A quintessential shot of Ireland's rugged, moody Aran Islands

THE TRAVELER: Rebecca A. Hahn of Minnetonka.

The scene: A rainbow arches across the sky above the Aran Islands, a trio off the western coast of Ireland.

The trip: "Rather than walk approximately 22 miles (the size of this particular island), we decided to see the island via horse and driver," Hahn wrote in an e-mail. She was wrapped in a cozy woolen blanket while taking in the sights and shooting photographs. "The wonderful thing about this mode of sightseeing was that over the duration of the five-hour trip, we would meander past this house twice, giving me two opportunities to shoot this house from many angles and with differentiating light."

Getting the shot: The day Hahn visited the Aran Islands was gloomy and cloudy with only fleeting sunlight. "In other words, it was a perfect day for photography," Hahn wrote. "As with all great shots, lighting is a significant variable; being in the right place at the right time is often pure luck. Having one's camera set on auto focus is always good common sense when motion is involved," she added. "With every second altering the density of the rainbow, this particular image would not have waited for me to manually adjust my camera." The gulls appeared at just the right time, "rendering this image a truly authentic Irish fisherman's cottage," she wrote. Hahn shot this with a Nikon D300S.