Swallow's Nest, a photo from Krym, East

Photographer's Note

Swallow's Nest is a symbol of the Crimea.

The Swallows' Nest castle is located some 8 miles west of Yalta. It was built on top of the cliff, thus the name, in 1912. It was actually the villa of a rich German industrialist who wanted his summer retreat to be built like a Reine castle.

In 1927 there was a strong earthquake in Yalta and part of the rock underneath the castle fell into the sea. The building was closed to visitors for years until in the seventies the restoration works started and later an Italian restaurant was opened there. The restaurant is pretty expensive, maybe one of the most expensive in Yalta, but the service is good, the view is excellent and you can listen classical music instead "sound pollution" like in the most another restaurants.

The Crimea (Krym in ukrainian) is a wonderful part of Ukraine. Some scientists call it "the Earth in the miniature". Vast wild steppes and high cliffs, the orchards and dead saline soils, plantations of roses and snow in the mountains - one can find everything here. The history of this land is even more rich that its nature and the whole Crimea happens to be a unique historical-cultural preserve.
This peninsula was populated from time immemorial. Its earliest settlers - the Cimmerians - lived here in the 15th-7th cc B.C. The coastal and mountainous regions were inhabited by the Taurians after whom the peninsula was named Taurica. In the 4 c. B.C. the Crimea became the land of the Scythian kingdom. Here main civilisations of antiquity (Ancient Greek and Roman, Persian and Judaic) and of the Middle Ages (Byzantine, Moslem, Italian, Kyiv Rus and Armenian) met and came into contact with traditions of indigenous people.

banyanman, greg, PLB, serenadanesi, hayu, bazal, MarekP, kebek, manss0fl, jhm, maphoto, rajhema, Jeppe, meyavuz, nbournas, hexagon, Andre-H, Giorgio, euryan, iGirl, rtome, sabin, yogi32, redrash, sotirios, rasmis, Signal-Womb, doubay, coco, Prop, matt_harris_42, linask, MLINES, vasariste, abulafia has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

banyanman (7772) 2005-07-19 7:12

A great POV, colours and sharpness, Dan. This must be a place that has been photographed a million times, but your composition is perfect in terms of how you have positioned the castle and the horizon. Cheers . . . David

PLB (233) 2005-07-19 7:24

I thought that this was a minature castle until I looked closer at your photo and saw the people in it, it looks fabulous. Nice take on what is proberbly a very well photographed castle. Thanks for the note as well.

starbug (6924) 2005-07-19 7:25

a place I considered going to this summer...and this picture might have convinced me. I like the composition, sharpness and the colours. well done!
Ola

serenadanesi (944) 2005-07-19 7:33

Great place! The colors and sharpness are fantastic. I find an improvement if you crop the sky.

greg (2835) 2005-07-19 7:33

When I first came to Chisinau, the home where I stayed had a yellowed old calendar, maybe 10 years out of date, with a photo of this castle hanging in the entrance. A long-held dream of a far-off place. Thanks for refreshing it!

letuananh (2539) 2005-07-19 7:58

Hi Dan,
I like POV in here. Compo and colours very well.
Regards.

hayu (640) 2005-07-19 8:05

What an impressive place to built your house! Beautiful capture against the blue of the water and the sky. Regards, Huub

bazal (7900) 2005-07-19 8:53

Very strange house with a very particular location ! I think the owner wasn't affected by vertigo ! Very nice composition and DOF with the superb horizon line that separes the picture in two compartments. Nice colors, contrast and light. Thanks for sharing !

MarekP (4750) 2005-07-19 9:22

Hi Dan,
This is a wonderful castle indeed -- it's like from a fairy tale. It's a pity, it isn't really old -- just a copy of old style. But anyway, it's beautiful.
Regarding the composition of your photo, I'd probably prefer tighter crop with less space occupied by the sea and sky.

Thanks,
Marek

kebek (5438) 2005-07-19 11:08

Serwus Dan !
I'm absolutely impressed by Your point of view and generally by this composition. Excellent contrast between grey castle and blue sea. I love details of the building and texture of the water. Superb horizontal line. And very interesting note! Thank You!

I just try to imagine how this nest could look in the sunset... :)
Mat

[2]

donluicu (24692) 2005-07-19 12:08

very good composition.
what an amazing castle..
thx for showing us
bye
loic

jhm (122334) 2005-07-19 12:52

Hi Dan,
What a beautiful Swallow's Nest, splendid construction of this wonderful castle, my compliments for this Dan, one word, GREAT!
Greetings,
John.

dkeus31 (27733) 2005-07-19 13:58

Hi Dan,
Very nice point of view, the castle looks so little before the sea.

marieaude (1196) 2005-07-19 14:08

Hello, very nice view, the castell looks small and the horizon is great. Fantastic world. Thank you for the impresive view.

maphoto (8082) 2005-07-19 23:18

Very beautiful view Dan, very impressive place, great vertical presentation, it give a special appreciation of the place, well seen & done.

rajhema (1901) 2005-07-21 8:14

I remember commenting for a similar one earlier. But that was a closeup shot. This one gives the magnitude of the location. Very well captured. Beautiful spot.

