OK so it is cold, but it is beautiful out there. We rugged the kids up and went out to find some ice in the garden. We probably hadn’t been out there since the great floods so all the vessels we had left for rain water collection were still out there – only now they had a sheet of ice on their surface up to an inch thick in places.
We found a few interesting things trapped in cold storage:
Leafy-icy-air-bubble-thing
All the kids enjoyed themselves but let’s just say that I’m glad I’m not a Barbie in our house. It seemed a little cold for ice skating…
I found myself standing in the rain in Shandon today, camera in hand, waiting. Waiting and wondering if I was on the cusp of one of those fantastic moments in Irish Landscape Photography: where the clouds break and the most fantastic light creates a scene of such beauty that it captures all that is magnificent about Ireland’s Landscape.
Or am I just a Muppet standing in the rain?
Well the moment never came. Today I was the Muppet.
I decided this morning to swap my evening’s leisure for an morning of taking photographs of the city. It was promising a beautiful autumn morning. I did my essentials and headed into town, that light fading fast and by the time I hit Shandon the blue was gone and the black was coming, followed by the grey and the damp.
By the time I trudged home up High Street that light did appear. A glorious sun shower with blue sky above and sun ripping through the rain. A rainbow above my head I should imagine. No chance of getting to a significant landmark to create a scene.
And now, as I look out the window the light is wonderful again. Bet you I won’t get to Turners Cross in time.
Good Irish Landscape, like good comedy, is all about…
…timing.
You might be wondering where the photographs that I did take are? Well they are slides so wait for another chance to finish the roll, for me to find somewhere to process them, at least a week to get them processed and then however long it takes for me to get around to scanning them. I hope they’re worth it.
Found these growing in the bottom of a pot in the front garden:
Mysterious Mushrooms
I bought the Macro Lens for baby sessions because my standard portrait lenses just don’t get in tight on the smallest of tots. But there’s lots of fun to be had with it in my own backyard.
I climbed the hill after tea to try to get a few shots of the Copper Mines before the sun went down. It wasn’t working out for me but I noticed the evening light hitting the hills across the valley and took a few shots of that before I realised that there must be something creating that gorgeous light and turned around.
Photography takes me out of things to concentrate on what’s in the viewfinder. It is important to ‘feel’ these moments of incredible natural beauty as well as photograph them. So I took the shot and forced myself to put the camera away and just watched the sun set. Ahhhh. These moments are rare enough.
I finally got some time this morning to work on this picture. I wanted to balance sunset and coastline so I effectively double-exposed the original RAW file and blended them to back together maximise the impact of the sun but keep some detail in the hills (I know it is hard to tell from the small version).
It is a long time since I waited nearly a year to see a photograph I’d taken. But here’s one I shot last October and just saw for the first time this week.
Fennell's Garage, French's Quay
In the more recent days of film I used to get through it quickly enough. Anything from a couple of rolls a day to one every two weeks max. But during the last film festival I loaded my trusty Nikon F4 with film and went into town on a Sunday morning to catch an early showing. This particular shot is pretty much only a Sunday morning thing, with the garage doors either open, or double parked every other day. I took the shot, went to my movie and that was that.
Time passed. I worked away using the new Digital SLRs and the F4 was stored carefully, just this shot and one of the brewery opposite on the roll. Waiting. “I must finish that roll someday”.
I never went back to shoot them in digital (though I thought about it). Why waste a Sunday morning if the shot was ‘in the can’?
Someday finally came last week. Having developed a taste for film after the star trails thing I remembered the F4 and its two shots. Not knowing whether the film was even still any good, I strapped on the 24mm and finished off the roll. Lovely camera, the Nikon F4s. And waited a little longer to see whether those garage doors survived.
At this point there is a cue for a long diatribe about the value of things that come slowly, that are earned. The thrill of anticipation that is typical of film photography. The need to trust ones skills, take one shot and move on to the next without stopping to chimp.
Oh and then on to “Kids these days have it too easy, everything is instant, they aren’t made to wait for anything anymore, they don’t value anything because nothing is hard earnt. Fast food. Cheap thrills’.
Baa, humbug.
But no-one would bother to read it, it would take too long, maybe if there was a podcast…
Well look, they got two days of sunshine. They did well.
Lance Armstrong gets to see Shandon (if not Patrick's Hill)
Cork welcomed the 2009 Tour of Ireland in great style. Not only did it force them up Patrick’s Hill it gave them some Real Rain to deal with.
Bonus points for anyone who can spot Lance Armstrong in this photo. He pulled out just after this, before he got to The Hill. As one commentator put it ‘those with multi-million dollar insurance policies thought the better of it’ and I really can’t blame them. All the more credit to those who did take it on. About two thirds of those that started didn’t make it to the finish.
If they had, they’d have seen the sun come out. Only in Cork!
We stuck it to the end, we watched the TV coverage and spotted our froggy umbrella, we even made it small on the back of the winners interview. Jeeez, you can’t keep us out of the news!
Our busy ‘summer’ continues with a weekend away in Allihies. After a foggy start, Saturday broke into the most wonderful afternoon just in time for the start of the 99th Allihies Festival.
Running back down to the start
OMG, great craic. International running races for all ages (and all-comers) interspersed with horse racing (not for the feint-hearted), ICA Cake stand, Bouncy Castles, Candy Floss, the Works. The going was a little ‘heavy’ which bothered some of the inexperienced horses more than the foot runners – although everyone who raced got pretty evenly covered in mud.
Allihies is a lovely spot on an amazing part of Ireland and the festival (and that bit of afternoon sun) topped it off for the weekend. I think we’ll be back in for the Centenary Festival next year!
