A Causeway Coast Road Trip November 2022 Day 2
Day two began unlike previous road trips, we weren’t starting our day off from our Sunrise location as we couldn’t find anywhere to park up close to the Giants Causeway overnight, so instead parked up at another icon just 15 minutes up the road, Dunluce Castle and then took the short drive down before the sun came up to the Giants Causeway. Upon arrival in the dusk light we could see a couple of other people getting read to also made the journey out and since we had taken a scout out the night before we n=knew that it would be just a shortish walk down the path towards the hexagonal rock formation that made this are famous and popular, just how popular however can be the challenge in itself as it can get quite packed quite fast, so arriving early and before dawn should mean that we would be there before the crowds also.
As we set off we could see that the sky wasn’t going to me the highlight of the show today, it was thick grey clouds with no sign of any gaps to allow the light to flood in, this didn’t deter us tho and we started the decent in earnest. I was able to keep Diarmuid entertained by recanting the old Irish Folk lore of the origins of this almost unique location.
According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), from the Fenian Cycle of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two could meet. In one version of the story, Fionn defeats Benandonner. In another, Fionn hides from Benandonner when he realises that his foe is much bigger than he is. Fionn's wife, Sadhbh, disguises Fionn as a baby and tucks him in a cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the "baby", he reckons that its father, Fionn, must be a giant among giants. He flees back to Scotland in fright, destroying the causeway behind him so that Fionn would be unable to chase him down.Across the sea, there are identical basalt columns (a part of the same ancient lava flow) at Fingal's Cave on the Scottish isle of Staffa, and it is possible that the story was influenced by this. ( WIKI )
Arrival didn’t take long and despite it being clearly in front of our noses we continued to walk on past the main area and onwards towards a path that led up and over the next cliff face. Something was telling me this was wrong, so a hasty stop and wake the f*&k up moment occurred and we were quick to about face and head back towards the obvious subjects. The hexagonal Basalt columns that lead out to the sea and over towards Scotland.
Impressive subjects indeed and quite imposing never mind hard to say for Diarmuid who struggled for the morning to pronounce hexagonal, instead having many alternative forms like hexagonigal or hexmadagional, this of course formed the basis for many a piss take in the hours that followed. as I walked over the rocks, besides being acutely aware of how slippery they were, I was looking for certain shapes and textures to try and find a composition of my own, rather then the many “similar” shots I had seen over the years, I was looking for pools of water that had settled into the flat tops of them as well as try to use the incoming waves to add dynamism to the scene and make it my own.
The flow of the waves was fantastic, incredibly powerful however meaning I had to always keep my wits about me and ensure that I wasn’t swept away or my either for that matter. The sky continued to remain bland so it was quickly confirming that we weren’t getting any light that morning, that was ok though as the rocks themselves were strong enough to be the main subject of the compositions. We did get a slight sliver of colour on the distant horizon which I grabbed a couple of shots before it was gone as fast as it arrived. Next on my list was to take some long exposures to smooth out the incoming water and leave the static element the hexagonal rocks still in the frame. I managed to bag a couple of nice shots like this before finding a composition that really drew me in.
The very shape & colour of these rocks can be repetitive by their very nature, and when you find something that stands out its important to dial in the thoughts and look around to see just how you can make them pop. The subjects I had found looked the same as the thousands of others that lay all around, however when I crouched down low they then broke the horizon and filled the frame with hexagonal black goodness, I framed up and took one of my favourite shots from this part of the adventure, it became the cover photo for the vlog episode in-fact, the detail on the rocks was fantastic and the negative space of the grey sky above it all seemed to work for me quite well.
Excited by this find I turned around and looked back inwards towards the imposing cliffs that run all along and it suddenly struck me. nearly all images I has seen before of here were facing out to see and for good reason mind you, it is stunning, however looking back in I opted to frame op a shot and it also forms another of my favourite images from this trip. The darkness of the rocks, the vibrant colours of the cliffs and the foreboding sky above it all added to the layering that I was able to photograph and even looking on the back of the camera I knew it was a winner.
Just one final shot now to try and frame up which I had seen earlier and despite what Diarmuid will tell you he didn’t give me the idea for the composition, I thought of it all by myself :-). Heading over to the right and again looking back inwards , you can get a fantastic layer composition of the hexagonal, and combine this with the impressive cliffs and sky and the incoming waves it lends itself to a composition that can feel alive. All that was left for me to do was frame up, and wait for the waves to break and then roll back down the rocks again, a 0.5 second exposure would be perfect to keep the texture in the water and also allow it to somewhat smooth out as he sensor continued to capture its movement in the timeframe.
Just as I had the shot in the bag, I could see a steward heading down towards me, for a moment I thought he was gong to ask me where my ticket was, but recalled that I didn’t need a ticket to be there, its free to visit the causeway, you just have to pay for parking, and since we hadn’t parked in the carpark we were ok. What he was coming to tell me was to be careful as the dark rocks are quite slippery. he wasn’t wrong, they were, luckily he mustn’t have seen me when I was much further down earlier in the morning as he would most likely of had a conniption from worry :- I was fine tho, I am always careful while walking on rocks and these rocks were not going to be any different.
The shoot was over, and it was time now to head back up to Dunluce Castle to park up, eat a hearty breakfast, meet up with Patrick and Richard Watson AKA Watkins, more on that in the next Blog, for some craic and exploration of this stunning coastal route at the tip of Ireland.
You can watch this instalment of the adventure here or click below at the end to watch the entire causeway coast series.
