Picture of the month - July 2006

Late Cliffs of Moher

The Cliffs of Moher - one of "the" Irish sights you will find in any tourist or travel guide. No wonder you will have to fight for a place in the parking lot (with costs), and walking the way up to the coastline will be busy with lots of tourists and souvenir dealers. A dramatic shock after hours of silent driving through typical Irish landscapes.

It's worth the while, no doubt (and the "stress"). The 214m high cliff panorama is gorgeous, and nothing to omit in a tourist's Ireland menu card. The Cliffs of Moher are actually around 8 km long, this view is the standard postcard motif from the viewing point at O'Briens Tower. I haven't taken the opportunity for walking some of the cliff path unfortunately.

Due to rather bad light in the afternoon (and just too many people standing and walking around, risking their lifes by climbing over the protecting walls and getting at the very edge of the rocks in order to get their picture taken from their friends), we came back rather late again. A good tip for any visitor: Later in the evening, with still good light (or better one) the parking lot gets free of charge - they just dismantle the barrier ...

At this later point in time, you will still have some people and some with high risk of suicide, but it gets more pleasant. And it's easier to get risky yourself and climb that wall, in order get a better position for your own pictures from the tripod (or with other words, you find a place for setting up your tripod without people tripping over it all the time).

If you have a very close look at the picture, you will see another freak standing on the cliff's edge - it helps understanding the dimensions of this terrific nature monument. And I felt, black and white will also help highlighting the feeling of awe when standing at this border of rock looking down into the roaring North Atlantic Ocean. I had nearly given up the Black and White business before enganging in the digital domain of photography. Now it starts getting one of my favorites ...

 

Sometimes late is just right,
your Mr. Mooseman !