The Steppes Bar, Monday morning in Callan
Fujifilm X100
The Steppes bar, Callan County Kilkenny
Irish Photography : Nigel Borrington
Nineteen bear barrels for collection, 6am Monday morning and the weekend is clearly over!
Its the weekend so ……..
Clodragh, Waterville, county Kerry
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Its the weekend so, may-be you should find a hideaway for two days …..
Take a walk in the hills…..
Wander down by the lakes…..
Walk along the beaches…..
But most of all relax and clear your mind ……..
Sunrise in the Park
Sunrise ay Callan’s Fair green
Kilkenny Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
This morning’s sunrise was just as wonderful as the sunset yesterday, I took Molly our ten year old Golden Retriever out for a walk on the local green, the sight of the rising sun through the trees was a great start to the day.
Sunsets on a evening walk.
The Sunsets on a evening Walk
Kilkenny Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Out walking last night the sunset was just amazing, it had been raining all day but just as the last light of the day was leaving the clouds broke and the suns rays appeared over the top of the ridge I was walking below.
Just a wonderful end to a very wet day ……
Street Photography : Chester
Street photography on a wet day in Chester
Lets get away from the Kerry mountains and lakes for a little time anyway, lets visit Chester in the North west of England. The junction of Watergate and Bridge street to be exact, the last time I visited this wonderful old Roman town was in August 2012 and it was just like I remembered it as a kid.
The old Tudor black and white four story buildings, the narrow side streets, small shop fronts, café’s and clothes shops. Street entertainers and most of all the rain. It rains a lot in the North west of England. The rain comes down from the mountains of the Peak-district and the Mountains of North Wales.
The Morning We arrived in the town it was very wet as you can see from these images, One of the greatest features of Chester however is the raised and covered walkways running above the street level shops. They run all the way up Watergate street and down Bridge street on both sides, as you can see from the photo on the left/above.
While I waited for the others to come back from different directions and shops, I took some of the images in this post from these walkways. It was a great view point to do some people watching, just snapping away and wondering what all these people had on their minds. Presents maybe or just gifting themselves to something new, things for kids birthdays, a new phone or just a chat and a coffee with a friend.
Just people watching and wondering and recording, isn’t that what street photography is all about ?
Image Gallery – Chester on the streets
Derriana lake – County Kerry
Derriana Lodge, County Kerry
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Derriana Lake, a home for two weeks
On the 31st of July I reached the fine age of 50 and along with friends and family we went to Kerry for two weeks. Staying in a self-catering lodge called Derriana lodge
I would very much like to say thank you to family and friends for making the time spent away just brilliant and also some of you noticed my birthday date from my face-book page, so I would like to say thank you for sending me Happy Birthday messages !
The lodge is just a wonderful place to stay as its located above Derriana Lake, county Kerry, the below images are just some that I took during the two week’s. You have already seen some of the others from my posts during the two weeks away.
I will post more !
Thank you to everyone again for such a great time !
Panoramic views of the Lodge and Lake
Image Gallery of the Lake
Its the weekend so….
Canon G1x
Derriana lake, county Kerry
Landscape photography by Nigel Borrington
It the weekend so, why not find a place to walk a place to relax and a place to stay and watch the sun go down over a lake.
Puffins on Skellig Michael, County Kerry
Images using a Canon G1x
Puffins on Skellig Michael, county Kerry
Irish Wildlife images by Kilkenny based photographer : Nigel Borrington
On a very recent trip to the Skellig islands I got lots of images of the puffins that nest here in large numbers each year, Ireland has two large populations of Puffins, one here and the other the Saltee islands of the Wexford coast line.
When you visit both these locations, it is very hard to be perfectly honest to miss getting great images of these birds. They are very trusting of humans and can get very close to you, so even with a camera like the Canon G1x you can get some very good images. These are just two and I got lots more.
They are a lot smaller than you may think if you have never seen them in the flesh, it’s when you see them in flight that they are at their most impressive.
Cahergall ring fort, County Kerry
All Images : Canon G1x
Irish ring forts, Co.Kerry
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Cahergall Ring fort
Following on from yesterdays post relating to Leacanabuile ring for in county Kerry, the area around the fort also contains more ring forts from the same period in Irish history.
