'Solitude' - The Giants Causeway, Northern Ireland

The life of a landscape photographer can often be a lonely choice but there's something infinitely rewarding about solitude in sacred places like this.

 

I'm not one for those 'environmental portraits'. I don't feel the need to fill that space, declare that scale or 'humanize' a scene, but there is the odd occasion when I feel that an image calls for it.

 

With not a soul in sight and the entire Giants Causeway all to myself I thought ''why not?'' and stepped into my own shot.

 

Anyone who has visited the Causeway knows the value of solitude as there are usually around a thousand humans crawling amongst these spectacular basalt pillars.

 

Rest assured that I savoured every precious minute of it.

 

For this image I simply bracketed two exposures to capture all of the shadow and highlight detail that I needed. I then set the camera to a ten second timer and hurried over to the summit to strike a pose.

 

It took a few attempts and I really had to suck in my belly but I got there in the end. I then blended together those three exposures to create this heroic masterpiece of contemplative reflection.

 

Marvel at the depth of my character and gently wipe the tear from your eye.

 

 

Thanks for looking

Gavin Hardcastle

Done