The Ring of Brodgar is another of the remarkable monuments that make up the “Heart of Neolithic Orkney” UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a fantastic stone circle over 100 metres in diameter that sits on a thin strip of raised ground between the Lochs of Stenness and Harray. It is contemporary with Maeshowe, circa 2600 BC, that I posted about here. Originally it would have comprised 60 standing stones, of which 27 now remain upright, surrounded by a 10m wide and 3m deep ditch. It is a remarkable site…..

I got a little carried away taking shots on our two visits to the Ring of Brodgar, the ten above are only a sample of the many images that I captured. However I make no apologies for this (well except to the wife of course…;0)…) because standing stones are incredibly photogenic and provide some fabulous landscape opportunities. Also the light on our second visit was really good…..I could have easily stayed longer.

Shots 7, 8 & 10 are all five exposure HDR shots processed in Nik’s HDR Efex Pro2 software, the others are all straight single exposure images. Because I took so many photos I decided to experiment in post processing with a few of them. I’m particularly pleased with the high contrast mono conversion for shot seven – this treatment results in a grainy, moody image that I think enhances the already dramatic, windswept and mysterious landscape in which the Ring of Brodgar sits.

Orkney has definitely left a lasting impression on Liz and I, so much so in fact that we have just booked to go back for another week at Christmas. That’s the first time in 15/16 years of holidays together that we will have returned to a destination…..normally our attitude is that we really enjoyed that vacation, but there are so many other places to go and see in the world that we probably won’t go back again. Who would have thought that a small collection of islands off the North coast of Scotland would have this effect!! 

© Mark Simms Photography (2013)