Giant's Causeway
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If you are interested in how this photo was taken and processed, I have a detailed tutorial available. More than 2 hours of video. Check it out
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June 21 0f 2014 was an important day for me… I got to wear my new suit and tie. Oh, and I got married, too. That day was quite wonderful and funny in many ways. After we got back home and could rest for a minute, Joyce held me at arm’s length, looked deep into me with those big hazel eyes and said, “Hello, Mr. Kight.” I responded with the answer she had been longing to hear, “Hello, Mrs. Kight.” Then a thought found its way past my lips, “Wait a second… that was my mom’s name!” We both had a good laugh out of that… and I believe that was the exact start of the adventure of our life together.
The adventure continued the next day, as we would be winging our way to the United Kingdom for our honeymoon, though not without a bit of chaos to make it a true adventure… despite Joyce’s careful planning, the connecting flight to New York had no record of us. The problem was on their end, not ours, but we had to go through hoops to eventually make our flight across the pond. When my wife makes her mind up about something, she becomes doggedly determined… I wouldn’t stand between her and any goal she’s set... she got us on our way. Me, well I was like the old Shake and Bake commercials, "... and I helped!" My wife is awesome!
While on this trip, I got to meet face-to-face with many friends I had first made online through Flickr. I remember as we were preparing for landing at Heathrow just after sunrise that I was going to meet folks who seemed quite amiable online, but then I thought, “What if they’re jerks?” My next thought considered me coming from a considerably different culture, “What if I’m a jerk?” One of my first friends from Flickr picked us up at the airport. Peter has since become a dear friend of whom Joyce and I are both grateful for. What stands out with my photography friends, other than the fact they are folks I love and care for, is that no one knows their country much as they do… they know the best places to point a camera to.
This is one of those places, thanks to our Irish friend Mari… I’ll let my previous description define what you’re seeing here: Verdant cliffs cascading down to the sea, crashing waves of turquoise water, brilliant blue skies with a hint of rain clouds, and a black sand beach... this must be Punaluu Beach in Hawaii. Wait a second... that’s not sand... and this isn’t Hawaii. This is Clochán na bhFomhórach, also known as the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.
This was a strange beach, indeed. It reminded me of the irresistible force paradox, a classic paradox formulated as "What happens when an unstoppable force (the sea) meets an immovable object (the rocks)?" We would soon find out. It was our second stop along the Irish coast with our friend Mari. Though crowded with a throng of humanity, we still managed some shots sans people. This would be an excellent place for sunrise and sunset photography, especially among the wet rocks... though, as we found out by proxy, the wet rocks can be perilous. Thank you so much to the young and foolish for pointing this out to us (read the text from here to understand: www.flickr.com/photos/snapdraggin/10962143944/).
Gravity’s weird here... and so are these rock columns of dense basalt that have a very crystalline appearance. We watched as young men and women seemed to be out to prove something by venturing out toward where the waves crashed the rocks. Needless to say the waves weren’t the only things to crash... that hard basalt just reached out and smacked a few of them... and they didn’t bounce. I told you gravity’s weird here. It’s actually nice to know that regardless of the culture around this world, some things are just the same... it’s evident that so often youth is wasted on the young. Will they ever learn? Did I?
It’s estimated that approximately 60 million years, 11 months ago, on a Tuesday at precisely 1:56 AM, volcanic basalt pushed through the strata that is now the chalk cliffs and cooled in such a way to end up like these (mostly) hexagonal pillars. Similar structures also exist across the ocean in Scotland in a place called Fingal’s Cave... now, this is where the story gets interesting. According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant... sounds good to me.
