O'Brien's Tower, a photo from Clare, South

Photographer's Note

Light at the Cliffs of Moher was not ideal for taking a photographs of the most dramatic and popular southerly view; the cliffs were in shade due to the time of day and time of year. Taking the northerly path the light was far better. In this shot you can see O’Brien’s Tower.

The shale and sandstone cliffs are one of Ireland’s major tourist sites rising from 394 feet at Hags Head to the highest point five miles away which is just north of O’Brien’s Tower at 702 feet. The O’Brien Tower is built on a headland of the Cliffs of Moher near the village of Doolin overlooking Galway Bay 6 miles from Lisdoonvarna in the west of Ireland.
The three storey castellated observation tower is built of grey stone and is situated in open surroundings. It has been fully restored after months of conservation work. The tower was built as an observation tower for the hundreds of Victorian tourists visiting the area by a local man Sir Cornelius O’Brien in 1835. He was famous for being one of the first people in the area to exploit tourism hoping to bring much needed revenue to the local economy. He was also responsible for building a wall along the cliffs using Moher flagstones and got a reputation of being ‘the person who built everything apart from the cliffs’.

Here is a larger version

This photograph is copyright of Rosemary Walden - © Rosemary Walden 2013. All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction of the image in any form is prohibited. You may not, except with my express written permission, copy, reproduce, download, distribute or exploit the content. Nor may you transmit it or store it in any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system

ikeharel, ikeharel, macjake, jjcordier, Graal, Wanda1, Romano46, snunney, No_One, Miguel82, gildasjan, PaulVDV, Royaldevon, bayno, kato, lgir, Cricri, mvdisco, adores has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

emka (157280) 2013-09-28 22:40

Hi Rosemary,

For me, the light here is wonderful. you were liucky with the weather - The clouds are marvelous and there are patches of blue sky. But the most beautiful are these green and golden grasses. Very dramatic place. With you POV the place reminds me Ca bo da Roca in Portugal - the westernmost tip of continental Europe. breath taking view.

Warm regrads

MAlgo

macjake (98262) 2013-09-28 23:26

Hi Rosemary

Oh my!
WOW
I'm glad you gave up on the Cliffs of Moher, but did you go back at some point for a better situation???

in this photo, what struck me first was how the grass in the lower fg seems windblown downward - or at least it gives that perception, which is great, makes me feel the wind at my back.

and of course the colors, wide wide open skyline, ocean, castle...whats not to like.

even the story of the man is fantastic.
its an easy wow for me!
cheers
craig

jjcordier (79299) 2013-09-28 23:44

Rosemary
Un beau paysage, un superbe ciel, une jolie lumiиre et ton talent de photographe...tout pour faire une trиs belle photo!
Amicalement
JJ

Graal (103040) 2013-09-28 23:54

Hello Rosemary,
another beautiful landscape from Ireland. Interesting tower, it's the strong point in this image. Very good composition and natural colors. Large version is great.
Have a nice Sunday.
Aleksander

mesutilgim (0) 2013-09-29 0:19

Hello Rosemary,
Everything here is such Irısh ! Even without any informations I would easily say it's from Ireland or somewhere in Northern England.
Perfect pov and a great, photogenic sky crowning the scenery.
TFS and have a nice weekend
MESUT ILGIM

lousat (138609) 2013-09-29 1:03

Hi Rosemary,a pic that seems a mirror of mine watching the composition and style..ehehe...but you have a castle tower and a beautiful sky,and not only a windmill like me...ehehe...fantastic capture,so real that it seems to be there,i can hear the wind on my face! Have a nice Sunday and thanks,Luciano

olive224 (2719) 2013-09-29 1:16

Hi
Great landscape ! I love the saturated and dark treatment you applied here, could you tell me more about it ??

Cheers
Olivier

corjan3 (2109) 2013-09-29 1:43

Hello Rosemary,
Striking foreground, fabulous sky and lovely foreground. I might have cropped off at the top to place the horizon at the upper third but a very beautiful image as is and with good composition. Have a peaceful Sunday.
Neels

PS: In contrast to last year when we had lots of rain and a beautiful springtime, it is now so dry that the landscape generally is not its usual pretty self.

Wanda1 (15142) 2013-09-29 2:12

Hi Rosemary,
One can feel the vastness, and the wind as it sweeps over the grass. The tower is a detail in the landscape that can't be ignored as it really stands out towering over everything else below, yet at the same time it seems so small and vulnerable compared to the nature that surrounds it. The dramatic clouds add to the scene and fill up the sky with nice texture.
Regards
Wanda

Romano46 (18472) 2013-09-29 2:24

Ciao Rosemary
ero certo che il tuo viaggio in Irlanda ti avrebbe permesso di andare alla ricerca di panorami grandiosi come questo.
Un'altra bella foto che, come la precedente, asseconda il tuo particolare stile fatto di paesaggi grandiosi e colori intensi.
Qui il risultato della tua ripresa appare eccellente.
Complimenti
Ciao e buona domenica
Romano

snunney (130967) 2013-09-29 2:27

Hello Rosemary,
That dramatic sky makes for a superb light in my opinion. The shot is well composed with the tower ideally placed off-centre. Love the play of light over the foreground windswept grass. Excellent colours and sharpness. What more could you ask for?

williewhistler (16606) 2013-09-29 4:30

Hello Rosemary, the Tower is perfectly positioned in a well composed shot giving the image a nice balance,I particularly like the feeling of openness with the wind blown grasses setting the scene very nicely.
Compositionally,if it were mine I might have cropped a bit off of the sky just to move the horizon from the middle of the image,but that`s just a matter of taste I guess.
Warm regards Les.

