Kilkenny photography
Landscape Photography of Kilkenny, The Gate, Nigel Borrington
Solo Image, Taken at Windgap, Co Kilkenny.
Kilkenny Landscape photography by : Nigel Borrington
Kilkenny Landscape Photography
The Grave of Thomas Darcy, Kells priory, Co.Kilkenny
Thomas Darcy's, Gravestone, Kells Priory, Co Kilkenny : Nigel Borrington
Reads:
“Erected by, Mary Morrissey in memory of her Father THOMAS DARCY, who died March 29th 1889 aged 58 – also her brother JAMES who died MARCH 29th 1912 aged 36 years and her beloved Mother who died Feb 23rd 1913 aged 76 years and her sister who died young.”
All of them lie almost forgotten, even their headstone has fallen. Maybe one day someone will return to place it upright again.
Grave of Thomas Darcy : Nigel Borrington
Kilkenny landscape photography by : Nigel Borrington
Ballydowane Cove, Co.Waterford
Ballydowane Cove, Co.Waterford :Nigel Borrington
An Infra-red photograph of Ballydowane Cove, Co.Waterford.
Using a Nikon D7000 with a Nikon 24-120mm AFD lens with the camera and lens set to a 30 second exposure at F10 with ISO @100.
Irish Landscape photography by Kilkenny Photographer, Nigel Borrington
Over exposure
Brandon Hill Kilkenny, highkey Image : Nigel Borrington
Brandon Hill Kilkenny is some 515m in hight and offers great views of north east Kilkenny.
This image just like the last one from Brandon hill, was taken in order to experiment with creating an image with as much detail removed as possible. This time however I am using over exposure in order to create a high key image. High key is the introduction of as much bright light into the images as possible thus removing unwanted details.
In pure terms this is overexposure, but used with an effect in mind, In this image its to remove any of the landscape detail behind the trees from about halfway up the image. This helps to make the trees the main feature in this photograph.
I am happy to a point with this image and the effect is interesting, I am going to keep working on compositions that better match. I think if the trees could be placed alone the horizon next time it would be an improvement.
Brandon Hill, Co. Kilkenny
brandon hill Kilkenny, Nigel Borrington
Friday 21st of October, The Weather forecast for the weekend was not good so I took the afternoon off and walked to the top of Brandon Hill, Co.Kilkenny.
On the way up it occurred to me just how little detail an image needs, yet it can still be of great interest to the viewer. I am going to keep exploring this but I think its to do with contrast and the simple layers that make-up the picture.
Images of Autumn – Glenpatrick Clonmel
Glen Patrick, Clonmel, Autumn 2011, Nigel Borrington
21st of October and Autumn has taken a full grip of the Irish landscape, Winter is just around the corner.
These images are from Glenpatrick woods, just above Clonmel in Country Tipperary.
Glen Patrick, Clonmel, Autumn 2011, Nigel Borrington
Landscape photography of Ireland by Nigel Borrington
Castlecomer discovery park – Co Kilkenny
castlecomer Discovery park, woodland walks and fishing lakes
Explore Woodlands & Lake fishing in Castlecomer
Castlecomer Discovery Park grounds consist of 30 hectares (80 acres) of mixed woodland on the banks of the River Deen which were once part of the old Wandesforde Estate.
There are 6km of themed woodland walks centred on our two rainbow trout angling lakes.
The three main walking routes are colour coded and signposted and there are also a number of interconnecting paths.
The woodlands also play host to a number of wooden sculptures.
These were created on-site in September 1999 by a number of Irish and International artists working with the natural materials of the area.
Castlecomer Discovery park, Sculpture - Nigel Borrington
Twelve sculptures were created within the woodland, designed to blend in with and complement their surroundings and five of these now remain. They can be found scattered throughout the woodlands.
A stone sculpture located in the parkland beside the river is a replica of a culm grinder, which would have been used to grind coal dust to a fine powder.
Picnic tables are located in the parkland by the river’s edge close to the car park and children’s playground and there are also a number of more secluded picnic spots located along the woodland walks
Ref : Castlecomer Discovery park
Kilkenny landscape photography by, Kilkenny photographer : Nigel Borrington
St John’s Church Kilkenny
St Johns Kilkenny, by kilkenny photogrpher : Nigel Borrington
St John Parish church, Kilkenny.
The orginal Roman Catholic Parish Church of St. John’s was situated in Maudlin Street. This earlier church’s construction commemced in 1840 and was finished by 1847. It was the last in line of several churches or Mass Houses that had existed in Maudlin Street. The stone from this earlier church was later used in the building of the Dr. Collier Wing of St. Kieran’s College that opened in 1956. The site of the new St. John’s was donated by the Marquis of Ormonde. The foundation stone was laid on the 22nd May 1897 and consecrated on the 20th of June 1908.