The Irish giant, Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Their conversation could have been “Oh, so lovely to meet you! Would you care for a cup of tea?” But, no, it was more like “Oh yeah?” “Yeah!”... and it was on like Donkey Kong. The earlier myth has Fionn build the causeway and promptly put a whoopin’ on Benandonner... The End. But, just as in Hollywood, that doesn’t make for a good story... so it evolved into this: Fionn hides when he realizes that Benandonner is much bigger than he thought. Fionn's wife, Oonagh, fearful of becoming a widow, disguises Fionn as a baby and tucks him in a huge cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the “baby”, he supposes that its father, Fionn, must truly be HUMONGOUS! He hightails it back to Scotland in terror, destroying the causeway behind him so that Fionn could not follow. How funny is that? And no one was hurt in the spinning of this yarn, so it's doubly good.
It’s apparent with such a creative way that the Irish explain Clochán na bhFomhórach (which means "stepping stones of the Fomhóraigh", a race of supernatural beings in Irish mythology), nothing in this land escapes the scrutiny of the artist’s eye. I hope you get to see it one day. By the way, another Irish friend, Rodney, noted something about this place that may or may not be quite accurate: "They say if you stand on one of those stones and say 'Beam me up, Scotty', you`ll disappear." I'll have to go back and try that. Aloha!
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This image brings to mind many memories of my time in Ireland, not least of which those of dear friend Evelyn McCullough, who is currently in hospice at the MacMillan Unit in Antrim, Northern Ireland… this place was stompin’ ground for her, and she knew it as intimately as anyone. My first time here was in the company of Mari Ward, who also does Northern Ireland proud with her photography. I know that most folks are prone to memes with few words, but for this photo, I’m going back to the text I wrote on a photo from our first visit here… if you take the time to read it, I’m sure you’ll love it:
Verdant cliffs cascading down to the sea, crashing waves of turquoise water, brilliant blue skies with a hint of rain clouds, and a black sand beach... this must be Punaluu Beach in Hawaii. Wait a second... that’s not sand... and this isn’t Hawaii. This is Clochán na bhFomhórach, also known as the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.
This was a strange beach, indeed. It reminded me of the irresistible force paradox, a classic paradox formulated as "What happens when an unstoppable force (the sea) meets an immovable object (the rocks)?" We would soon find out. It was our second stop along the Irish coast with our friend Mari. Though crowded with a throng of humanity, we still managed some shots sans people. This would be an excellent place for sunrise and sunset photography, especially among the wet rocks... though, as we found out by proxy, the wet rocks can be perilous. Thank you so much to the young and foolish for pointing this out to us (read the text from here to understand: www.flickr.com/photos/snapdraggin/10962143944/).
Gravity’s weird here... and so are these rock columns of dense basalt that have a very crystalline appearance. We watched as young men and women seemed to be out to prove something by venturing out toward where the waves crashed the rocks. Needless to say the waves weren’t the only things to crash... that hard basalt just reached out and smacked a few of them... and they didn’t bounce. I told you gravity’s weird here. It’s actually nice to know that regardless of culture around this world, some things are just the same... it’s evident that so often youth is wasted on the young. Will they ever learn? Did I?
It’s estimated that approximately 60 million years, 11 months ago, on a Tuesday at precisely 1:56 AM, volcanic basalt pushed through the strata that is now the chalk cliffs and cooled in such a way to end up as these (mostly) hexagonal pillars. One thing of note here: someone counted each and every one of the columns... wish I had been there when they did that... Them: " ...2,165. 2,166. 2,167..." Me: "32!" Them: "32... For crying out loud!" Similar structures also exist across the ocean in Scotland in a place called Fingal’s Cave... now this is where the story gets interesting. According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant... sounds good to me.
The Irish giant, Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Their conversation could have been “Oh, so lovely to meet you! Would you care for a cup of tea?” But, no, it was more like “Oh yeah?” “Yeah!”... and it was on like Donkey Kong. The earlier myth has Fionn build the causeway and promptly put a whoopin’ on Benandonner... The End. But, just as in Hollywood, that doesn’t make for a good story... so it evolved into this: Fionn hides when he realizes that Benandonner is much bigger than he thought. Fionn's wife, Oonagh, fearful of becoming a widow, disguises Fionn as a baby and tucks him in a huge cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the “baby”, he supposes that its father, Fionn, must truly be HUMONGOUS! He hightails it back to Scotland in terror, destroying the causeway behind him so that Fionn could not follow. How funny is that? And no one was hurt in the spinning of this yarn, so it's doubly good.
