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.
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.
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.
Consolation prize
I was on the bus this morning. The view was incredible. Meath looked gorgeous – thick mist hanging over the fields with beams of golden sunlight burning through. Trees, hedges, farm buildings fading out to white nothing. Lovely. But. Between the movement of the bus and the slimy dirt of the windows, it wasn’t worth taking a shot. So instead, I took a few on the liffey boardwalk when I got into Dublin. Not as good, but kinda nice all the same.
Deepest darkest Meath
I’ve taken these shots over the last few days, walking the dogs around Ratoath in the mornings before heading off to work. I’ve tweaked, sharpened, pushed and desaturated them so that they’re more a reflection of the autumn/winter mood than photos of Ratoath. One day, when I grow up, I might have an iPhone 4S and take photos with less grain, but for now, my 3Gs is all I’ve got.