Cahergall ring fort is a massive stone construction, built between 400BC and 500AD, It can be found close to Cahersiveen, County Kerry. Leacanabuaile feels very much more like a dwelling place for people to both live and keep themselves safe from the surrounding Environment. This included raiders and wild animals stealing cattle.
On approaching Cahergall, the scale of this fort is massive in comparison to Leacanabuaile, the walls rise some four to six meters from the ground, perfectly flat and sloping inwards from the ground towards the top. The fort is some twenty five meters wide and the walls some four meter thick.
Inside the fort the inner walls are stepped and consisting of three levels, each of these levels has a series of steps that take you the upper level. The top of the wall is full grassed and walkable. The views of the coastline and landscape around the fort is spectacular from here.
Although this fort is described as a living place, it is very different from other forts around, It has only one internal enclosure and this structure does not look like it could be lived in, at least not in the same way as the buildings within the other forts.
The semi-circular wall’s forming a circle in the center of the fort appear to be very much the focus point from the main walls, almost like this place was a ceremonial theater of some kind. You have to ask why the very different design for this place compared to the other forts and why it was built on such a grand scale. It is very much the focus point for the local community in the same way a church or public building would be today.
As to who these people where, Pat Flannery has some very interesting ideas and his views on Irish per-christian history is very interesting :
http://www.patflannery.com/IrishHistory/TheMilesians.htm
Cahergall Fort has been restored by the OPW and is owned by the Irish State.
Cahergall is well worth a visit if you are in the area and only short distance from Leacanabuaile Stone Fort.
Image Gallery
Leacanabuaile, stone ring Fort, Co.Kerry
All Images : Canon G1x
Irish ring forts, Co.Kerry
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Leacanabuaile, ring Fort
Sitting on a hill side near Cahersiveen in County Kerry is Leacanabuaile Stone Fort, it is considered one of the best examples of an Irish ring fort.
The name translates to ‘Hillside of the Summer Pasturage’.
This is a magical place and just the kind of prehistory site I love to be in and photograph.
This is the Ireland I have been searching for, this site predates the Irish christian period, and is a period in Irish history that is little covered and has been swallowed up by post christian teaching.
On researching this site I came across this link from Pat Flannery:
http://www.patflannery.com/IrishHistory/TheMilesians.htm
Having visited Leacanabuaile ring fort, I feel that there is some credibility to Pats views on Irish history. The site is located only a few fields in from the Kerry coast-line, it is very believable that the area around this ring fort is the landing site for peoples who settled here.
The Milesians
Around 1500 B.C. the Milisians who came from the Middle East and the Ionian sea came to Kerry in Ireland.
The most interesting thing about all these peoples is that they were Ionian people who were seafarers and thrived much, much earlier than the Celts who were totally Continental and not very good seafarers, rather like the Swiss.
The Irish language and customs would seem to support a close affinity with ancient Greece, the Middle East and Persia. Their heroic stories of warriors and chariots for example are very similar.
Spain and Portugal was merely a stepping off point for the sea journey north to Ireland, but scholars have confused the much later Iberian Celts with the Milesians. Apart from the fact that Celts did not occupy any part of Spain or Portugal until long after the Milesians, believing that everybody who came from Spain was Spanish, let alone Celtic, is similar to the belief of many Americans that their Irish ancestors came from County Cork simply because that’s where their ships left from.
Ring forts
Wikipedia description of ring forts : Ring forts
Excavation of Leacanabuaile
An archaeological excavation uncovered iron knives and mill stones suggesting the existence of an early farming community here. Standing atop the outer walls which are up to 3 metres thick, its great to imagine how the fort looked and how people lived in the past.
Image Gallery
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Cahergall – ring fort
The area around Leacanabuaile also contains Cahergall – ring fort, an even more impressive fort and I will post about this very soon.
Old Barracks, Cahersiveen, Co.Kerry
Canon G1 x
Old Barracks,Cahersiveen, Co.Kerry
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Old Barracks,Cahersiveen, Co.Kerry
The Barracks was constructed between 1870 and 1875 and served as the Royal Irish Constabulary Barracks. It has an interesting history which can be further looked at in the information page.
Today it serves as a Heritage Centre for the Iveragh Peninsula. It is home to various exhibitions that relate to the local area, including The Great Southern and Western Railway, The Life and Times of Daniel O’Connell, The Fenin Rising of 1867, The 1916 Rising and Monsignor Hugh O’ Flaherty (The Scarlet Pimpernel).