It’s apparent with such a creative way that the Irish explain Clochán na bhFomhórach (which means "stepping stones of the Fomhóraigh", a race of supernatural beings in Irish mythology), nothing in this land escapes the scrutiny of the artist’s eye. Check out Ireland from the perspective of five such artists: Mari Ward-Foster www.flickr.com/photos/22784225@N07/ , Evelyn McCullough www.flickr.com/photos/herringpond/ , Rodney Harrison www.flickr.com/photos/rodneyharrison1966/ , Sean Mulligan www.flickr.com/photos/swordscookie, and Jane Mclaughlin www.flickr.com/photos/jeanniemac/. Aloha!
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In attesa della luce del sole dell'alba alle Giant's Causeway, mi son seduto su uno di questi basalti ad osservare il movimento delle onde che si infrange su di questi...
Dopo essermi goduto questo momento di meditazione, ho provato a "giocare" con i tempi lunghi ed il diaframma aperto per dare più tridimensionalità (ero a f/2.8) concentrando l'attenzione sulla schiuma delle onde ed i basalti ricoperti di alghe.
Scattato con filtri: ND 1000 Haida + GND Lee 0.6 Hard
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The Giant's Causeway, Bushmills, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Around 50 to 60 million years ago, County Antrim was subject to...
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Created around 50 to 60 million years ago, County Antrim in Northern Ireland was subjected to intense volcanic activity, when highly fluid molten...
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Giant's Causeway, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
**This is a copyrighted image with all rights reserved. Please don't use this image on websites,...
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Giant's Causeway, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
**This is a copyrighted image with all rights reserved. Please don't use this image on websites,...
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Another from the Giant's Causeway (see two images back)... this is such a special place for me for various reasons that you can see on other recent posts. There's much lore that's steeped in this place... when you're here, you can sense a magical quality to it. I’m going back to the text I wrote on a photo from our first visit here, as it expresses that very thing… if you take the time to read it, I’m sure you’ll love it:
Verdant cliffs cascading down to the sea, crashing waves of turquoise water, brilliant blue skies with a hint of rain clouds, and a black sand beach... this must be Punaluu Beach in Hawaii. Wait a second... that’s not sand... and this isn’t Hawaii. This is Clochán na bhFomhórach, also known as the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.
This was a strange beach, indeed. It reminded me of the irresistible force paradox, a classic paradox formulated as "What happens when an unstoppable force (the sea) meets an immovable object (the rocks)?" We would soon find out. It was our second stop along the Irish coast with our friend Mari. Though crowded with a throng of humanity, we still managed some shots sans people. This would be an excellent place for sunrise and sunset photography, especially among the wet rocks... though, as we found out by proxy, the wet rocks can be perilous. Thank you so much to the young and foolish for pointing this out to us (read the text from here to understand: www.flickr.com/photos/snapdraggin/10962143944/).
Gravity’s weird here... and so are these rock columns of dense basalt that have a very crystalline appearance. We watched as young men and women seemed to be out to prove something by venturing out toward where the waves crashed the rocks. Needless to say the waves weren’t the only things to crash... that hard basalt just reached out and smacked a few of them... and they didn’t bounce. I told you gravity’s weird here. It’s actually nice to know that regardless of culture around this world, some things are just the same... it’s evident that so often youth is wasted on the young. Will they ever learn? Did I?
