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Today on Sandymount strand.
Category: Blog
Dublin goes green
Paddy’s Day eve. I stopped off at the Convention centre to capture a bit of green white and orange. I thought my bike was looking pretty fetching too, so I took a few snaps of that while I was there.
Bord Gáis Energy Theatre
On the second night of a night shoot last week, I took this at about 12.30am in Grand Canal Square, in front of the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin, Ireland.
It’s a bit noisy, because the GoPro currently won’t expose longer than 1/4sec when shooting RAW. Kinda frustrating since it can stay open for 60 seconds when shooting to JPG, but hopefully they’ll sort that out with a firmware update soon.
The Dead Zoo
Looking for something to do in Dublin on Saturday, I popped in to the Natural History Museum for a while. It’s a strange little place, but interesting and worth a visit. There are only two levels currently open to the public – such a shame that the upper levels are out of bounds. Lack of funding has kept them closed since a staircase collapse in 2007, leaving a lot of amazing exhibits, such as a Dodo, off limits to the public. Apparently, there are also lots of exhibits that have never been displayed, including a Sabre-Toothed cat that has sat in a crate since it was bought in 1910. For more (depressing) detail, here’s an Irish Times article.
It’s pretty dark in there, but there’s just about enough light to get some shots. These were taken at 1600ISO at about f3.5/15thSec.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
What an incredible place. Frozen in time. There’s not that much to it – one big, magnificent space, but it’s well worth a visit and well worth allowing enough time to pore over the exquisite detail. I didn’t take the free guided tour this time, but I think I’ll go back soon and do that. It was a tough decision, whether to post the colour or black and white shots – seems a shame to eschew the rich warm tones, but I chose the more unusual, noir images this time.
Christchurch Cathedral
Located in the heart of the medieval city of Dublin, Christ Church cathedral is one of the city’s finest buildings. Founded by the Hiberno-Norse, rebuilt by the Anglo-Normans and extensively restored in the 1870’s, the present building is an intriguing blend of original 12th and 13th century material alongside exactingly recreated Victorian Gothic features.
Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, was until 1922 the seat of the UK government’s administration in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland. The Castle served as the seat of English, then later British government of Ireland under the Lordship of Ireland (1171–1541), the Kingdom of Ireland (1541–1800), and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1800–1922).
After the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921, the complex was ceremonially handed over to the newly formed Provisional Government led by Michael Collins.
St. Teresa’s Church of the Discalced Carmelites
Tucked away behind Grafton Street in the centre of Dublin, this is just one of several beautiful alcoves within the church.
Garden of Remembrance
The Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square, Dublin 1. December 3rd 2016.
Minus one, plus one
There are some things we do well in Meath, and fog is one of them. I was out for a few hours earlier, and it was bloody cold. Got home, lit the fire and made a big dinner of steak and roasties and I was about to sit down and get cozy when I looked out the window. Thick fog, with a golden glow from the streetlights. So I had to grab the camera and head out. I ended up spending about an hour and a half taking these shots. That’s a long time to be basically standing still in minus one degrees, but I think it was worth it and the fire’s all the nicer now that I’m back inside.
Parklife
I wandered up to the top of Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre car park on Saturday afternoon, to see what I could see. I had nowhere better to be, so decided to stick around for an hour or so to catch the sundown. It was beautiful, and a little surreal. Although I didn’t record many people in my shots, there were dozens of teenagers up there, just hanging out, in twos or threes, or larger groups. They started arriving shortly after me (about 3.45pm) and looked to be intent on staying there late into the night. I can think of a lot worse places to hang out – the views were pretty nice and it was very quite, and mild.
Slackers
I happened upon these guys in Merrion Square on Saturday. As far as I know (which isn’t very far), Slackline walking is even harder than Tightrope walking, which itself, is very hard indeed. These guys were very good at not falling off their lines and they had a lot of fun, floating above Merrion Square for the afternoon.
Costa deLouth
Some shots taken while on holidays in Port Oriel, August 2016. It’s incredible how quickly the weather pivots – it now feels like a proper autumn, and these balmy evenings are long gone.
A lucky find
I was out for a stroll with the dogs last night when I happened upon the Clogherhead RNLI crew coming back from what looked to be a training exercise. It was fascinating to watch the elaborate, time-consuming and precisely timed process of getting the boat out of the water. It was a real treat, and it made for some nice photos too. I can only imagine how lucky you’d feel, on a stormy winter’s night at sea, to find these guys coming in for a rescue. A couple of years ago, I went in to the station at Clogherhead during an open day and had a tour of the boat. It’s an amazing bit of kit – essentially a submarine that can be sealed tight to weather the roughest of seas. The skill, bravery and dedication of the volunteer crew is absolutely awe-inspiring.
Seen unseen
Here’s a couple of short timelapse videos I shot today. Just tests really. I was experimenting with long exposure shots using neutral density filters to cut down the light. In this first one outside the office, I shot a sequence of 6 second exposures at 8 second intervals. Watch it in 4K full resolution.
After that, I was in the mood for more, so I shot a sequence down on Sandymount strand, but kept the exposures short to get nice sharp clouds.
