Narnia
Springtime in Ireland. Not what I signed up for. Nor you either, I’m sure. Where’s that fecken wardrobe? I wanna get out.
This time last year, it was a different story – temperatures hitting 20 degrees and kids jumping into the liffey to cool down. Take me back to THAT version of reality. Of course, the current screwed up world we’re living in isn’t just depressing, it’s downright scary.
Grand Canal
Some shots of the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Grand Canal Dock, Dublin. It throws some great shapes, in fairness.
Time to Bale out
I closed up the summer home in Clogherhead last saturday. Bummer. Where did the summer go? Personally, I’d have liked a bit more sun and a lot less rain, but summer’s still my favourite season, and this is my favourite place to spend it. Here’s a couple of shots I took in the field that’s facing the beach. There’s a sombre, some might even say ‘baleful’ tone that seemed to suit the day.
Croker
On a recce for a shoot next week, it’s a nice day for a stroll around Croke Park. In fact, it’s a nice day for a stroll around anything.
An Irish Summer
Here’s a few shots taken this summer on the Costa DeLouth. When the sun shone, it was glorious, but when it rained, or was dull, it was even more glorious. There’s only a few more days left of the season and I’m going to really miss this place during the winter.
Instacanv.as gallery now open
My Instacanv.as gallery is now open, so if anyone is interested in seeing a bigger selection of my shots, or even buying a print of one…
sunset over a field of rapeseed
Wrecked colours
Paid a visit to my favorite wreck again on monday. One of my shots got picked up on broadsheet.ie and consequently, I found out a bit about the ship and it’s history.
This is the wreck of the Irish Trader, of Hartlepool, grounded in 1974 on way to Drogheda.The notorious Littlejohn brothers, Keith and Kenneth who claimed to be British agents, hid out on the wreck while on the run here in the 70s.
Urban sparkle
I took a couple of shots of the H&M store on the corner Clarendon Row and King street, alongside the Stephen’s Green shopping centre. There’s lots of interesting shapes around town and you can get some very interesting things happening when you look closely at the reflections on the surfaces.
Up-time
Popped up to Baggot Street at lunchtime to grab a few bits of junk food – there’s plenty to choose from around there. Even in places you’re very familiar with, it’s surprising how you can always notice something new, if you look around – or more often, up.
Aviva Stadium
I took a quick walk this morning, around the back of the Aviva stadium. The light was catching it nicely for a few minutes, but was gone, even by the time I was walking back to the car.
Faded glory
There are lots of these places around Dublin. I don’t know anything about this one, on Dublin’s Richmond Road, but I imagine it was once a family business. Possibly for several generations. Now there’s not much clues as to what they did when they were open for business, but even in its decrepitude, there’s still more charm here than in most modern shopfronts. If the recession hadn’t kicked in, most of these places would have been torn down and replaced by now, so I guess that’s one reason to be thankful for the recession…
Too cold for roses
The world was looking pretty gorgeous this morning and I was tempted to stop a few times on the way to work. I passed up a few really good locations. I did eventually stop as I passed Griffith park – it was too cold for roses, but I stopped to smell them anyway. The car was telling me it was -4 degrees, but that didn’t deter the ducks from nestling their downy bottoms into the river. It did encourage me to nestle myself back into the cozy car pretty quickly though.
Going left instead of right
Heading down the quays this morning towards the East Link, my windscreen was full of a glorious sunrise, so I stopped and took a few shots, like I often do. The liffey looked particularly beautiful as I crossed the bridge and went through the toll booths. At the roundabout, instead of going right towards work, I took a snap decision to head towards the South Wall – something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. It’s a lovely peaceful place early in the morning. I took a few quick shots, then jumped back in the car and bolted for work. I’m definitely going back there tomorrow, or soon anyway and next time I’ll go a bit earlier so I can walk down to the end of the wall. If you’re passing that way, I recommend you try it too.
Doodle 4 Google 2012
'I wish I was a Concert Pianist', design for Doodle 4 Google, by Anya Clarke-Carr, age 8
Cold bottoms and night lights
‘Crisp and bright’. That’s how you might describe this morning. I wouldn’t quite go as far as to say it was ‘fecken freezin’, where I was standing, but I’d be pretty sure that would be how the bottom of those boats felt. I kinda liked the faint glow from the lights on deck – they remind me of the night-light we have on our landing so the kids can find their way to the bathroom at night.
New life
Sad and all as I was to leave my previous (professional) home, I’m very happy to be settling in to my new job and joining the exceptionally talented team at Target McConnells. It’s getting close to the end of my first week and my appetite is well and truly whetted for the exciting times ahead. On the downside, there’ll be less opportunities for beach sunrise photography, but to offset that loss, I am now within strolling distance of one of Dublin’s finest deli’s, Juniors.
Shy and retiring
Sometimes, sunrises are beautiful. Obviously. Other times – like today – it’s not so obvious. There’s nothing too dramatic going on, the weather’s nondescript, the sea’s calm and the sun sneaks up with it’s headlights dipped. With a bit of work though, you can drag some decent images out of the mire and I think, you can end up with a portrait of a quietly confident morning.
First taste of snow
I took a sneaky route through the housing estates of finglas, glasnevin and fairview this morning – all totally encrusted in icing. Avoiding the perma-tailback past glasnevin cemetery chopped about half an hour off my commute, allowing me to slide into the last available spot in the office car-park and also giving me ten minutes to stroll over to the beach and take this mornings snaps. I had the camera with me, so these are taken with a Canon EOS350D, instead of the iPhone I take most of my pics with.
Chim-chim-inee
It was bitterly cold on the beach this morning and I was a little late to catch the real kaleidoscope of colour.
That rolled out ahead of me as I crossed the East Link, and traffic can be very indifferent when it comes to a photographers urge to get to a good vantage for sunrise. For the first time in months, I had my SLR with me, so (I think), today’s shot of the Poolbeg chimneys is a bit smoother than my usual iPhone snaps. Looking back the other way, the houses along the strand caught the sun that hadn’t yet reached down to the sand.
These shots were taken on December 14th 2011 with a Canon EOS350D
Sentinel
Old-fashioned, in a nice way, these telescopes stand guard along the seafront at Sandymount. In the background, near the water’s edge, you can see a photographer with his tripod-mounted camera pointed out to sea. Somewhere out there, better photos of Sandymount this morning are being uploaded right now. They probably don’t have telescopes in them though.
Lighthouse
I got a bit ahead of myself this morning, somehow and had time to stop on the way to work. Just outside the O2, things looked quite nice in the morning light. One day, I’ll catch this lighthouse ship at just the right time of day to get the sun blasting through the lightbulb, but for now, this will have to do.
Lighthouse ship moored outside the O2
That bench again
Popped across to the seafront again this morning. The bench was still where I left it, as expected. No bike this week though.
Lonely bike
I arrived in work a bit early this morning, but not early enough to catch the sunrise. It was nice out though, so I decided to pop over to the seafront. The sky was kinda nice, but I din’t think it was interesting enough to make a good picture. I spotted this bike, locked to a bench and it seemed to be just enough to give the picture a focus. The Sandymount seafront is a pretty peaceful spot at quiet times like these and a little blurring in the foreground helped to emphasise the moodiness.
