The Standing Stone at Craddockstown, Kildare was my very first Neolithic monument to capture way back in 2012. I distinctly remember making my way across the field to get to it and the sense of excitement i felt. I always find these ancient monuments tend to alter my frame of mind (in a good way) when I visit them. Little is known as to their purpose but they tend to date back to at least the bronze age or even older. Some are said to be over several thousand years old. Many believe that they served numerous purposes throughout the ages. Such as burial markers, boundaries, travel routes etc. Some even believe that they were places of ritual for our ancestors in pre history. A druid friend of mine once told be that they were to harness or balance the natural energy of the land similar to how acupuncture works.
Looking back, the original image was not great, it had a dull sky with little contrast, so I wanted to see how far I could push it. You can see the original images and post HERE. After converting to mono and adjusting some sliders I used a simple technique for creating a white vignette. I have used this once or twice before and prefer it to the way I used to create them using the ‘lense correction tool’. So that’s it for this weeks Re-work, I hope you enjoyed it. As always any thoughts or comments you may have would be greatly appreciated.
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Ed Mooney Photography 
Now that is what I call an impressive monolith! I think the image is just fine, but my only observation would be that I cant get a sense of scale… it could be as small as the Lia Fail, or it could be massive, its hard to tell. Which is it Ed? Tell us
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Its kind of hard alright as it has a slight lean, but its about four meters. Next time I’m in the area, I will square one of my junior ruinhunters up to it.
Its across the road from Punchestown Racecourse and about half a mile from the Punchestown Longstone. 🙂
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Earth acupuncture – very interesting. Nice rework Ed.
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One can only speculate on the purpose of a lot of monoliths.
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Sadly true, it can be quite frustrating that in this modern age we have lost so much knowledge. Some say that we as a modern day race of people are advanced? If only we knew what our ancestors did?
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Wow that is a very imposing stone! I love the dramatic clouds in the background as well
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Thank you, much appreciated 🙂
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Just to let you know how much I enjoy seeing your pictures and reading the posts with them. You always keep things interesting. Of course, I haven’t met an ancient ruin that I haven’t liked. These messengers from the past are fascinating. Lennie
Maya researcher and author of Mists of Palenque.
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Thank you Lennie,
So glad you enjoyed them, I guess we both share a similar interest in ancient cultures. I just took a look at your blog, its truly fascinating. I’m really jealous. Sadly little of our culture in Ireland was recorded prior to the arrival of Christianity. So much of what remains of our ancient history was recorded by monks. 🙂
Eddie
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A striking scene, indeed.
Somehow, the shapes of closer trees in the background give the impression/illusion -?- that the photo is making the stone lean further to the left than it actually does.
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love it against a brooding sky!!
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Personally I like this one, the other doesn’t pull out the mystery behind the standing stone. This one adds that. Just a thought, maybe they were trying to pull a joke on us, going around the country side with a smirk on their faces. Thinking and wondering what people might think about them in a couple of thousand years. Just a thought.
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That is something I would consider doing:-) I reckon they had far more pressing matters back then than playing tricks on people who would not be born for thousands of years.
Or perhaps it was the aliens 🙂
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Such a haunting landscape…especially with so many mysteries surrounding it.
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