The Incredible Beauty of Irish Coastline in a Series of Landscape shorts

An Italian photographer Marco Bottigelli (35) has captured the beauty of the Irish coastline in a stunning series of landscape shots. So, there is no wonder Irish eyes are smiling with landscapes like these! Implausible photographs taken on a 1,200-mile road trip capture the exquisiteness of the Emerald Isle's coastline, blanketed in wild flowers and dotted with castles and lighthouses, there really is nothing quite like Ireland's coast.

The photographer captured the country's unbelievable beauty as he travelled from Dublin to Kerry. He covered more than 1,200 miles; full breadth of the landscape's changing climate, nature and terrain. From the towering Cliffs of Moher to the hexagonal columns of the Giant's Causeway, he photographed the lovely coastal scenery of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Moreover, he wanted to create some inspiring collection of this part of world, and for that purpose he drove more than 1,200 miles around the Irish coastline while admiring the scenery and waiting for picture-perfect weather conditions. Ireland has always been one of the most fascinating lands in Europe.

The country is wild and welcoming all at the same time, natural landscapes, picturesque lighthouses and castles. The Ireland landscapes are truly unique and a dreamland for photographers. He said; many times, I’ve to wait for several hours for right lighting, and when it finally comes I get a deeper feeling of joy. However, sometimes, the gloomy skies never clear which can leave a feeling of disappointment. Therefore, it is almost a sense of adrenaline in landscape photography with the ever changing weather. I always try to set my goal to create emotions through my landscape photography and to inspire others to realize our valuable environment.

The Roque Cinchado: A Unique Rock Formation in Island of Tenerife

The Roque Cinchado is a rare rock formation lies within the Teide National Park in the municipality of La Orotava Canary Islands of Spain. Roque Cinchado is one of largest in the world by altitude, more than 2000 meters. The Roque Chinchado is a unique rock formation; in fact its photographs appeared on 1000 peseta bank notes with Teide in the background. Roque Chnchado is a marvouls geological freak show of twisted pinnacles of lava, formed as a result of erosion of the volcanic dykes. The Roque Cinchado worth to take a look and in this specific case, it is the most photographed rock in the world. Many archaeologists believe and considered this rock formation is equally important as the other rock formation of Uluru in Australia, Delicate Arch Utah USA, and Devils Tower Wyoming USA. The compositions of Roque Cinchado are mainly of pyroclastics, alluvial fan breccias, and conglomerates of volcanic material, phonolitic dikes crosscutting the sedimentary layers.

The Roque Cinchado is to be found about 1700 meters below the summit of Teide volcano, actually a volcanic formation; belongs to a lineup of large rock formations, leftovers of the former summit of the island, well-known as "Roques García." From every passing century, the rain and wind has gradually worn down the earth and rock formation to expose the harder rock of the dykes in all their glory. The Roque Chinchado rock is eroding faster its base then above, could be topple one day.  Important, somewhat puzzling and actually saddening is the fact the Island of Tenerife is one of massive volcanic edifice that is actually second in size after only the Island of Hawaii (Big Island). Nevertheless from the rocks, the lunar landscape of the “Llano de Ucanca” plains is just to the west of here a completely surreal landscape that just has to be seen to be believed.

Mysterious Valley of Balls, Kazakhstan

The valley of balls or Torysh, as it’s called in Kazakh, is located at the Northern tip of the Western Karatau, close to the town of Shetpe in Western Kazakhstan. The area consists of plentiful ball-like rock formations strewn across a wide range of steppe land. The balls sizes are vary, but most of them are 3 to 4 meters in diameter. So far, the phenomenon is not properly researched, however various geological explanations from mega-spherulites crystalline balls formed in volcanic ash and exposed by weathering to cannonball concretions. 

It is believed, that balls are to be concretions a hard, compact mass created by the precipitation of minerals. They’re every so often spherical and generally form in sedimentary rock or soil.  In fact this is not a rare phenomenon, because this type of concretions is found all over the world. So, questions comes in mind what is rare, the size these concretions have reached, as large as those in valley of balls are found only at some places on planet earth. The New Zealand famous Moeraki Boulders is another example. Moreover you can see a massive Lion Rock also called “Sherkala” 332 white and ochre chalk outcrop with various fissures along its rim and more rock formation at its foot. The adjacent places are also the scant ruins of the Silk Road Town Kyzylkala. 

The Putangirua Pinnacles, New Zealand

The Putangirua Pinnacles are also known colloquially simply as The Pinnacles, which are a geological formation, consists of massive number of earth pillars or hoodoos located at the head of a valley in the Aorangi Ranges in Wairarapa region in New Zealand.  The Putangirua Pinnacles are large crumbly rock stalagmite type structures rising tens of metres into the air, left behind as the surrounding area erodes. Well, this hasn’t confirmed how long the pinnacles have been forming, but researchers believed it would be probably less than 125,000 years old with major erosion probably start 7000 years ago and go faster in the last 1000 years with the deforestation of the area. 

The Putangirua Pinnacles are one of New Zealand's best examples of badlands erosion. The Aorangi ranges were an island somewhere 7 to 9 million years old, when the sea levels were much higher with landmass was eroded as the time passes, large alluvial fans formed on its southern shores. The Island was submerged when the sea level rose again, but after the Ice ages, the sea level go back and old alluvial fans have been unprotected to the erosive forces of wind and water have weathered away the conglomerate. The shapes of the hoodoos gives the sense of the canyon that walked through it certainly gives this area other-worldly feel.  

However at several places, the conglomerate is secure from erosion above by a cap of cemented silt or rock, resulting in the formation of amazing Pinnacles. There are number of prominent fluting caused by rainwater running down their sides during massive storms. This area has been featured in many Hollywood movies. Moreover, there are two tracks here; one goes up the valley at the base of the pinnacles and climbs up in between them.  The hikers can hike up the valley follows a rocky stream bed, and is not the easiest path to see, but as long as you keep going up the valley you’ll be fine.