Easter (Ostara) Saturday local walk’s – Kilkenny Landscape Gallery
Kilkenny Landscape Images
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
It’s Easter Saturday and the weather is still wonderful here in Kilkenny, It is a great feeling to be able to walk down the country lanes and get some great views of our local landscapes.
The Cattle are all out of the sheds for the summer and colour has returned to the fields.
The below Gallery are some images taken this morning on a walk around our local area.
Kilkenny Landscape Gallery
Monday Morning, The Motte at Slievenamon
The Motte at Slievenamon , County Tipperary
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
The Motte
This morning it felt like Spring for the first time here in Ireland, we have a good chance of a period of sunny days for the entire week and it was a wonderful Morning.
I took the chance to visits our nearest Mountain Slievenamon and walk around its lower paths and fields, one of these fields contains the remains of an old Norman Motte. From the top of which you get some wonderful views of the Landscape around this area.
A Motte is the foundations for a motte-and-bailey castle with consisted of a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. These castles were built across northern Europe from the 10th century onwards, spreading from Normandy and Anjou in France, into the Holy Roman Empire in the 11th century. The Normans introduced the design into England and Wales following their invasion in 1066. Motte-and-bailey castles were adopted in Scotland and Ireland.
This is a location I will return to many times this year just to capture how the seasons effect the look of this wonderful setting.
Gallery
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, Poem By : Robert Frost
Boherboy woods and landscape, Cloneen. County Tipperary
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
By Robert Frost
Who’s woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
.
My horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
.
And miles to go before I sleep.
And me with a promises to keep!
Seeing into the light , By : Diana van den Berg
The Light through the clouds, Suir river valley , Tipperary
Irish landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Seeing the Morning light
By : Diana van den Berg
Dreaming into the light
swimming
flying
embracing
touching
the spreading awareness
warm light
light
losing self in the light
light
finding the harmony of balance
in namaste and ubuntu
and the messages of the clouds
in the light
light
spreading
amongst tall sunpainted autumn grasses
inhaling the unconscious grace
of a giraffe melting into
the late afternoon gold
of light caressing the shadows
and drawing them
into the light
light light…
Yesterday’s Sun and wind, a poem for the January sun.
A view of Slievemamon, county Tipperary
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Yesterday’s Sun and wind
By : Ann Copland
She is the wind swift and pure
so rare to find her like this, still innocent
above a sunny afternoon far into tomorrow.
.
The wind begins three Counties away
to cool the day, relieve us from the warming sun
Were you not sure she is real?
One day, you may see her, if you look
very close, spheres carry new molecules
Her breath is ice, you’ll feel it early maybe
just a brief gust before the temperatures drop
.
Welcome on a January afternoon
by the time we see a branch sway
or a hat tumble, the freezing breath
has warmed to a gentle winter breeze
So much effort, the team who make nature
I’ll let the wind breathe
The last daylight, New Years Eve 2013 .
New Years eve 2013, sunsets over Slievenamon, county Tipperary
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Happy New year everyone, I hope you all have a wonderful 2014 !!!
Nigel
The last Daylight of New Years even 2013
2013, a year on the Mountain .
Images of slievenamon 2013
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
During 2013 my post have covered many different locations and landscapes around Ireland and Europe, yet selecting the location for one of my final post of the year was very simple for me.
The landscape around the mountain of Slievenamon, County Tipperary is one of the most scenic in the south east of Ireland, it is very local to myself and I have taken many images during 2013 here.
So for my final Gallery I want to share some images of this wonderful location and I look forward to sharing much more in 2014.
Happy new year to everyone !!!
Slievenamon 2013 – Gallery
Slievenamon
Early morning view of Slievenamon, county Tipperary
Irish Landscape photography, Nigel Borrington
Li Po – Alone Looking at The Mountain
All the birds have flown up and gone;
lonely clouds float leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other –
Only the mountain and I.
The old Mountains , Friday Phoetry.
Fujufilm X100
Images from Slievenamon, Tipperary
Irish Landscape Photograhy : Nigel Borrington
The Old Mountains
by: Edwin Curran
The old mountains are tall, silent men
Standing with folded arms, looking over the world,
Lonesome and lofty in their manner.
.
They have seen empires come and go,
Civilizations rise and fall,
Stars break on their breasts.
.
They are full of history like great books,
And are merely the stone monuments that the kindly God
Built for the human race, to mark its grave tomorrow.
————————-
Thank you to Elen Grey !, for suggesting I use the word “Phoetry” in my Poetry and Photography posts 🙂 🙂
Winter Chills : Gallary and Poem by Ellen Ni Bheachain
Winter Chills
By : Ellen Ni Bheachain
Winter hills of white with silverish gleam,
Of winter season and colors that reflect,
The shades of Gray and silver,
From the suns reflection on natures winter,
Bleak and empty yet in a solitude way,
Resting or sleeping,
Hibernating and regenerated,
Till spring arrives,
Bringing back its florishing blooms,
.
