Roadside Attractions: How I Spent My Summer Solstice

[CLKunst]

Comments and Critique welcomed, suggestions cheerfully explored but please leave the editing to me.
:thumbsup:



Camping in Natural Bridge, Virginia last weekend we had to stop and see this beautiful little roadside attraction which just happened to be on the same day as the summer solstice! Talk about happy timing!

[Addies Granddaddy]

Looks like mini-Stonehenge. Nice idea to capture the sun where you did, Cindy. I bet this would've been even better if you had waited a little to have the sun set lower, but this is still pretty awesome.
John

[JDocPony]

I like it... I wish you had a filter to POP the clouds... the tecture of the rocks and the clouds would have been a really cool contrast.... But I love the Photo!

[danic]

I'll go against the grain and say the sun is too distracting for me. Whenever I look around the photo, I find myself being dragged back to the sun.

[Overbeyond]

Often these ancient monuments are built in such a way that they are designed to catch the sun to illuminate, at solstice, what might have been a burial mound .
Google Newgrange in Ireland to see what I mean.
So the sun provides some mystery and the picture as a whole is fine. Perhaps a little tight left and right.
Any idea how old Cindy?

[CLKunst]

Thanks so much for the critique John, JDP, Danic and Tom!

John - That was the lowest I dared let it get as there was a tall stand of trees behind that were about to block the rest of the sunset, plus I wanted to get the sun while it was still at the top of the arch. Also the sunset that night was fair but nothing to write home about.

JDocPony - Thanks, agreed a polarizer would have been nice for this scene to bring out the sky. I was camping and didn't have access to my full gear. I have plenty of other better lit shots of this place however, so I can live with it.

Danic - The sun is kind of the point of the whole picture, it 's the sunset of summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. Traditionally it's an iconic turning point where the days begin to shrink again and we sink down again into winter's darkness, like a sunset. I will post a few others in a new thread for comparison this afternoon. Please stop by and tell me what you think of those as well.

Tom - Yes it's a little tight on the left to right, I went a little crazy there as the sun was setting and left my brain at the car, ( which was disabled with a dead battery at the bottom of the Tor) don't know why I didn't do a wider shot of this. I'm still going through the photos and might have a wider angle but without the sun in the sweet spot.

[CLKunst]

Any idea how old Cindy?

I think the site is about 5 - 8 years old actually. This is Foamhenge a to scale replica of Stonehenge that was made by a local artist in Natural Bridge, Virginia. It's even supposed to be astronomically aligned. All of the blocks are made from styrofoam molds that were painted and shaped to look as much like the real thing as possible. It's on a beautiful little hill that has a clear view of the Blue Ride Mountains and is a great excuse to climb the hill and see what you can see. There's also a life size fiberglass Merlin statue that you can just see under the sun and the furthest arch.