The original design was by William Hague, on his death, it was completed by William H. Byrne. It was built in the neo-Gothic style popular at the time. Difficulties encountered early on meant that the original spire in the design was omitted to ensure the stability of the building. The large sculptured panel over the front door incorporates an eagle, symbol of St. John the Evangelist.
The church is often known as the O’Loughlin Memorial Church. This commemorates Thomas O’Loughlin of Sandfordscourt. Thomas’ uncle Martin has made his fortune in the Australian gold rush. On inheriting this fortune Thomas carried out his uncle’s wishes to build a church in his native diocese of Ossory. He donated £50,000 towards the construction of St. John’s. He was later made a Papal Count in recognition of his generosity.
Ref : St John parish church
Images by Nigel Borrington, Kilkenny based photographer.
Landscape photography kilkenny
Suir valley from Tullahought - Kilkenny landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
An Images of the Suir Valley form the Viewing tower at Tullahought, Co Kilkenny
Kilkenny landscape photography by kilkenny photographer : Nigel Borrington
Derryhick Lake, Co.Mayo
A moment of peace at Derryhick Lake, Co.Mayo : August 2011
A moment of peace and quite, this image was taken late one evening during a summer stay at Derryhick Lake, Co Mayo.
Kilkenny based Photographer : Nigel Borrington
Irish winter weather, 2011/2012
Phoenix Park, January 2010, Irish winter weather for 2011/2012
From reading the Below report it looks like this winter could be just as much fun as the last two.
Forecaster predicts brutal UK winter weather for 2011-2012
UK-based long range weather forecaster has issued a severe winter weather warning for 2011-2012. The advisory has been issued following one of the coldest winters experienced in Ireland and Britain more than 45 years. James Madden from weather organization Exacta Weather correctly predicted the harsh conditions experienced over the last two years, and is once again forecasting record-breaking snowfall and freezing temperatures during November, December and January. One of Madden’s primary methods of analyzing long range weather conditions is his analysis of solar cycles. Last week Irish Weather Online carried a story from the National Solar Observatory (NSO) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) stating that a missing jet stream, fading spots, and slower activity near the poles are signs that our Sun is heading for a rest period even as it is acting up for the first time in years. Dr. Frank Hill, associate director of the NSO’s Solar Synoptic Network, said of the results: “this could be the last solar maximum we’ll see for a few decades. That would affect everything from space exploration to Earth’s climate. National newspapers, including the Irish Independent and Irish Times, subsequently carried stories warning that a decrease in solar activity will bring Arctic Winters to Ireland and Britain over the coming decades. Commenting on the solar cycle, James Madden said: “Periods of low solar activity at present and what we have seen in recent years influence the Earth’s atmosphere by allowing the stratosphere to cool. This has a somewhat more profound effect over Northern Europe and the UK in terms of colder and snowier winters, due to jet stream patterns that block warm air from reaching us and create more moisture.”
“Although sunspot activity has increased somewhat this year and there has been an increase in solar flare activity, the activity is minuscule in comparison to what it should be like during a solar maximum and in terms of frequency. Periods of low solar activity such as this have future repercussions of low solar activity in future cycles and produce extra cloud cover that reflects sunlight with a cooling influence on Earth. The lack of major sunspots and solar flares clearly indicate a slower conveyor belt within the sun. We are now in a very weak solar maximum and my observations indicate that the next solar cycle will also be weak”, he added. Mr. Madden also said that the dust and ash particles released by the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland and Chile would also contribute to cooling down of global temperatures. He said he expected the 2011-2012 winter to follow a similar pattern in terms of how November and December was in 2010 for the vast majority of the coming winter. “It will be exceptionally cold and snowy with well below average temperatures. I fully expect to see records broken with the highlands of Scotland being once again particularly hard hit. It is therefore vital to start preparing now in terms of high energy bills and raising awareness amongst the most vulnerable and elderly people of society”, Mr. Madden concluded. -IWO
Ref: Forecaster predicts brutal UK winter weather for 2011-2012
The Image is of Phoenix Park – Dublin, in January this year, under about a foot of Snow.
Kilkenny photographer: Nigel Borrington
Callan Friary Green
Callan Friary Green : Kilkenny photographer - Nigel Borrington
Kilkenny Photography by Kilkenny photographer – Nigel Borrington
Autumn Equinox
The 23rd September Equinox Explained
Autumn Equinox : Nigel Borrington
The 2011 September equinox occurs at 09:04 (or 9:04am) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on September 23, 2011. It is also referred to as the autumnal or fall equinox in the northern hemisphere, as well as the spring or vernal equinox in the southern hemisphere (not to be confused with the March equinox). This is due to the seasonal contrasts between both hemispheres throughout the year.