No_One (4) 2013-09-29 4:30

Hi Rosemary,
The light here, and the color is just superb. The sky has a beautiful 3D effect to it, which makes me again feel I could just step inside this shot and go exploring, though if I did I would want to watch my footing. Beautiful composition to have this famous tower positioned there, drawing the eye across the lines of the cliffs and the lines of color in the grass, all the while the size of the tower giving an appreciation for the scale of the cliffs here. THe sea goes on forever too. A unique and beautiful view from the Cliffs, really nicely done.
All the best
Noel

P.S. I have been trying to find some info about that Vallance and McGrath pub too, but there is very little. What I have seen is that it was famous for its porter and Barney McKenna used to play there, so it would have had a strong musical heritage.

npecanhuk (79329) 2013-09-29 7:14

Hi Rosemary!
What a wonderful picture!
That place is very interesting and attractive too!
I love that sky and the details of the "grass" in the lower fg!
Sharpness, exposure, colors, horizontal format, chosen pov and composition are all excellent!
TFS - congrats,
Enjoy your sunday,
Neyvan

gildasjan (43826) 2013-09-29 12:02

Bonjour Rosemary
Le contraste est saisissant entre la vйgйtation au premier plan,la mer et ce superbe ciel.La lumiиre йclaire trиs bien les herbes jaunies.C'est une trиs belle image.
Amicalement
Gildas

cornejo (61504) 2013-09-29 12:49

Hi Rosemary, lovely view of this beautiful place with interesting tower, very well captured with a great pov, in this great and beautiful photography. A beautiful image of an interesting place, with good sharpness, nice color and light. A great and beautiful work well done, congratulations my friend. Thanks for sharing this interesting work.

Good evening and happy start to the week.
Warm greetings from southern Spain.
Angel.

PaulVDV (62802) 2013-09-29 13:13

Hello Rosemary,
For me this is an original view of the famous cliffs.
What a wonderful clouds in the sky. Especially I like the green and yellow colours of the windswept grass on top of the cliffs.
Best regards, Paul

yquem46 (38752) 2013-09-29 13:23

hello Rosemary
A beautiful association of colors in this luminous and well thought compo
Bravo, nice sunday evening
patrick

Royaldevon (85606) 2013-09-30 0:24

Hello Rosemary,

I could feel your chagrin at the poor light when you reached the cliffs; people who are not photographers do not understand this!
However, this shot has remedied previous disappointments. The light on the f/g is almost iridescent, with the grasses bending towards the focal tower. What a beautiful, wild scene.
You can see the curvature of the Earth!
Amazing!

Have a great week,
Bev :-)

dkmurphys (79209) 2013-09-30 3:10

Hi Rosemary,
This is perfect! I like the dynamic of the wind and the wonderful colors. Well taken, enjoy a fine new week.

Daniel

mkamionka (73374) 2013-09-30 3:47

Hi Rosemary,
beautiful capture of this famous tower. I like very much the amazing colors, it feels so natural. You have also managed to distance yourself from people -there are always crowds of tourists along this path so you did a great job in this respect as well. The sky is spectacular, topping up nicely the composition.
Excellent work,
M

bayno (18348) 2013-09-30 4:01

Brava Rosemary, wonderful image and what details ;) the tower is perfectly clear as well the grass in FG...beautiful light too...a really really nice...
warm regards,
Valter

timecapturer (49288) 2013-09-30 4:46

Hi Rosemary
a real Earth and Sky shot this and one of real beauty and magnificence. Glorious textures and details make this irresistible. Captivating imagery!

Regards - Brian
PS - Been off line for 3 days and still having connection problems now, so trying to catch up! B.

kato (11630) 2013-10-01 12:43

Hello Rosemary,

You're capturing well this landscape by a good composition and very excellent tone/clarity, so it's interesting and impressive to see classical tower standing on the cliff and calm sea. The tower has faced the ocean. And, it's tasteful for the plant with yellow color like the reed and greenery grown at the cliff. The whole is harmonized and balanced well by a good arrangement and beautiful color combination. And, thick clouds in the sky draw out an impact in this image.

Kind regards,
mikio

lgir (7363) 2013-10-02 5:41

Hello Rosemary,

Excellent POV with superb color contrast and an image of a very good sharpness.
I love landscapes like this.
Thanks for sharing
Regards
Laurent

ScudMonkey (380) 2013-10-02 14:20

Hi Rosemarie,
Such a great shot and perfect for a wide angle. Love the sharpness and colour.
Paul

Cricri (176) 2013-10-06 0:40

Hi Rosemary
Merveilleux paysage avec vue sur la tour, le rendu des couleurs et un ciel magnifique qui s'ajoute a la beautй du paysage, magnifique
Beau dimanche
cricri

mvdisco (17798) 2013-10-08 10:59

Bonjour Rosemary,
J'aime beaucoup les paysages de la mer et celui-ci ne fait pas exception..
Belle prise de vue et perpective,
Jolie composition et prйsentation aussi,
les couleurs sont de toutes beautйes,
tous mes compliments.
Michel

tatadalou (7459) 2013-10-10 15:25

Hello Rosemary,
Great light on the top of the cliff. What I like most is the shape of the clouds and the movement of grass in the foreground. Both drive our look to the tower.
Good job !
Regards,
Delphine

Hanssie (11022) 2013-10-12 2:46

Only a tower, a foreground and the weather.....
A spectacular view !

adores (46979) 2013-10-13 16:09

Hi Rosemary!
This is very good! I really like the light here and the effect and colours of these windblown plants in foreground. The composition is perfect with the lonely tower in foreground and then the vastness of the land and ocean. Very good quality shot!

fds (9963) 2013-10-22 11:48

wow dear friend this picture very beautiful are very similary with my image from britanny
i love very much this fantastic and very impressive sky with great clouds
great satured colors and light
great schot