Jeppe (18654) 2005-08-03 17:01

A fine and image which you composed nicely - I like the mix of colours and blue and grey - thanks Dan - well done.

klyee75 (778) 2005-08-17 20:35

wow! this is really amazing...hard to imagine how those people can built the castle like that. Good shot!

nbournas (3229) 2005-08-25 19:31

Great job you did in the framing. The castle against the blue sea makes a very balanced shot.

hexagon (284) 2005-08-26 9:18

great POV and composition for this picture I like it

elmec (12210) 2006-01-19 16:50

Hello Dan!
That's great photo!
The composition is the best!
Sharpness on the castle is very good!
I like it!
Greetings

Andre-H (1271) 2006-03-24 9:27

Good composition here. I like the way that you have arranged the elements, and shown the extent of the water behind the castle. Nice castle too!

:-) A

Giorgio (11263) 2006-04-25 11:15

- Really impressive point of view, they have feeling that the building and in changeable equilibrium, seen well! Moreover colour and light is very good, well done!
giorgio

sebinho342 (19317) 2006-05-16 8:47

Hello Dan, i'm sure to have already seen on TE a picture of this place, it's really amazing !!!!!
Your shot is so pure, and the architects were crazy to build that here !
I loooove your shot :))
Congratulations, i have no words to comment this marvelous site :)

Loic_bzh (7646) 2006-06-13 9:49

Hi Dan,

what to say but "wow!!!"?

You let enough space on the left side of the photo to show how high is the cliff.

TFS this very nice shot!

Cheers,

Loïc

iGirl (1223) 2006-06-26 16:31

Hi Dan, this is a great picture with vivid color, wonderful contrast, and nice composition. I like how you make the swallow's nest look small in comparison to the big sea and sky. This would make a great super-huge poster or framed photo for the wall!

Thanks for sharing!

Erin

FotoKraft (7) 2006-06-26 16:47 [Comment]

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sabin (132) 2006-07-04 4:32 [Comment]

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denjoe (22) 2006-07-07 12:15

Terrific photo!! I like the viewpoint. Wonderful castle and location. Nice work!!

xavshot (69835) 2006-07-15 8:30

Bonjour Dan
je trouve ton cadrage excellent car il rend cet endroit à la fois petit et perdu dans ce paysage et à la fois imposant et dominant. Ce chateau semble devoir s'accrocher à cette falise pour ne pas tomber. Sa construction a du être un grand moment !
Bravo pour ce post
Xavier

redrash (564) 2006-07-28 16:14

Hello!
You placed the castle in the very good point of the picture. I like this that all background is in one colour. It makes that when you see this picture you immediately know what is the most important in it.

sotirios (20) 2006-08-16 7:11

Very interesting
After the castle there is only nothing only chaos. I imagine you photo at night with moon at the sky ...
very spooky.
Regards sotirios

rasmis (291) 2006-09-01 17:20

Very Good place and good shot. I am curious about the surrounding of that castle. Thanx for the good work.

Iuli (838) 2006-10-11 19:23

Great shot, Dan!
Very good POV and superb composition. I like it a lot.
TFS
Iulian

GLEM (3004) 2006-10-19 6:46

Bonjour Dan,

ceux qui y habitent n'ont pas le vertige j'espère !
Le contraste mer/terre est superbe, les détails très précis.

du bon travail.

Signal-Womb (13048) 2006-11-28 17:27

Just noticed this one in your intro and its a cracking shot Dan . Your composition is very striking and the castle itself most unusual. Very nice work.

Bianconeri78 (701) 2006-11-30 15:19

Very nice! I'd like to live there.
Best,
Jeremy

silycat (611) 2007-01-20 18:57

Hi!
This photo has been chosen by me to represent country in which it was taken in thema "Around the world", it is a very good and sucesful capture and excellent photo!

doubay (2091) 2007-02-07 3:35

Hi Dan,
this place looks really impressive. You captured it very well.
Best regards
Andreas

coco (30433) 2007-02-28 12:11

Hi Dan.

Impressive place and also very good photo for this time. The lens also makes it much more enjoyable.

Well done.

rusty88 (42) 2007-05-23 17:33

wow:) beautiful photo. Greetz

MLINES (12516) 2007-11-06 20:00

Hi Dan. A very fine POV showing us this cliff-top castle. Beautiful colours and framing. TFS. Murray.

ljubinjac (86) 2008-01-23 1:14

Wow, wow, wow, excellent, excellent,ecellent.
Greetings from Serbia.
Thanks..
Sinisa..

vasariste (981) 2008-01-31 1:05

This is perfect! Bravo!
Natasa