It’s estimated that approximately 60 million years, 11 months ago, on a Tuesday at precisely 1:56 AM, volcanic basalt pushed through the strata that is now the chalk cliffs and cooled in such a way to end up as these (mostly) hexagonal pillars. One thing of note here: someone counted each and every one of the columns... wish I had been there when they did that... Them: " ...2,165. 2,166. 2,167..." Me: "32!" Them: "32... For crying out loud!" Similar structures also exist across the ocean in Scotland in a place called Fingal’s Cave... now this is where the story gets interesting. According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant... sounds good to me.
The Irish giant, Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Their conversation could have been “Oh, so lovely to meet you! Would you care for a cup of tea?” But, no, it was more like “Oh yeah?” “Yeah!”... and it was on like Donkey Kong. The earlier myth has Fionn build the causeway and promptly put a whoopin’ on Benandonner... The End. But, just as in Hollywood, that doesn’t make for a good story... so it evolved into this: Fionn hides when he realizes that Benandonner is much bigger than he thought. Fionn's wife, Oonagh, fearful of becoming a widow, disguises Fionn as a baby and tucks him in a huge cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the “baby”, he supposes that its father, Fionn, must truly be HUMONGOUS! He hightails it back to Scotland in terror, destroying the causeway behind him so that Fionn could not follow. How funny is that? And no one was hurt in the spinning of this yarn, so it's doubly good.
It’s apparent with such a creative way that the Irish explain Clochán na bhFomhórach (which means "stepping stones of the Fomhóraigh", a race of supernatural beings in Irish mythology), nothing in this land escapes the scrutiny of the artist’s eye. Check out Ireland from the perspective of five such artists: Mari Ward-Foster www.flickr.com/photos/22784225@N07/ , Evelyn McCullough www.flickr.com/photos/herringpond/ , Rodney Harrison www.flickr.com/photos/rodneyharrison1966/ , Sean Mulligan www.flickr.com/photos/swordscookie, and Jane Mclaughlin www.flickr.com/photos/jeanniemac/. Aloha!
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Aaaaaand back to the bad weather..... This place was a must visit on the trip but with doing it by public transport it only left me just over an hour to get off the bus and walk down a considerable length to get to this spot before setting off back for the (last) bus once again, hardly ideal but it had been over 8 years since I was last here and I wanted an image to do the place justice, a bit of a tall order in under an hour on a day that had been constantly raining.....
Once I got here I set up in the rain and covered the gear over after cleaning the lens off with spray and rain and just waited for the rain to stop, amazingly I got my break and the weather actually worked to my advantage here with a monstrously moody sky and waves washing in hard onto the causeway, no sooner had I got my shot it started to rain again, I waited around a while and got one more image with an American guy stood on the rocks which I like also but this was the one I'd come for, I could (and will) spend hours here shooting, planning a return trip in the car over Winter hopefully.
The poor weather for once having done me a big favour, out of seemingly no chance at all coming away with an image made me a happy camper for the day, the soaking I got walking to the pub later on was a lot more bearable with this in the bag.
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This is my favourite shot from Giants Causeway... or lets call it my favourite shot of our trip to ireland. What makes this my favourite was not only the light, but the boy walking to the tip of the causeway and then for a few seconds standing the perfect pose for my photo.
The three photos of the current Causeway set where all taken one after another. I was moving from comp to comp, focusing, adjusting filters, shooting ... There was nearly no time to enjoy the scenery. Good that it lasted so long. Even after taking the last photo and packing up my gear the sky continued to glow.
PS: I have a video tutorial describing my complete processing workflow on one of the photos from this series if you're interested:
Start2Finish Post Processing Tutorial
cheers
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The Giant's Causeway, Bushmills, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Around 50 to 60 million years ago, County Antrim was subject to...
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................ www.erwanleroux.bzh ................ .......... Facebook / 500px / Google+ ..........
Prise de vue de la Chaussée de Géants lors de...
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The Giants Causeway, Bushmills, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
As mentioned on one of my posts a few weeks ago, through my personal experience of...
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A black and white rendition of Giant's Causeway in County Antrim along the coast of Northern Ireland. I had a stopover in Dublin for a meeting on my...
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