Friday 31 August 2012

Day 90

For weeks I've been passing the suggestion of a castle just outside Limerick: the sight of a turret among the trees, and an overgrown road. Today I finally stopped and walked down to it, and it is without doubt the creepiest place I've ever been. There wasn't a good shot of the castle to be had, but these abandoned cars sort of summed up the atmosphere of the whole place: the overwhelming feeling that someone is watching you............

Thursday 30 August 2012

Day 89

Sunny day today, and an early finish to work, and so I drove down a new road, and straight away found this dilapidated shed. I love the character in these ruins: the broken window frame, the random rusty iron bits. 

Wednesday 29 August 2012

Day 88

Back in Kerry, and the rain has been relentless. There's a gutter just outside my office window, and it always spits water out in a messy, undiligent fashion, and now I know why: it's a really crappy botch job. Holes drilled in a gutter do not a drain make.

Tuesday 28 August 2012

Day 87

I was lucky enough to have lunch with the hands in this photo. I think the image speaks for itself.

Monday 27 August 2012

Day 86

My love affair with the Olloclip shows no signs of abating. This the the Irish Film Institute in Dublin.

Sunday 26 August 2012

Day 85

Only partly influenced by my leaving my Leica charger in Kerry I decided on a macro photo today. I'm totally loving my Olloclip, even though the narrow depth of field on the macro lens can be a bit frustrating. I'm not above pouring water on flowers for added effect either.

Saturday 25 August 2012

Day 84

One of those days where I took a few shots earlier on and resigned myself to settling for one of them. Then, as I left the pool a couple of hours later the sun was out, and the most amazing light was pushing its way through the trees. Suddenly I was spoiled for choice, but this one won out in the end: I love the way the orange light and shadows hit the green and cream.

Friday 24 August 2012

Day 83

Driving home from Dingle this evening, and it was overcast and threatening rain. A diversion to this small beach I'd never visited before, and it was all windy, and misty, and a bit like a Waterboys song for a time. Definitely worth another visit, only I'll wait for a sunny day.

Thursday 23 August 2012

Day 82

A bit off the beaten track today, and I found this avenue lined by trees. It's totally incongruous with the rest of the landscape, and apparently protected by a bull, but worth the risk. Like an overgrown avenue in France.

Wednesday 22 August 2012

Day 81

Driving away from the big landscapes today I saw this abandoned house. I've always liked properties like this; good fixer-uppers. Someday I'll arrive home and my wife will be horrified to hear I've bought one.

Tuesday 21 August 2012

Day 80

OK, I'm a bit bored of big wide landscapes with dramatic clouds. So this'll be the last one for a while!

Monday 20 August 2012

Day 79

I've moved to new accommodation in Dingle, and now I pass this carving every evening. It's just one of the carvings in the grounds of the church next door, and I expect there'll be another one featured some day soon.

Sunday 19 August 2012

Day 78

A weekend at home, and there is a lovely splash of colour on the terrace that wasn't there when I left. Seems the flower-elves have been. Just don't call them geraniums! They're pelargoneums.

Saturday 18 August 2012

Day77

I love my Olloclip. I've always liked fisheye lenses, but they've been beyond my means. Now I have one that fits in my pocket and in a minute it's on my iPhone and I'm curving straight lines like there's no tomorrow.

Friday 17 August 2012

Day 76

Between Abbeyfeale  and Newcastlewest there's a windfarm, and whilst the access from the main road is restricted, there is a back road that brings you right up amongst the windmills. It was overcast when I got there, and most of the windmills were obscured by clouds, but as I walked back along the track the sun poked through, and there was a big wide landscape to be had. Incidentally, it was not a day for walking through a marsh in leaky Converse Allstars!

Thursday 16 August 2012

Day 75

I quite liked the look of this broken window pane. I pass it most days, but I've found that this blog is forcing me to look at things differently, and so today it was the turn of this glass.

Wednesday 15 August 2012

Day 74

I moved in to a new house in Dingle today: holiday homes right in the centre of town. But I'm glad I'm not on holiday, because it is wet, very wet. These poor chairs don't stand a chance of seeing any action at this rate.

Tuesday 14 August 2012

Day 73

I liked these leaves, blowing in a strong wind this afternoon. Slow shutter speed gave a bit of motion blur, and then I just boosted the chroma in post.

Monday 13 August 2012

Day 72

One of those days where the weather changes from hour to hour, from glorious and sunny to cold and rainy. I'd set out to find a shot, but I wasn't too hopeful, and then I rounded a corner, and there was a gap in the rain clouds and a shimmer on the sea. The next five minutes was a race against time to find a good vantage point with convenient parking, and just as soon as I'd gotten this shot the light was gone and the rain was back.

Sunday 12 August 2012

Day 71

These flowers grow everywhere, they're like lovely colourful weeds. Oh, and it's raining again.

Saturday 11 August 2012

Day 70

I saw this yesterday. I just love it sitting there in the carefully arranged rocks behind our office, rusting away, totally forgotten.

Friday 10 August 2012

Day 69

I took some really nice shots this evening with my good camera, but then I was in Ballyferriter for dinner, and the opportunity to use my new fisheye attachment for my iPhone presented itself, and really there can be only one winner. Sunset in Corca Dhuibhne.

Thursday 9 August 2012

Wednesday 8 August 2012

Day 67

On my way back to the site of yesterday's photo I looked down and just managed to avoid squashing this Red Admiral with my size nine. I don't think I could have coped with that. He repaid my sudden stop by hanging around long enough for one photo, then he was gone.

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Day 66

Low tide in Dingle Bay, and a very eerie fog clinging to everything. I took some shots of the bay, but they came out quite underexposed and lifeless. This bottle neck in the mud however looked quite good. Again, I took it in colour, but converted it to a duotone to give it a richness that was lacking in B&W.

Monday 6 August 2012

Day 65

Weather, weather, weather. Living in Ireland means you are surrounded by weather. And what a lot of it there's been today. I think that this photograph captures the Irish summer so far in a single image. A cloudy sky reflected in a puddle, all facilitated by a brief appearance by the sun.

Sunday 5 August 2012

Day 64

It's getting difficult now to find ways of creatively portraying rain. I thought that a composition similar to yesterday's would work nicely: this is a mini flood pouring over the kerb and onto the path around my apartment.

Saturday 4 August 2012

Day 63

Back in Dublin and the sun is shining. I saw this door in the Powerscourt Townhouse and, put simply, I loved the way the light and shadows hit it. The thing about this blog is that I'm starting to photograph images I like that previously I wouldn't. That means it's already successful.

Friday 3 August 2012

Day 62

Rain rain rain. That's all I seem to see these days. I drove down this side road to catch an image I saw yesterday, and the rain was so hard I couldn't get out of the car. So, instead, I opted for an abstracted view of the road.

Thursday 2 August 2012

Day 61

Looking for a different view of Dingle I ventured down the charmingly named Golf Road. The tide was very high, and this jetty was straining to remain above water. A different view of the town, but sadly with the ubiquitous rain clouds.

Wednesday 1 August 2012

Day 60

This falling down house is just outside Dingle on the road to Ventry, and it is currently in use as a cowshed. I love it's decrepit character. I took the shot in colour, then converted it to black and white in Photoshop. Then I converted to a Duotone using black and orange as the colours before converting it back to RGB in order to save it as a JPEG.