What happens during the September equinox?
The sun crosses the celestial equator and moves southward in the northern hemisphere during the September equinox. The location on the earth where the sun is directly overhead at solar noon is known as the subsolar point. The subsolar point occurs on the equator during the September equinox and March equinox. At that time, the earth’s axis of rotation is perpendicular to the line connecting the centers of the earth and the sun. This is the time when many people believe that the earth experiences 12 hours of day and night.
Images from the Waterford Coast line for the 23rd September 2011
The Celtic year is almost over, Samain is almost here!
Landscape photography by Kilkenny photographer : Nigel Borrington
Kilkenny Photography
Kilkenny photography 17th Sep 2011
So then its back to Kilkenny and today feels very much like the end of the summer season, 10c this evening and the weather was great for some images. Its my first full weekend home after my summer holidays, these images are posted right out of the camera as I felt like I needed to get some local work covered right away!
Good, I am home and I have some new Landscape work within hours!
Kilkenny Landscape photography,
By Nigel Borrington
Grand Canal quay, Dublin
Grand canal quay, Dublin
In the last few years most of my landscape photography has been based on rural images. However during the summer I have spend some time staying in Sandymount, Co.Dublin.
Grand canal quay area, Co.Dublin
Staying in a city again is a blast of fresh air and a welcome break from rural Kilkenny. I lived and worked in London for some 20 years starting in the mid nineteen eighties. In Between visits to Dublin or London it is easy to forgot the visual differences that a city can offer over the countryside.
The main things that stand out to me are the elements of structure and form. Fields and mountains offer a more open and natural combination of structure to the eye. However this structure is less natural than most of us care to remember, you have to search the nation of Ireland very hard these days to find much land that has not been changed by farming of one kind or another.
Standing at Grand canal quay, Dublin however visually sent me back some ten years or so, I would pass buildings like these every day on the way to my office and then on the way home again. The lines, glass and the interaction of the architecture just hits you as a photographer like a visual feast and as I say is a breath of fresh air.
Grand canal theatre, Co Dublin
Many people would think this visual enjoyment to be completely mad, it’s not something that most Irish people experience every day. The idea of modern architecture has yet to reach most of the small towns that make-up the nation, after all the development of Grand canal quay was only started in 2003.
Personally this kind of cityscape is something I miss seeing these days, I do love the open air and space even if most of it is farm land. I feel that the modern city however brings you forward into the new world and the life it has to offer. Standing in the country side to some degree is more like being located in our past.
Grand canal theatre, Co Dublin
A very interesting personal issue raises it head here, why do I find the older cityscapes of Dublin or Kilkenny a little less interesting to photograph?
At some point the older architecture must have been modern and visually interesting; however somehow it’s just not personally as interesting. This is something I should explore and will come back to in another post.
Are we just draw to the new, the modern around us?
Grand canal quay, Co.Dublin
Do we need to be surrounded by the new in order to be driven forward; do we also have to personally respect those new things for the elements they contain?
City or Country
In summary – visually the country side offers a more fixed if not permanent view of the world for those who live in it, the modern city offers new visual challenges. The question that arises from this is, do we as people advance more if we live with new and modern or stand still with the old?
Grand canal quay, Dublin
Grand canal quay, Dublin
Grand canal theater, Dublin
Nigel Borrington
Tall ships race 2011
Waterford tall ships race, 2nd July 2011
Waterford Tall ships race 2011
Image from the Waterford tall ships 2011, event.
Saturday 2nd July 2011 and the Tall Ships have arrived in Waterford Harbour, I arrived in Waterford around 7am and the mist on the water was perfect for some images of the ships. I spent about a hour photographing before the fog lifted, what great conditions perfect!
I will post some more images over the next week.
More details on the Race…
Ref : http://www.waterfordtallshipsrace.ie/the-race/
“The magnificent tall ships will depart Waterford from 7am on Sunday, 3rd July as they head down river to the mouth of the Suir for the start of the Race, with some wonderful vantage points along the coast. Subject to weather conditions, the tall ships will assemble off Dunmore East between 8.30am and 10am.
Most ships will be open to the public from Thursday through to Saturday, from early morning to late evening and admission is free. Over 1,000 crew members from around the world will be welcomed to Waterford and around 100 young people from Ireland will join the ships, as trainee crew members, for the first leg of The Race.
