Day 364

Just over a year ago I dug and planted the grim and mouldy piece of wasteland beside our apartment building. Now it's grown and matured, and it's a wilderness for the adventurous stormtrooper. I must admit to a feeling of pride each time I pass it.

Day 363

I love my macro lens. I'm not ashamed of that: I think it's the greatest thing I've ever bought. A smattering of wild flowers has appearded on the grass I sowed beside our building, and thanks to said macro lens I can get right inside this buttercup.

Day 95

A different road out of town this evening, and I found an overgrown graveyard. As previously noted, I love these small, overgrown graveyards. This angel has seen better days, but the texture from the mould and decay is amazing, and whilst it looked great in black and white, I think it's better in colour.

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.

Day 53

I took a trip north again this evening, and discovered a little ruin of a church. The ruin itself was pretty unremarkable, but just off it were these steps down to a well (undoubtedly a holy well). I love the overgrown nature of them, and the texture of the stone, all accentuated by the rather overcast light, the kind of light that makes everything look that bit lusher.

Day 51

It's been a wet miserable day in Dingle today. On leaving work I was confronted with a cloud that rolled over the hills like cotton wool and lay heavily on the slopes. In search of a good shot I ended up on a small back road, and then around the next corner I saw this tractor, the only colour in an otherwise flat landscape. A little touching up in post, a bit of texture in the cloud, that's all I added. The rest is as rendered by nature.

Day 46

Rain, sun, rain, sun. The weather today is turning on a sixpence. I walked across the road in the sunshine, and then spent ten minutes under a tree sheltering from the rain. The only positive was the dramatic sky, and as stated before I am a sucker for a dramatic sky.

Day 41

A beautiful day in Dingle today, and I didn't have to go far to get this image: about a hundred yards up to road in fact. Some work done in post, but not much: All the colour was already there, so it just needed a burn here and a dodge there. I'm pleased with this!

Day 37

For two years the patch of wasteground beside my apartment building was just that: waste. It was ignored for years; the only thing that grew on it was a green mould that gave the surface a sickly pallor. It was a constant reminder of the situation our development was in: unfinished, abandoned, and bereft of anyone taking some responsibility. Three months ago I finally had enough of it: it annoyed me every time I passed it, and so I decided that it was time to something about it. I bought a garden fork and a rake. I dug the whole area. I picked stones until my back ached. I bought compost and grass seed. I picked ever more stones. Soon there were green shoots, tiny blades of grass poking through the surface. Every time I passed there was more colour, and then, today.

Today.

Today, baby had her first haircut.

Day 31

A trip through the hills today meant that I had a choice of shots for this post, but there's a problem. It is a flat wet day, and in the better shots the sky is just textureless and white. So, in search of blue skies I elected to "fix it in post". I converted this from a rather drab colour, and I think the B&W with the tint adds a lot to it as an image.

*In the interest of full disclosure, I posted this, and then thought it could be a lot better, so I had another go at it. This is the second attempt, and I think it's an improvement.

Day 26

Day off today, and after a few hours of garden work I was feeling quite agrarian, so I hopped the fence of the site behind the apartment and walked as far as the farm beyond. After negotiating another fence, and being brave about the big hole it left in my leg, I got to the wheat field. Very pleased about the result; sometimes you just gotta push the chroma.

Day 21

Oh what a day, and it's only mid afternoon. Starting with the four hours sleep, rolling quickly into leaving my wife to the airport for the start of her month long trip away, it peaked with a drubbing for the Irish rugby team at the hands of New Zealand. A day in need of whimsy if ever there was one, and I was inspired when I saw this fellow on the shelf. He was a gift from two friends of mine, Aoife and Annie, a few years back, and to this day I'm unsure what about him made them think of me.........

(as a bonus feelgood factor, I actually planted that grass a few weeks back in an attempt to reclaim the wasteland beside my apartment. So far it's looking promising!)