ireland

Nielsen & Co

A tag screwed onto the woodwork on board the Jeanie Johnston at the maritime festival in Dublin at the start of June. I’ve lately been re-educating myself that the details we sometimes miss in our everyday lives can prove significant. Why, you could even be passing a certain spot for years without noticing what’s hidden in the finer detail. Stop and take a look. You’ll only regret it later if you missed it and it’s gone forever.

Paths Uncertain

Walking to the lighthouse at Sheeps Head in West Cork. Stick to the path, you’ll finally get there. Or, stray from the beaten path and find something more exciting. Or maybe you’ll just end up stepping in sheep shit. Sometimes you just have to take the risks to get the rewards.

This is where I store the bodies…

An old shed in a field next to the graveyard in Glendalough. I can only presume (having watched so many horror films down through the years) that this is where the local psycho slasher type person does all his dismembering and storing of his collection of corpses.. Mwah ha haaaaa… A lovely peaceful spot. Other than the horror and all…

Bury me on a hill…

…upside down, so the world can kiss my ass! In fact, don’t bury me at all. Incinerate me with next weeks recycling and scatter my ashes wherever you want. A graveyard on the edge of the hill at Glendalough. A lovely spot in the middle of Wicklow that is, for several months of the year, infested with tourists. One of which I am quite obviously not. Obviously.

Heaven… Near Dublin?!?

My first time in the Sally Gap in Wicklow. Really quite an amazing place. I’ll be going back there… many many times. Had an indescribably fantastic time driving around there. Next time I go back, I’ll probably take a left instead of a right at that junction that I probably won’t be able to find again. Map I think… definitely map required.

Rocky Bay

Where I was going to go today but ended up drinking beer & watching TV instead. A lovely relaxing Sunday; I was due one. This is your bog standard landscape really, I just thought it was particularly postable right about now given that the weather doesn’t really know what it’s doing from one day/hour to the next. Now, there’s a bottle of Hoegaarden in the fridge with my name on it. I’ll be off. Actually, Donncha is organising another photowalk.Read More

Splash of Green

A field of rapeseed grows near Garretstown. Fields like this are a common sight at this time of year and are dotted throughout the country, some providing fantastic photo opportunities. The field of bright green next to this bright yellow was irresistible. Well, it looked better in person than I was able to capture on camera. Ah well.

Wild Wood

As per usual, standing in the middle of the stream with my tripod holding my camera mere inches above the water. It’s something that no matter how many times I’ve been to the woods at Gougane Barra, I can’t seem to get away from. At least this time I had the good sense to reclaim some land and build myself a little peninsula before stepping into the unknown. Good day today, wedding went off without a hitch thankfully. Beautiful weatherRead More

Bluebells

May 16, 2008 Canon 50, Canon 5D, Cork, Landscape

First trip out to see the bluebells in Currabinny woods. It was getting late and the light was beginning to drop off fairly rapidly so we didn’t spend long down there. Must take a spin back down there over the coming days to catch some more. Speaking of taking a spin, I was quite looking forward to heading to Dublin this evening/tomorrow morning for the rare meetup of photobloggers that’s taking place. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I’m at a weddingRead More

Currabinny Pier

Down in Currabinny, about 10 minutes from my front door, there’s a wonderful pier that stretches out in the direction of Crosshaven across the water. Crosshaven may sound familiar to some as the host town for the Ford Yacht Club event. Currabinny may sound familiar as the place across the water from it. There’s a nice stony beach and a wonderful storehouse down there too. Never fails to offer some kind of photographic opportunities.

Sheeps Head

Just over the mountain at Sheeps Head on Goats Path. The light was outstanding as we crossed the top of the mountain and mid-way through a phone call I saw the way the sun was hitting the hills. Well, I think we both saw it at the same time. It was like a simultaneous moment of \”Bloody hell, look at that!\” By both I mean Darren, who got some great shots too.

Space Ships

May 7, 2008 Canon 24-70, Canon 5D, Cork

Two co-op silos next to the abandoned train station at Mogeely, east Cork. This was the start of the long weekend photo fest. The train station, for such a simple location, always seems to provide some sort of photographic opportunities.

Like Rick, But a Year Older…

For the past… ohh, years I’ve been promising Rick O’Shea a portrait session. Ever since the first blog awards really when he expressed an interest in a photo I took of him. So vast amounts of time passed and nothing was organised until April 1st (I didn’t think he’d believe that I wanted to do it that day) when I went into the 2fm studios to take a whole load of photos. On scanning through them just now for theRead More

The Well Earned Break

Crew of the Royal Caribbean cruise ship “Independence of the Seas” take a well earned break as the mammoth ship, over one thousand feet long, is docked in Cobh. Apparently the only port in Ireland big enough to dock the vessel. People hung around on their private balconies while others dined in large glass fronted restaurants looking down from a height on the peasants below with their feeble camera phones.

That’s using your Loaf!

April 28, 2008 Canon 24-70, Canon 5D, Cork, Strobist

Oh dear! Those extra items of gear I was pondering on in a previous post were not only ordered, they arrived today. I bought a Canon Speedlite 430EX and a Canon ST-E2 wireless flash commander thing. Once I get a battery for the ST-E2, I can take both my 580EX and the new 430EX completely off camera. Woo! This was a quick bit of farting around with the two flashes. Something tells me I’m going to have to re-watch thatRead More

The Writing’s on the Wall

Helpful words written on the edge of a blackboard in a local Cork primary school. The busy season is starting again in the next week or two, it’ll be a few weddings a month from more or less now until September or October. All that and I’m trying to get my head around what I’m doing where work is concerned. Do I go for a new job or stay where I am? All this and more still to come. StayRead More

Little Chairs

April 26, 2008 Canon 24-70, Canon 5D, Cork, Event

Little chairs for little people. The contents of a classroom in a local primary school tidied and stacked away into a corner to cater for the room’s conversion into a photo studio for the days communion portraits. Busy day today. First to get the running order of portrait work, then off to a wedding in west Cork. And now, I’m pooped. Pooped but happy, in a kind of overworked way 🙂

Chicken Legs

April 24, 2008 Canon 5D, Cork, Macro, Sigma 150 Macro

Poor ol’ Trilo. She’s been christened ‘chicken legs’ due to her tendency to paddle into the water only far enough to get her legs wet. When she comes out, her body is fluffy but her legs are skinny… Guess you have to be there. Tough to keep her still for a few seconds to get the shot you’re after, but I suppose that adds to the challenge.

Drop in Motion

April 23, 2008 Canon 5D, Cork, Macro, Sigma 150 Macro

After some light rain, a constant drip falls out of an old green drainpipe on an old green storage shed next to the shoreline. The building, although small and quite nondescript, has provided me with many photo opportunities in the past and will no doubt continue to in the future. For such a small area, the shoreline and pier at Currabinny is a goldmine for landscape and macro photography. At least that’s the way it seems to me…