Who would have believed that the warmth of St Patrick’s Day lasted until the weekend but there we were having Sunday lunch outside.
Lots of work to be done in the garden but Spring is definately here at last
Spring at last
Happy St Patrick’s Day
I haven’t seen any of the press photos from the Cork St Patrick’s Day Parade yet but I can’t see how you can’t just have great fun with it. I’ve never actually worked it but this year we were organised enough to get there early and even found a spot in the glorious sunshine on the South Mall.
But alas all that waiting was too much for the small fella who dozed off in my arms just before everything kicked off! After a short nap that giant robot thing woke him up but he remained in my arms for the duration.
So I didn’t even get any snaps. Just this one caught on the way in next to City Hall.
Now this guy almost came a cropper on a tree trying to turn into the South Mall but nevertheless impressed everyone (it certainly made an impression on some smaller kids on the crowd!)
Well done to all involved. I think it was the best parade in Cork for a long time and, combined with warm sunshine, it was just what everyone needed.
The Rock Pools of Sydney’s Northern Beaches
I have just added another gallery to the Australian Series of Galleries on my main site. It features a selection of images taken of the Rock Pools around Manly.
The pools are characteristic of the beaches on Sydney’s northern coastline and each had a character of its own. Many had lane markings and were used frequently by organised groups and indivduals in regular training. Others were more like lidos.
As we spent our time around the local beaches I tried to capture the variety and characters of the pools and I have a comprehensive series of images as a result. I plan to bring them together in a series of large composites. The gallery has a selection of the images which give you the overall impression of the work.
The full link is http://www.roblambphoto.com/Australia/RockPools/RockPoolsGallery.htm
Rob
Capwell Post Office
Walking along Douglas St today I noticed that the rennovations to the old Capwell Post Office and surrounding buildings are nearing completion. While the facade of the old building remains, its character is quite different to how it stood a year or so ago:
The slightly spooky look of this image is due to the use of a film with extended sensitivity to Infrared (Kodak HIE). I like the dramatic look this creates and its uniquely suited so some aspects of the Irish landscape (in this example, the urban landscape).
Look out for a gallery of this work from 2007 coming soon.
I still have some HIE in the freezer and want to do more of this stuff again when the weather improves (I’m always seeking potential locations). There is also a way to do this digitally but that’s another project…
February Snow
It came at dusk and was already fading fast by dawn: our first real snowfall of the year.
Driving home from Bishopstown late in the afternoon it suddenly started to get dark, the sky went grey and a flurry of snow blew in, the snow clouds momentarily blocking out the sun. Real big snowflakes this time, not just the thin powdery sleet we’d had earlier on.
Another bit at dusk and there was enough for the kids to muster a tiny snowball or two.
Then overnight enough to blot out the grass in places.
By school run the car had been scraped for snowballs by the kids off the bus, still just enough around though for our our girls to throw a few at their mother. By ten o’clock it was gone from the ground.
But now its snowing again! Maybe we might even get a small snowman later!
An Andy Goldsworthy Moment
On one of those rare quiet moments before Christmas I pulled down some of those lovely coffee table books and found inspiration, if not for an incisive moment of environmental art, at least for some fun with the kids in the garden.
So out we went and created…
The centre ring is the Horse Chestnut directly fallen, then the yellow from the bush next door, then red from our neighbours garden and finally Apple leaves from further up the garden.
This turned out to be great entertainment for all: selecting, filtering and gathering leaves; filling and emptying the wheelbarrow; spreading and organising. The small fella in particular was a great help…
However the whole esthetic was a bit lost one him…
Alas, environmental art is temporal and we now just have a pile of dead leaves at the bottom of the garden…
Happy New Year
We managed to get a few days away out West over the holidays. I love West Cork, it always feels like you could spend your entire life wandering those hills and beaches and still discover new wonders. One of my (many) resolutions this year is to spend more time out there. OK, so its more of a plan than a resolution but hopefully I can get to spend more time out there this year. West Cork is perfect for a bike tour – there’s no better way to see the country: the perfect mix of the ability to cover some distance but remain in touch with the environment (including the rain). I may require a little training!
Merry Christmas
School’s out today so I guess it’s finally here: Merry Christmas to everyone!
I wish you a peaceful and happy holiday.
Whatever the turbulent new year has in store for you may you have confidence and hope.
Treasure the love of those around you and make that the foundation of your life. These are the good fortunes that economies neither build nor take away
All the best, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing.
Rob
Australian Galleries Now Open
I have finnally started to work through all the photographs taken during our time in Australia.
The first two galleries are now available at http://www.roblambphoto.com/Australia/AustralianGalleries.htm
The photographs in these galleries were taken during my five day trip to Broken Hill on the Indian-Pacific Railway. Broken Hill is a mining town pretty much in the middle of nowhere at the very edge of New South Wales. Its very hard for someone like me to understand what would bring people to a place like this to find better fortunes – especially in the early stages of mining.
It is partly because they’re all from one trip that these photographs have made it out first. There’s a lot more that I want to put up on the site but they’re gathered at different times over the 10 months we spent out there. I have a lot of views, detail and abstracts of the Opera House and the Bridge, a nice set from the Rock Pools around Manly (they’re swimming pools cut out of the rocks on the beaches) and a few good landscapes from our trip to the Blue Mountains (when the fog wasn’t down).
So stay tuned for more from Australia. I’ll post to this blog when I add new galleries.
Invasion of the Lamp Post Sock Monsters
I noticed this ‘thing’ on the crossing of the South Mall by Parliament Bridge a few weeks ago. I found it amazing. I suspect that the great majority of people pass by and don’t even notice it but on closer inspection it is a truely wonderful creation. What’s more it must have been sewn on to the traffic light post since there’s no other way that it could have been attached.
Now I know a professional photographer should always have his camera with him but sometimes one just wants to do a bit of shopping so it took me a week or so to get back into town with my camera which is a shame because orginally it had an eye.
I think this is great. Hat’s off to the Secret Knitter who ‘posted’ this one and may there be a few more entertaining pieces of street art appearing around Cork City.
I’m left with the vision of someone stitching on the South Mall in the middle of the night with a few taxi drivers driving past wondering what on earth is going on!