Valentia Island Lighthouse
Canon G1x
Valentia Island Light house, County Kerry
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Valentia Island, county Kerry is located just west of Cahersiveen, and accessed by bridge from Portmagee or by ferry at Renards point. It is the location of the first communications cable to cross between the USA and Europe back in the 1800’s.
The Lighthouse has been restored and is now open to visitors and it is well worth doing so, I took this photo on a recent trip, just as a boat passed us, between Valentia and Beginish Islands.
A cottage in the Irish Mountains
Canon G1x
Cottage in the Irish landscape
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Sunday evening in the mountains
Mountain views of Country Kerry
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
In My Dreams I was traveling, Probably in my car, through the hills of Kerry, little valleys where everyday life is lived, A voice reproached me for squandering my time on trifles , instead of writing about the essence of life, which is such a so-ness.
Probably all my voyages in dreams have a model in one, very real, by car from cork to Kerry, A boggy road with ruts, always either up or down, stubble fields on the hills in the rain, here and there a spruce grove, then alders by streams,huts,well-sweeps.
Taken from : Czeslaw Milosz
Its the weekend so….
Waterford coastline, above boats strand.
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Its the weekend so why not find a coastline to visit, take a walk along the cliff tops and watch the tide come in on the beach below ……
Have a great weekend …
Fethard on Sea, county Wexford
Fethard on Sea, Wexford
Ireland has many small fishing village’s around its coast-line, Fethard on Sea, Wexford being just one of them. There is nothing special or different about it, compared to any one of the others. Yet when you visit you will feel at home very quickly with this small town and it’s people.
The fishing Harbour is just wonderful and the relaxed feeling of the people who live and work here comes across very quickly.
I took these two images of some of the fishing boats near the harbour last year, on a weekends visit.
Canon G1x
Twelve Months with a Canon G1x (Comments and Gallery)
It is just over a years since I purchased a reconditioned (Canon G1x) from Canon in the Irish republic.
I posted a personal review of the camera at the start of March here: “Canon G1x review“, so to avoid myself doing a repeat here you can read what I felt about the camera back then from this link.
I have taken about four thousand images with this camera in the first year and I have to say I just love it, before I decided to get it I was looking to replace a Contax G2 camera as I was finding it very hard to get film processed without posting it back to the UK. The idea of a compact system camera i.e. one that can work with extra items like a external flash gun, had been something I was very interested in.
For many years compact digital camera’s have not been of a good enough quality to consider purchasing and using if you intend to produce marketable images, I.e. anything from stock photography to commissioned work. The sensors where just to small to produce clean and detailed enough images.
From the moment I took collection of this camera I have to say it’s impressed me, I have most often used Film or Digital slr equipment apart from the Contax G2 that I had for many years. The camera is of good enough size a weight to feel like a good pro level compact and it is built to last that’s for sure. The body is equipped with every feature that an advanced user could need and is identical to a Digital slr.
I was looking for a camera that I could keep in a bag as a backup to my slr’s and this camera has been that, however I have found myself looking at what it is I need to do before I go out and deciding what type of Camera I need with me. I feel that If I have been booked to do some work then a customer needs to see an slr and the results are of a higher quality, but not by much. How and ever for personal work like this blog or books, holidays and events then this camera is perfect. I have produced double A3 wide prints from its images and they look as good as my Nikon pro equipment. It has all the needed quality, is fast to use acts exactly like I need it to and produces great results.
I was looking for a compact camera that didn’t make me feel like I wished I had packed an slr and this Canon camera is it, it has always filled me with confidence and been a pleasure to use.
Canon G1x Gallery
Hay Bales – Black and white
Hay Bales, coolagh, County Kilkenny
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Make Hay while the sun shines
This time of year in county kilkenny brings many great subject to take photographs of, Freshly cut fields of hay are most definitely one of them. June and July have been wonderful warm months and the farmers have been very lucky at last. This Time last year we had weeks of heavy rain and even floods.
I captured these Hay bales before they were rapped, early morning when the mist still sat on the fields, it lifted soon after but I feel it made for some great images.
Duncannon Fort, County Wexford
All images Nikon D700
Duncannon Fort, County Wexford
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Duncannon Fort
If you plan to visit County Wexford, Duncannon fort is well worth a visit, I took the images in this post on a visit earlier in the summer.
