Aird

Il Selciato del gigante (in inglese Giant's Causeway, talvolta non tradotto in italiano) è un affioramento roccioso naturale situato sulla costa nord est irlandese a circa 3 km a nord della cittadina di Bushmills, nella contea di Antrim in Irlanda del Nord.

È composto da circa 40.000 colonne basaltiche, formatesi da una eruzione vulcanica circa 60 milioni di anni fa, generalmente a base esagonale, ma non ne mancano anche a quattro, cinque, sette o otto lati. Le più alte raggiungono i 12 metri d'altezza, ma alcune, essendo situate su delle scogliere, si innalzano anche per 28 metri. Le formazioni visibili a occhio nudo sulla costa sono solo una parte del complesso, che prosegue anche nel fondale marino adiacente.

Il Selciato del gigante è stato inserito nella lista dei Patrimoni dell'umanità dell'UNESCO nel 1986 ed è una riserva naturale nazionale dal 1987; attualmente è di proprietà del National Trust, che lo gestisce.

link: it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selciato_del_gigante

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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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March 2018, Digital Medium Format on a Pentax 645D

Pentax Medium Format, digital. 35mm lens

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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!

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

Il Selciato del gigante (in inglese Giant's Causeway, talvolta non tradotto in italiano) è un affioramento roccioso naturale situato sulla costa nord est irlandese a circa 3 km a nord della cittadina di Bushmills, nella contea di Antrim in Irlanda del Nord.

È composto da circa 40.000 colonne basaltiche, formatesi da una eruzione vulcanica circa 60 milioni di anni fa, generalmente a base esagonale, ma non ne mancano anche a quattro, cinque, sette o otto lati. Le più alte raggiungono i 12 metri d'altezza, ma alcune, essendo situate su delle scogliere, si innalzano anche per 28 metri. Le formazioni visibili a occhio nudo sulla costa sono solo una parte del complesso, che prosegue anche nel fondale marino adiacente.

Il Selciato del gigante è stato inserito nella lista dei Patrimoni dell'umanità dell'UNESCO nel 1986 ed è una riserva naturale nazionale dal 1987; attualmente è di proprietà del National Trust, che lo gestisce.

link: it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selciato_del_gigante

Il Selciato del gigante (in inglese Giant's Causeway, talvolta non tradotto in italiano) è un affioramento roccioso naturale situato sulla costa nord est irlandese a circa 3 km a nord della cittadina di Bushmills, nella contea di Antrim in Irlanda del Nord.

È composto da circa 40.000 colonne basaltiche, formatesi da una eruzione vulcanica circa 60 milioni di anni fa, generalmente a base esagonale, ma non ne mancano anche a quattro, cinque, sette o otto lati. Le più alte raggiungono i 12 metri d'altezza, ma alcune, essendo situate su delle scogliere, si innalzano anche per 28 metri. Le formazioni visibili a occhio nudo sulla costa sono solo una parte del complesso, che prosegue anche nel fondale marino adiacente.

Il Selciato del gigante è stato inserito nella lista dei Patrimoni dell'umanità dell'UNESCO nel 1986 ed è una riserva naturale nazionale dal 1987; attualmente è di proprietà del National Trust, che lo gestisce.

link: it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selciato_del_gigante

• The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (5 km) northeast of the town of Bushmills.

It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 and a national nature reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland.

The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven or eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres (39 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres (92 ft) thick in places.

According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), from the Fenian Cycle of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet.

Il Selciato del gigante (in inglese Giant's Causeway, talvolta non tradotto in italiano) è un affioramento roccioso naturale situato sulla costa nord est irlandese a circa 3 km a nord della cittadina di Bushmills, nella contea di Antrim in Irlanda del Nord.

È composto da circa 40.000 colonne basaltiche, formatesi da una eruzione vulcanica circa 60 milioni di anni fa, generalmente a base esagonale, ma non ne mancano anche a quattro, cinque, sette o otto lati. Le più alte raggiungono i 12 metri d'altezza, ma alcune, essendo situate su delle scogliere, si innalzano anche per 28 metri. Le formazioni visibili a occhio nudo sulla costa sono solo una parte del complesso, che prosegue anche nel fondale marino adiacente.

Il Selciato del gigante è stato inserito nella lista dei Patrimoni dell'umanità dell'UNESCO nel 1986 ed è una riserva naturale nazionale dal 1987; attualmente è di proprietà del National Trust, che lo gestisce.

link: it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selciato_del_gigante

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

Il Selciato del gigante (in inglese Giant's Causeway, talvolta non tradotto in italiano) è un affioramento roccioso naturale situato sulla costa nord est irlandese a circa 3 km a nord della cittadina di Bushmills, nella contea di Antrim in Irlanda del Nord.

È composto da circa 40.000 colonne basaltiche, formatesi da una eruzione vulcanica circa 60 milioni di anni fa, generalmente a base esagonale, ma non ne mancano anche a quattro, cinque, sette o otto lati. Le più alte raggiungono i 12 metri d'altezza, ma alcune, essendo situate su delle scogliere, si innalzano anche per 28 metri. Le formazioni visibili a occhio nudo sulla costa sono solo una parte del complesso, che prosegue anche nel fondale marino adiacente.

Il Selciato del gigante è stato inserito nella lista dei Patrimoni dell'umanità dell'UNESCO nel 1986 ed è una riserva naturale nazionale dal 1987; attualmente è di proprietà del National Trust, che lo gestisce.

link: it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selciato_del_gigante

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It's always a pleasure to process a photo of that evening at the causeway, bringing the raw files back to live in photoshop to resemble what I experienced that evening. I guess I told you before, but this was maybe the best sunset I have ever seen. Below are some more photos of that evening in chronological order as I moved along the coastline from composition to composition.

Here you can see the waves crashing at the other shore where some people are standing. Some where getting even closer in between the waves (stupid on those slippery rocks) just to run back as the waves were crashing.

I processed this one using the same techniques as I show in my Start2Finish Post Processing Tutorial, but without focus stacking. Here the close foreground wasn't so near.

cheers

Maybe the best sunset I have ever seen. A spectacular evening at giants causeway in northern ireland. Who could wish for a better location to witness such light. It was just awesome, the colors in the sky going crazy and me stumbling over the rocks trying to get as many shots of the scene as possible. Well, I got a few :-)

This was the last photo I took that evening. The light lastet maybe 20 minutes longer, slowly waning into night. What you don't see in this photo are all the people around on the rocks. It was not easy getting a clean photo without a group of people running through the scene. But I managed to direct a few to wait :-)

cheers

• The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (5 km) northeast of the town of Bushmills.

It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 and a national nature reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland.

The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven or eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres (39 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres (92 ft) thick in places.

According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), from the Fenian Cycle of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet.

A great sunset and evening at Giants Casueway - Northern Ireland