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Winding Gear Island #1

Island with abandoned winding gear, near Ballintoy Harbour, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

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The story behind this image

The Antrim coastline is fascinating from both a historical and geological point of view.

My wife Liz and I were exploring this part of Northern Ireland during our 2013 summer holiday, and one rare sunny afternoon found us in the area of Ballintoy.

The coast here is made up of cliffs and bays, punctuated by small islands and outcrops of rock, each of which seem to have a special story to tell.

This particular rocky island was just offshore from an abandoned limestone quarry, and still had the remains of old winding gear installed, presumeably to help load stone onto barges moored below.

All that's long gone now, but the remains added a subtle hint of man's presence to this image of an otherwise untouched piece of Northern Ireland scenery.

Add a brief blast of sunlight to lift the colour of the sea from grey to aquamarine and a very satisfying picture resulted.

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Image data


Filename - winding gear island 01.jpg

Camera - Canon 5D

Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 65mm

Exposure - 1/25sec @ f11, ISO100

Location - Ballintoy, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

This image - 800x450px JPEG

Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2

Comments - Polarising filter used to enhance colours.