing the image on film.   My husband, Clyde and I travel frequently for heritage assignments.  

Our business is Photos By Eleanor.   We have participated as vendors in many Scottish Games and Gatherings in the Western United States.   When someone comes to our booth to ask for a heritage castle that we don’t have, we’ll take this as an assignment and include the requested site in our itinerary for our next trip.   We have participated in the Pleasanton Games, Sacramento Valley Games, Monterey Games, Reno Celtic Celebration, Dixon Scottish Games, Fremont Tartan Day Gathering, Fremont Celtic Festival and the Mother Lode Scots Christmas Walk for several years.

After six trips to Scotland and two trips to Ireland you would think that we would have most of the castles by now.   However, there are more than 2,700 castles in Scotland alone.   We also take assignments for Ireland, Wales and England.

This all started in 1988 after a trip to France.   When I returned to work a friend asked if she could see the photo albums from this trip.   After Emily looked at the photos she said she wanted to buy a couple as she just had been to France and didn’t get photos of several places she visited.   I was flattered and somewhat surprised at this request.   In the back of my mind I thought ‘there is an opportunity here’.   If I could marry my love of traveling and adventure into a ‘retirement career’ I might be able to retire sooner.

I always believed in ‘making a picture’, not ‘taking a picture’.   From this point onward I concentrated on composition and image quality.   We showed our photos for the first time at the Town & Country Village Art Fiesta in 1994.   We only sold one photo but that one sale and favorable comments from the shoppers gave me the encouragement I needed.

We made our first trip to England and Ireland in 1993; then to Scotland in 1994 and most years after that.   My dad is the one who suggested we show our photos at the Sacramento Scottish Games, which at that time were held in Roseville, California.   This time we sold enough photos to cover the registration fees and we were given enough assignments for the next two trips.   And the rest, they say, is history!

It is most gratifying to me when a customer comes by and asks, for example, ‘Do you have the Bothwell Castle?   My great grandmother was born there’.   The look on the customer’s face when I showed him his heritage castle was quite rewarding.

There are so many people in our area with Scottish ancestry.   While it is true that this heritage may be several generations’ back, the pride in being of Celtic descent is overwhelming in many people.   Providing photos of heritage castles, gravesites, favorite glens and ancient defensive forts may be the only opportunity most people have of ever seeing where their ancestors were born or where their grandparents now live.

Our ‘assignments’ have taken us to many of the Scottish Isles, Arran, Barra, Bute, Harris, Kerrera, Iona, Lewis, Mull, Raasay, Skye, North & South Uist and on our next trip we will add Orkney to the list.   We have met so many wonderful people at the Scottish Games and in Ireland and Scotland.   We stay at Bed & Breakfast (B&B’s) lodging facilities and consider our many B&B friends as family when we visit.   After each visit it gets harder and harder to say good-bye.

Photos can be ordered directly from the website or Email us at clyde2@ix.netcom.com.  You can also send us a note with your request for a property that has special meaning.   Bill Beacham is our very dear friend and Webmaster who has done a brilliant job in creating and maintaining our website. In addition to photos of Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales, you can view journals from previous trips.   The journals include recommended B&B’s and castle histories.   Each journal has special features resulting from assignments where we made appointments to tour castles that were not normally open to the public.   Our 2000 trip journal has an in-depth history of the Clan Chattan, the Mackintoshes and the Moy Halls.   After visiting the Isle of Iona, I also included much of the detailed history of Iona.  

I was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation from the Clan Chattan USA at the 2000 Pleasanton Games:

"Be it recognized that Eleanor Moore of

PHOTOS BY ELEANOR

 did provide service to the members of Clan Chattan USA and the constituent clans well in excess of the normal bounds of mere professionalism.  

Traveling far and abroad, she went beyond the extra mile to bring the essence of our forefathers before our eyes."   

Signed by the President and the National Commissioner of Clan Chattan USA.

I retired from my rewarding state career earlier than I had anticipated.   Going ‘on assignment’ is work but what fun this work can be!

Thanks again Emily for wanting to buy those first photos; thanks to Bill for the wonderful website and many thanks to Clyde for driving over 3,000 miles on each of our trips on many single track roads looking for the next castle.  

Enjoy your tour and start dreaming of your own adventure.  

 

Haste Ye Back

Clyde and Eleanor Moore
 Phone: (916) 961-1560
 E-Mail Address: clyde2@ix.netcom.com

Clyde at the 2001 Monterey Games