The Doon, Arran

Arran is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde and the seventh largest in Scotland. The King’s Caves are a series of natural caves on the western shores of Arran and are associated with Robert the Bruce of Scotland. Legend has it that he took refuge in these caves while on the run and had his famous encounter with the spider. For more on this legend see here.

The following photograph was taken on a hike to the King’s caves and shows the Doon in the distance. The Doon is a geological formation known as sill – which is formed when magma extrudes through older rocks and solidifies. The Doon seen in this picture is formed of sheer vertical columns of rock.

View of the Doon, Arran
View of the Doon and the western shore of Arran (Click here to see a larger version on Flickr)

Technical Details

Nikon D750, Nikon 28-300mm lens, 3-shot bracketed HDR processed in Photomatix Pro.

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Machrie Moor Standing Stones

The Machrie Moor stone circles are a collection of 6 stone circles that date back to the neolithic and bronze age in the island of Arran in Scotland. A short walk (1 mile) through a footpath through a working farm gets you to the moor where these stone circles can be found. The photos below are of Machrie Moor stone circle 1, which is formed of 6 granite boulders and alternating 4 sandstone slabs.

The scenery around the moor is breathtaking and it was one of the high points of my visit to Arran.

Machrie Moor Stone Circle 4

Machrie Moor Stone Circle 1

Machrie Mooe Stone Circle 1

Technical Details:

Shot with a Nikon D750 with a 28-300 Nikon Lens. All photographs are from 3-bracketed exposures and processed in Photomatix Pro.

Further Information:

Wikipedia

And tomorow the sun will shine again

There is this standing stone in the Cashel Forest in Scotland with the words “and tomorrow the sun will shine again” referencing the songs by Richard Strauss and John Henry Mackay (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgen!?wprov=sfti1).

And tomorrow the sun will shine again

Technical Details

Nikon D750, Nikon 28-300mm lens, 28mm, f/4,5, ISO200, 1/640.

McWay Falls, Big Sur

I happened to be in California the last two weeks on work related business. Over the weekend my cousin drove me down the scenic pacific coast on the scenic Route 101 from San Francisco to the Big Sur and back. Sadly the day was overcast but we managed to take in some pretty sights along the way, including the famous McWay Falls in the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. Sadly in the absence of a wide-angle lens, I had to resort to taking overlapping photos with my 50mm and then stitching them in Adobe Lightroom.

DSC_7359-Pano-Edit
Composite of 5 stiched photos. See in large size on Flickr by clicking on the photo!

Here is another close-up of the McWay Falls, this time in HDR.

DSC_7367_8_9-Edit
See in large size on Flickr by clicking on the photo above.

Camelia sp.

I believe this is a flower and bud from the ericaceous soil loving Camelia or a related genus like Rhododendron or Azalea. This photo was shot at the mediterranean biome of the Eden Project in Cornwall.
DSC_7133

Nikon D7000
105mm, f/2.8 Sigma Macro Lens
1/1000, f/4.5
ISO100