The fort was built in 1588 in the expectation of an attack on the area by the Spanish Armada. The Fort is surrounded by a 30 ft high dry moat and has one of the oldest lighthouses of its kind in Ireland. All the major buildings in the Fort surround a parade ground. A walk around the outer ramparts afford spectacular views across the estuary to Co. Waterford and down to Hook Head. Located at a lower level than the moat is the croppy boy cell. After the 1798 rebellion, prisoners were detained here pending transfer to Geneva Barracks for trial and sentencing. An added attraction is the Maritime Museum which charts the maritime history of one of the most dangerous coastlines in Ireland, the Wexford coast.
incorporates a maritime museum, Arts centre, café and craft shop and is open daily to visitors from June to September. Guided tours are available. Duncannon and Fort was the location for the opening scenes of the 2002 remake of ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’, starring Jim Caviezel and Richard Harris.
Image Gallery
Beach sculpture at Tramore, Waterford
All images canon G1 x
Art students working a a beach sculpture, Tramore, County Waterford
Photography by : Nigel Borrington
Dragon Sculpture
A little while back on a visit to Tramore Beach, County Waterford I photographed these art students working on beach sculpture before a competition the following weekend.
It was amazing to watch them for a while as they practised their projects, the images below are of a dragon that they intended to create on the day.
Gallery
Silent Sunday (Sing – A poem).
Sunset over Windgap, County kilkenny
Landscape photography by Nigel Borrington
Sunday and today I just wanted to be silent to be still and think of nothing, so often we hear the sound of voices around us, people who just cannot stop for fear of a gap.
The most I wanted to hear was a song, the song that nature makes on the hillsides.
So a poem for a Sunday evening :
Sing
Today seemed like a day I should be silent.
The silence seemed so absolute, every small sound
reverberating intensely.
My annoying voice would shatter such a perfect peace.
Perhaps a song.
If a song were to break out over this hillside,
causing the grass to move, that might be acceptable.
The silence their audience,
a brilliant song.
I wish it so, but I know my voice has not that song,
and in thinking so I find I’ve lost it altogether.
So I sit back, a supportive member of the audience.
So step up; we’re listening.
We silenced wait for your beautiful lucid song.
Someone to save us from the silence we trapped ourselves in,
afraid to break perfection.
Someone to tell us that imperfection is something that’s okay.
Your song can rescue us.
Your voice can come and let us sing again.
Let your music ring across this silence.
We’ll rise up, a chorus of flaws, and be beautiful.
Set us free.
Sing.
Sophiea · Oct 28, 2011
It’s the weekend so …….
Nikon d700, 18-200mm vr lens, iso 100
Black water river at Youghal, county cork.
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
It’s the weekend so why not find a coast line to walk along, look at the views and relax yourself.
Stay for the evening and watch the sun go down.
Thank you !
Some flowers to say Thank you.
I just wanted to say thank you, since I started posting again on this blog back in February I have got to know some great people, received some wonderful and very welcomed comments and increased the size of my own world. Seeing images and talking to people from almost every corner of the planet.
So thank you to everyone who has been here and I have truly enjoyed seeing your own blogs !
Nigel Borrington
Kerry Sea-eagles project
Sea eagles over Derriana lake, county Kerry
Landscape and nature photography : Nigel Borrington
When we first arrived at the lodge house in Kerry, Zoe the very friendly and helpful women who looks after the house told us about the Kerry sea-eagles project. She also informed us that even though they had not been seen for a couple of weeks, we did stand a great chance of spotting them.
Well one morning while walking Molly our golden retriever down to the banks of the lake, there they were soaring above the water. We watched them for about 15 minutes before they headed back towards the coast at Waterville.
I will never forget the sight of these birds just soaring high above us, well done to the people in the Kerry eagle project for reintroducing these wonderful birds to the Irish landscape.
Kerry Eagles project
Not everyone has welcomed them back to Ireland local Farmers for one, but they need to look at just how much money they bring into Scotland’s Islands since they were re-introduced, almost three million per year just because tourists come to get a view of them, above the hill’s of Mull and Skye.
Eagle on the isle of skye
August 14, 2013 | Categories: Comment, Gallery, Landscape, Nature and Wildlife, Nigel Borrington | Tags: derriana lake, fujifilm X100, irish eagles, Irish photography, irish wildlife, kerry, kerry eagles project, Landscape, Nigel Borrington | 9 Comments