Sunset on the Stones of Stenness, Orkney

The silhouette shot is something special, John Nice one.

weemannie wrote:
The silhouette shot is something special, John Nice one.

Thanks Trevor. Of course I couldn't acknowledge your reply immediately!

Great shot.
I must plan a trip to England soon and spend some time up in the northern area.

Wow, this is really beautiful! The composition is terrific and I love the silhouettes of the stones. Thanks for sharing this!

That's a good idea, although you would have to be very selective on what you were visiting unless you were on holiday for a year or two.

Thanks Becca, it is nice to get some feedback to let me know how I'm doing and where I can improve.

Nice one John.
This is the kind of shot I like to see when it comes to megalithic stones.
For me stones like these need to be shot at dawn or dusk.

The general concensus is the ancients were intrigued by the heavens.
They measured the cycles of the sun,stars and the moon.
Obviously mensuration was very important to the ancients therefore the sun or moon need to play a part when we shoot these stones.

IMO

Very nice composition and I love the silhouette shot. Thanks for the info,very interesting.
Regards Reigh

lomond wrote:
Nice one John.
This is the kind of shot I like to see when it comes to megalithic stones.
For me stones like these need to be shot at dawn or dusk.

The general concensus is the ancients were intrigued by the heavens.
They measured the cycles of the sun,stars and the moon.
Obviously munsuration was very important to the ancients therefore the sun or moon need to play a part when we shoot these stones.

IMO

Thank you Cameron. You've given a lovely significance to what I had previously just seen as a sunset shot.

Thank you for the comments Reigh. I agree too and find a simple silhouette and sunset to be a very effective composition.

John, this is very graphical and impressive.

(My son just the other day said we have to go to Scotland (again), and I agreed. There are many reasons for that.)

Thank you Olli. What age is your son, and do you have any other children? I have an 18 year-old son and 15.5 year-old daughter.

I've been to Orkney - magical place. Alas, I had no photography skills or camera at the time, so can't share photos - but...if anyone is planning to go, I highly recommend The Mill at Eyreland as a B&B.
Love your pictures, Rudgej - brings back some wonderful memories. Although I'd love to forget the ferry crossing <VBG>

Nancy

Thanks Nancy. There is a lot of irony to your suggested B&B as that was exactly where we stayed at the time. While the Mill of Eyreland was a nice place to stay, it was actually a bit of a let down as the first night we stayed in a place called Shoreside, and that was miles better.

rudgej wrote:
Thanks Nancy. There is a lot of irony to your suggested B&B as that was exactly where we stayed at the time. While the Mill of Eyreland was a nice place to stay, it was actually a bit of a let down as the first night we stayed in a place called Shoreside, and that was miles better.

I checked your link and see that Shoreside is down towards Margaret's Hope - we only managed to get that way on our last day - the one day in four that had sunshine all day! I see it has a full menu - while The Mill only served breakfast.

But.....it was so atmospheric, with the lake across the street! The mist! The swan! The lack of traffic!
The room we had (for the four of us) was a suite, and quite a come up in the world from the single rooms we had experienced up until then. we took most of our suppers at the Kirkwall Hotel. I have very fond memories of Orkney sundaes with Orkney fudge topping.
After three days of horizontal rain, we were eating supper and the sun finally put in appearance (at 9:30 at night). There must have been ten tourists on the island at that point - all of them (including my party), left their meals, grabbed their cameras, jumped in their cars and made a beeline for the Ring of Brodgar. They all managed to get some excellent sunset shots. I think it was my inspiration for getting a digital camera, in fact.

Nancy

Nancy, I thought that Orkney was great too, and I'm certainly planning on going back soon.

rudgej wrote:
Thank you Olli. What age is your son, and do you have any other children? I have an 18 year-old son and 15.5 year-old daughter.

John, I have one each, in their early twenties, and both having friends studying in Edinburgh which naturally increases this positive interest towards Scotland.