anti limited presents

Having grown up in Northern Ireland, the Giant’s Causeway was the place you’d always take visitors. Internationally recognised, visually impressive, geologically distinctive, culturally neutral: even at the height of the Troubles when other places may’ve been off-limits , the Causeway was the tourist destination. Rightly so: it’s a wonderous and crazy-looking place, with hexagonal columns formed by basalt cooling rapidly. No wonder in the days before we had an understanding of vulcanology the locals believed it was built by the giant Fionn mac Cumhaill: a much more romantic explanation.

Trouble is, it’s (justifiably) extremely popular, and so viewing it without hordes of sightseeing visitors is nigh on impossible, except in publicity photographs. Apart from on a Friday night when there’s a World Cup match on, so most people are either glued to the telly or going out for the night. Result…

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the bay around the main causeway look as magical. The sea was calm, there was hardly a cloud in the sky, and the sun slowly dropped towards the horizon, painting the vista with increasing saturated colours. With so few people around we felt like we had the place to ourselves, for which I was incredibly appreciative. Such emptiness made it easier to understand the scale and beauty of the natural features. Truly magical.

Click below for a full screen 360° view of the scene with Flash, to read more on Wikipedia, to see the location in Google Earth, or to view an iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch compatible version.

Click below for a full screen 360° view of the scene with Flash, to read more on Wikipedia, to see the location in Google Earth, or to view an iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch compatible version.

A perfect summer’s evening. While much of the country was listening to the England vs Algeria football match, we had most of the north Antrim coast to ourselves. I’d rather enjoy this view over a game of football any day…

Ballintoy‘s long been a family favourite: a wonderfully diminutive harbour, nestled between fantastical rock formations. I’ve always loved the eccentric detail of Bendhu house, the solid understated character of the parish church, and the limestone cliffs and workings.

Click below for a full screen 360° view of the scene with Flash, to read more on Wikipedia, or see the location in Google Earth.

An old milking byre, part of an abandoned farmstead near Cullybackey in County Antrim. There’s so much going on in this view: huge ranges in light, loads of texture on the walls and ceiling. Of course, dung and mould may not be obviously attractive subjects, but they make for a fascinating scene. HDR created from a 9 exposure sequence, then tonemapped.

Click the icons below for a fullscreen 360° view of the scene in Flash, or to locate the scene in Google Earth.

Inside an old-fashioned outhouse workshop on a vacant farmstead in County Antrim, near the village of Cullybackey. The abandoned farm lies a short distance from the picturesque Arthur Cottage, the ancestral home of the 21st President of the USA, Chester Alan Arthur.

This is deep in prime agricultural country; the fields around are filled with new barley and potatoes. However farming life isn’t always easy, and while the fields look verdant and well stocked, derelict farms and cottages pay silent testimony to a time when more folk worked the land around here. Who knows what lives once lit up the walls of this building, and whose voices rang out across the farm?

The whole site seemed remarkably peaceful and undisturbed when I visited and captured this scene. I wanted to encapsulate this feeling of restful timelessness within the panorama, to let the space tell its own story with a thousand tiny details, so I took my time and shot multiple exposures to combine later. I think the results were worth it.

This was my contribution to the most recent Worldwide Panorama event, entitled ‘Forgotten Places’. The version on that site was enfused: I revisited the scene after submittingf that, and this version is based on a 9 exposure HDR set, then tonemapped.

Click the icons below for a fullscreen 360° view of the scene in Flash, or to locate the scene in Google Earth.

Last spring I shot Hannah Nunn’s wonderful shop, Radiance, at night. The result was one of my favourite panoramas of last year: Hannah agreed, and featured it on the shop website. However this spring, Radiance moved to premises closer to the centre of Hebden Bridge: the move provided a great excuse to go back to the shop and reshoot. Rather handy as I’ve recently starting shooting more HDR subjects and have upgraded pretty much my whole rig since last year.

I love the new shop: the larger display area gives more breathing space to the designs of the many artists and craftspeople whose work grace the walls and ceilings. The new site is right in the middle of Market Street, so there’s lots more footfall from interested visitors to Hebden, especially during this 500th anniversary of the town.

It’s also the perfect subject for high dynamic photography, and a great challenge to capture the delicate details and colours. Last time I shot five exposures before enfusing and tone-mapping: this time I’ve shot nine exposures, which goes somewhat further towards eliminating burnout in the highlights and muddiness in the shadows. Of course that’s the geek in me talking, the aesthete simply loves the composition and variety within the scene… fabulous designs and such a range of shapes and colours!

Click the icons below for a fullscreen 360° view of the scene in Flash, or to locate the scene in Google Earth.

Széchenyi Fürdő (Széchenyi Thermal Baths). This early 20th century masterpiece dominates part of Városliget (City Park) in Budapest. However even if you couldn’t see it, you could smell it: an ammonia and sulphur-tinged aroma drifts from the vents in the ground. I had a potter around the entrance and impressive vestibule, but didn’t have time to enjoy a course of the thermal baths or an enthusiastic massage. Perhaps next time.

I’ve always loved Secessionist-era architecture: this complex was opened in the autumn years of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1913, and its Neo-baroque encapsulates a confident joi-de-vivre and cultural identity which was swept away for ever as the Great War started the following year. Luckily as a space and a cultural icon the baths survive, on the cusp of its first century. If taking the waters is as good as they claim, it may be around for a long time to come.

Click below for a full screen 360° view of the scene with Flash, to read more on Wikipedia, or see the location in Google Earth.

Rather a nice Romanesque chapel in the grounds of Vajdahunyad Castle in Városliget (City Park). Very tranquil inside, and a much more restrained architectural style than the melange of buildings outside in the castle complex. Shot as a 5 bracket HDR, tonemapped and tweaked slightly afterwards.

Click below for a full screen 360° view of the scene with Flash, or see the location in Google Earth.

Click below for a full screen 360° view of the scene with Flash, to read more on Wikipedia, or see the location in Google Earth.

Click below for a full screen 360° view of the scene with Flash, to read more on Wikipedia, or see the location in Google Earth.

The walls of this terrace, which commands a spectacular view over the Danube towards Pest, frame the eastern edge of Castle Hill in Buda. Nearby sits Matthias’ Church (Mátyás-templom), with its distinctively patterned roof tiles. Unfortunately it’s closed for extensive restorations at present.

I first visited in 1990, and haven’t been back since 1993. A lot has changed in Budapest since: however the bastion walls still look as new and perfect as they did first time: incongruously bright like wedding cake icing. The panorama over the city has as much impact as it did when I first saw it, but the advent of new technology means I can take it away with me rather than leave it fade in my mind’s eye.

Click below for a full screen 360° view of the scene with Flash, to read more on Wikipedia, or see the location in Google Earth.

Click below for a full screen 360° view of the scene with Flash, to read more on Wikipedia, or see the location in Google Earth.

I often drive past this old structure, outside Halifax on the Huddersfield Road, and have meant to stop and shoot it for some time. Most of the graffiti is obscured from view by the low wall along the road, so one only catches a glimpse of colour through the gate mesh when driving past.

Not sure if it’s an officially condoned legal graf site, or if the authorities just turn a blind eye to the artists who regularly update work here. Either way they are some good pieces here, although they could do with a few litter bins to dump all the detritus in afterwards.

Click below for a full screen 360° view of the scene with Flash, or to locate it with Google Earth.