Grotto by billyboy
This is the amazing Grotto of the Turk at Gaeta in south western Italy.
At the top of this deep crevice in the cliffs, there is the beautiful monastery Sanctuary of the Holy Trinity. From there, some 300 steps lead down through the crevice to one of the most stunning places I’ve ever seen.
Locals say that the mountain was cleaved in two at the moment Christ died on Calvary…
Billyboy nearly died climbing back to the top!
I used Photomatix to take the best exposure out of 3 shots. The cavern had tough dynamic to overcome as the light from the sea entrance dominated the scene. The longest of the 3 exposures was a couple of seconds so I needed to rest the camera on the stair railing to stabilize. Was lucky it came out this sharp.
Here’s an insert to prove that daughter Melanie and hubby Art were actually those two little dots at the bottom…
And finally, here’s another shot just to prove that I actually did make it all the way to the bottom:-)
Thanx for lookin!
Comments
That color! It glows! Wow what a capture Billy! Very well done. :0)
Hi Jen!
That color? I swear there’s nothing I could do here to give justice to the effect the color of that water in this surrounding had on my soul.
Cheers for the fave!
– billyboy
Great image Billy, love the insert to mate!
Cheers Dale!
The insert’s a bit JPEG’d, but it does show the resolving power of the Canon L lenses. They were a LONG way away.
Thanx for stopping by!
– billyboy
Nice place .. some climb !! I would need an 18 year old and some jump-leads by the time I walked .. erm crawled !!! back up there .. Nurse
-the pills .. nice capture :)HA!! You SO got that right. Whey they didn’t have a set of resuscitation paddles at the top I’ll never know…
Had to settle for a cold beer and LOTS of sympathy!!
– billyboy
Wonderful place and great blue hues in that clear water. Nice job on this.
Cheers Adam, nice to see ya!!
– billyboy
Wow! Thanks for the close-up – I didn’t even see the people until I read your description and saw the insert – unreal!!! What amazing colour too!
Yeah, it was kinda weird when I checked my LCD after taking the shot… like, where’d they go??
Never saw them till I downloaded:-)
Thanks for the Wow!!
– billyboy
beautiful shot
Cheerz Sylvia
– billyboy
FABULOUS image/brilliant colour
Hiya!
Thanks so much for the FAB and the FAV!
It’s been so long since I passed through your pf… will do so soon!
– billyboy
amazing scene Billy…wonderful lighting and detail as well! :)
Thanks for faving Yhun!
Don’t know if I’d have pulled this off without the benefit of your HDR inspiration, so cheerz for that too:-))
– billyboy
Stunning
Cheers Moody!
– billyboy
I want to go there …… ((((((((((HUG))))))))))
C’mon Celena, I bet you got at least a dozen places like this along the Maine coast…
OK, maybe no all of them have turquoise water and a monastery at the top… but this one don’t got lobsters.
But I think you’d love it!
((((((((((((((((BACKATCHA)))))))))))))))))
– billyboy