Bryce Canyon is a National Park located in the southwestern part of Utah in the United States. Bryce is not a canyon at all, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters set along a gigantic plain called the Paunsaugunt Plateau. What’s distinctive about Bryce are its geological structures called hoodoos whichhave been formed by erosion and frost weathering.
The red, orange and white colors of the rocks from which the park’s delicate hoodoos are carved, was laid down as sediments in a system of cool streams and lakes that existed from 63 to about 40 million years ago.
When Glen Canyon Dam was completed in 1963 on the Colorado River, it created Lake Powell. This is one of those many inlets which ebb and flow depending on the rainfall upstream. However, in recent years it’s been more ebb than flow due to periods of extended drought.
More than 2 million people a year visit the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area which encompasses Lake Powell.
Inside a slot canyon are endless surreal rock formations that make up a rich geology. The Upper and Lower Antelope located near Page in Arizona are two of the most spectacular ones to be found within this Colorado Plateau area. Shaped by erosion and the movement of tectonic plates, these extraordinary labyrinths twist and turn through the red slot canyons.
The interplay of shadows and light over the water scarred walls help to turn photographs into wonderful abstracts. There are many open slot areas, where at the right time of day, the sun shines down vertically producing a light trail as it lights up the slot floor area. Water that gushes through these walls flows into Lake Powell, which feeds the Colorado River a short distance away.
Lower Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon located on Navajo land close to Lake Powell and the town of Page in Arizona. There is also a second and more visited Upper Antelope Canyon a few miles away. Both are susceptible to flash flooding in the monsoon season and can be completely flooded with little prior warning.
Lower Antelope Canyon, (or “spiral rock arches” as the Navajo describe them), attracts more photographers due to the special ‘photographer tours’ on offer, and also draws larger numbers of casual sightseers than in Upper.
The small village is a popular holiday resort in this remote part of the west of Ireland. At the busy harbour local fishermen ply their trade and deliver the day’s catch, which includes a mix of Crab, Lobster, Shrimp, Mackerel and Cod plus a wide variety of other fish. Local restaurants also serve a seafood chowder, a favourite dish of the region.
Roundstone is renowned among artists, photographers and naturalists for the amazing beauty of the surrounding mountains and seascapes.
The sun sets on the gentle rolling heather hills near the Wicklow Gap on the east of the country. With sheep in small fields surrounded by stone walls, the island of Ireland as always offers endless beauty.
This is ‘Quiet Man‘ country in the west of Ireland, where the fields are small and the rocky outcrops are immense. Centuries of working the land by generations of farmers has created tiny pockets of green where sheep wander and graze within the man-made stone wall boundaries.
Glendalough means ‘Valley of two lakes’. It’s a glacial valley which is renowned for an Early Medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by the monk, St Kevin.
The 30 metre tower is built of mica-slate interspersed with granite and with an entrance 3.5 metres from the base, which would have helped in its security from marauders. Round towers were landmarks for approaching visitors, and built as bell towers, but also served as places of refuge in times of attack.
View from the ancient Rock of Cashel, which was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster (an Irish province) for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion.
In 1101, the King of Munster donated his fortress on the Rock to the Catholic Church. The picturesque complex has an extraordinary character of its own and is one of the most remarkable collections of medieval architecture and Celtic art to be found anywhere in Europe. Most of the buildings on the current site date from the 12th and 13th centuries.
Old stone cottages are a rare sight in Ireland nowadays. Most have been demolished or fallen into disrepair. This wonderful example is located on Mannin Bay near Ballyconneely in the south western part of the Connemara region in the West of Ireland.
On this glorious summer evening the farmers were out making hay in the old traditional way, building haycocks by hand with pitchforks!
The Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone is a true wonder of the world. From above it show its breathtakingly beautiful and unbelievable colours made up of a multitude of bacterial mats. This view is taken looking across the outer area of the spring. In the background is the hill that keen photographers and naturalists climb to get a sort of aerial view of this extraordinary place.
In a mild weather country like Ireland, winter scenes such as this are rare. The Nenagh River rises in the Silvermine Mountains and flows east of the local town of Nenagh and into Lough Derg on the river Shannon. A once-grand country house can be seen in the left of the picture. In the last century its roof had to be removed in order to avoid paying high Irish land taxes.
Kylemore Castle was built as a private home for the family of a wealthy doctor from London whose family was involved in the manufacturing of textiles in Manchester, England. He moved to Ireland when he and his wife Margaret bought the land around the Abbey. He became a politician, becoming a Member of Parliament for County Galway from 1871 to 1885.
Kylemore Abbey is a Benedictine monastery founded in 1920 on the grounds of Kylemore Castle. The abbey was founded for Benedictine Nuns who fled Belgium in World War I.
Derryclare Lough is nestled in between the beautiful Twelve Bens mountain range of Connemara. In the middle of the Lough is a small island with numerous Pine Trees standing tall against the picturesque backdrop of the gentle sloping mountains.
The Cliffs of Moher are located at the southwestern edge of the Burren region. They rise 120 metres (390 ft) above the Atlantic Ocean at Hag’s Head, and, eight kilometres to the north, reach their maximum height of 214 metres (702 ft) just north of O’Brien’s Tower, which is a round stone tower near the midpoint of the cliffs. From the cliffs, visitors can see the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, and Twelve Pins mountain range to the north in Connemara, County Galway.
The term Connemara refers to the northern area of County Galway to the west of Lough Corrib. This photo was taken in Cashel Bay not far from the popular village of Roundstone on the southern coastline which overlooks the Aran Islands in Galway Bay.
In Irish, the Burren means “great rock“. It’s a region in County Clare on the West coast of the country, dominated by karst landscape and measures an area of around 250 square kilometres.
Having an unusually temperate climate which allows for a longer growing season and an unusual environment, the region supports a rich and diverse plant life which includes arctic, alpine and Mediterranean plants all growing side-by-side. The most famous is the gorgeous deep blue Spring Gentian which flowers around May time.
The Burren is an area of outstanding natural beauty on the West coast of Ireland. It is dominated by an extraordinary karst landscape and covers an area of about 250 square kilometres. The gentle, rolling hills are composed of limestone pavements, which are made up of criss-cross cracks known as “grikes”, leaving the isolated rocks which are called “clints”.
The region supports arctic, Mediterranean and alpine plants alongside each other due to the most unusual environment, and about three quarters of Ireland’s flower species are found in The Burren.
Bunratty is a 15th-century tower house in County Clare, Ireland. located near to Shannon airport on the Limerick to Ennis main road. Shannon Heritage operates the castle and adjoining folk park as tourist attractions, as well as offering medieval banquet experiences in this ancient castle.
The name Bunratty, Bun Raite in Irish, means “river basin” of the ‘Ratty’ river. This small river flows alongside the castle and into the nearby Shannon estuary.