As the ships leave Waterford, they will race around Ireland’s south, west and north coasts to Greenock, Scotland (9th – 12th July). Later, there will be a cruise-in-company from Greenock to Lerwick in the Shetland Isles (21st – 24th July). The second race in the series will then go from Lerwick to Stavanger Norway (28th – 31st July), from where the third and final race will bring the fleet to Halmstad, Sweden from 5th – 8th August.”
Irish Landscape photography by Nigel Borrington
Newtown house, Co Kilkenny
Landscape image of Newtown house, Co Kilkenny
Forgotten spaces, Newtown house, Co.KIlkenny
One of Kilkenny’s Forgotten spaces, Newtown House.
I cannot find that much history on this location, the following web link has records as follows:
http://homepage.eircom.net/~lawekk/HSESN.HTM
Newtown house
NEWTOWN HOUSE, Earlstown parish, Shillelogher barony.
1858 Joseph Greene, Newtown. [Will]
1870 John Newport Greene, Newtown House. [Will]
1873 Newtown House, 6 mile of Kilkenny, Thomastown & Ballyhale, 3 of Callan, 1 of Kells, to let by Lt Col Mollan CB. [Mod 6.9.1873]
1873 Mr Joseph Greene, Newtown House. [Mod 25.10.1873]
1878 Eliza Newport Greene, Newtown. [Will]
1912 Died, Major-General James Benjamin Dennis at Newtown House, Kilkenny, age 95. [St Canices Cathedral grave]
1969 Newtown House now dismantled and a ruins. [O’Kelly]
1993 Newtown, ruins, c1800. 1 mile W of Kells. 18.S.47.44. [KK Dev Plan]
Irish photography series, by kilkenny based photographer : Nigel Borrington
Blanchfieldsland
Blanchfieldsland estate, Co Kilkenny
Located At the N10/M9 junction on the Kilkenny bypass, Blanchfieldsland is the remains of an old estate house. These days the house and its walled gardens sit in the middle of rapeseed fields.
A very peaceful picture!
Kilkenny landscapes, by kilkenny based photographer Nigel Borrington .
Slievenamon
View from the top of Slievenamon, June 2011
Irish photography series, by Kilkenny photographer : Nigel Borrington
Infrared Photography
Two of my most recent post included Infrared images, so I thought I would post an example of the before and after post processing images.
Infrared image before post processing
An IR R72 lens filter was placed over the lens and the images was taken at ISO 100 with a shutter speed of 2 seconds. The Lens aperture was F4. Remember this filter only lets in IR light in the IR wavelength.
Bridge of the River Anner, Co Tipperary
The bridge in the shot is located just south of Slievenamon on the Anner River, I placed my tripod in the middle of the river and kept as much force on it as I could to keep the camera still.
Irish Photography series, by Kilkenny photographer : Nigel Borrington
Slievenamon From the Killemary High Cross
View of Slievenamon from Killamery high Cross
Putting my post on the Killamery High cross in its context, this is the view of slievenamon from the Killamery Church yard.
Kilkenny photography series, by Kilkenny photographer : Nigel Borrington.
Just as a foot note, this shot was taken on mid-summers day 2011 not the 4th of March!
The Killamery High Cross.
Killamery Highcross, Killamery Co.Kilkenny
An Infra-red photograph of the Kilamery grave yard,High cross and old church.
21st June 2011.
Killamery – High Cross
“Situated in an old graveyard in Kilkenny is the High Cross of Killamery one of the western Ossory group of crosses. The cross stands at 3.65 metres high and the west face of the cross bears most of the figure sculpture. The east face pictured right, is decorated with three marigolds on the shaft and has a boss in the centre of the head surrounded by intertwining serpents with an open mouthed dragon above the boss. The cross is known as the Snake-Dragon cross. The cross has a gabled cap-stone and the narrow sides have double mouldings. At the end of the southern arm of the cross there is a panel depicting Noah in the Ark and the end of the northern arm features four scenes centered around John the Baptist. There is also a worn inscription on the base of the western side of the cross which is said to read as ‘OR DO MAELSECHNAILL’ a prayer for Maelsechnaill. Maelsechnaill was the High King of Ireland from 846 to 862.”
The symbol that I find most interesting is that of the sun at the centre of the cross “The sun of God” or the “Sun of the Zodiac”. This sun symbol has five or six arms rotating from its centre, age has made it hard to tell. Five reach the outer edge of the suns circle, the big question though is its placement at the centre of the cross.
I will return after more reading.
Kilkenny landscape photography series, by Kilkenny photographer : Nigel Borrington
Nigel Borrington 
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June 26, 2011 | Categories: Gallery, Landscape, Solo images | Tags: libertas, Nigel Borrington, no comment, vote no | Leave a comment