What is pretty to watch is cold to indure,
The chills of winter from watching it indoors,
For the nature trial of winter will,
Chill and freeze,
And numb you till,
Your lips turn color,
The freeze and chills of real winter,
And then as you warm up,
And your nose and finger tips tingle,
And looking around you on natures trails,
Will be the reminding of the hiding buds and roots,
Laying buried beneath the snows of winter,
.
Reminding you,
That too in the spring,
Like the birds will return,
Bringing color and birth back into the light,
With the sounds of nature,
Becoming more musical than winter,
As the birds and the bees,
And all that return or hibernate,
All wake up to wake us up,
To the spring,
When winter chills and freezes thaw,
Taking away the winter chills,
By bringing in the springtime breeze.
Sunrise from the Mountains, By : Anna Katherine Green (1846-1935)
Sigma x3 slr camera, 18-50mm f3.5 – f4.5 lens
Slievenamon, county Tipperary
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Sunrise from the Mountains, By : Anna Katherine Green (1846-1935)
Hung thick with jets of burning gold, the sky
Crowns with its glorious dome the sleeping earth,
Illuminating hill and vale. O’erhead,
The nebulous splendor of the milky way
Stretches afar; while, crowding up the heavens,
The planets worship ‘fore the thrones of God,
Casting their crowns of gold beneath His feet.
It is a scene refulgent! and the very stars
Tremble above, as though the voice divine
Reverberated through the dread expanse.
But soft! a change!
A timid creeping up of gray in east–
A loss of stars on the horizon’s verge–
Gray fades to pearl and spreads up zenithward,
The while a wind runs low from hill to hill,
As if to stir the birds awake, rouse up
The nodding trees, and draw off silence like
A garment from the drowsy earth. The heavens
Are full of points of light that go and come
And go, and leave a tender ashy sky.
The pearl has pushed its way to north and south,
Save where a line spun ‘tween two peaks at east,
Gleams like a cobweb silvered by the sun.
It grows–a gilded cable binding hill
To hill! it widens to a dazzling belt
Half circling earth, then stretches up on high–
A golden cloth laid down ‘fore kingly feet.
Thus spreads the light upon the heavens above,
While earth hails each advancing step, and lifts
Clear into view her rich empurpled hills,
To keep at even beauty with the sky.
The neutral tints are deeply saffroned now;
In streaks, auroral beams of colored light
Shoot up and play about the long straight clouds
And flood the earth in seas of crimson. Ah,
A thrill of light in serpentine, quick waves,
A stooping of the eager clouds, and lo,
Majestic, lordly, blinding bright, the sun
Spans the horizon with its rim of fire!
Slievenamon – Walking to the top.
Nikon D7000, 18-200mm lens
The Walk up Slievenamon, County Tipperary
Irish landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
The mountain of Slievenamon is about 15km from home, in Tipperary and just across the county border from county Kilkenny. Its Elevation is 721 meters and on a clear day offers good views of a large part of the south east of Ireland, including down to Hook-head on the Wexford coastline.
The pictures below are taken on a walk up to the top two weekends ago, it was a very foggy Sunday morning at the top as you can see. The mist only added to the wonderful feeling of being up there even though none of the best views where possible.
The Walk up Slievenamon a Gallery
Molly, the mountain girl….
Nikon d700
Molly on Slievenamon, County Tipperary
Irish landscape photography
Molly is our 10 year old golden retriever she has been on many walks on the Irish mountains, I just love her along-side me while walking and look at the views.
She will often, take a rest to look at the views just in the same way I will, here she is talking a seat at the foot of Slievenamon, county Tipperary, after the long walk to top.
October In The Mountains
Slievenamon, a mountain in october
irish landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
October In The Mountains
by : Aletha Rappaport
The North Wind does blow,
His chilly fingers on my face
Tell me it is time to go –
To leave our mountain home
And seek a warmer clime
Before ice forms on the lake.
How can winter be so close?
The woods are alive with color –
.
Yellow, yellow and more yellows
Of every shade and hue –
Reds and orange, browns and russet too.
Autumn having her last fling
Before submitting to Winter’s icy sting.
Sunday evenings – without angels, a poem by – Mario Rossi
Sigma sd15, 15-30mm lens, iso 50
A view of slievenamon, from the red gate
Landscape images from : Nigel Borrington
Sunday evening and the last light of the weekend is fading once more, I love this time of the week. Everything that happened last week is in the past and we have a new start for our week ahead.
So then a Poem :
Evening Without Angels
—Mario Rossi
the great interests of man: air and light,
the joy of having a body, the voluptuousness
of looking.
Why seraphim are arranged
Above the trees?
Air is air,
Its vacancy glitters round us everywhere.
Its sounds are not angelic syllables
But our unfashioned spirits realized
More sharply in more furious selves.
And light
That fosters seraphim and is to them
Coiffeur of haloes, fecund jeweller—
Was the sun concoct for angels or for men?
Sad men made angels of the sun, and of
The moon they made their own attendant ghosts,
Which led them back to angels, after death.
Let this be clear that we are men of sun
And men of day and never of pointed night,
Men that repeat antiquest sounds of air
In an accord of repetitions. Yet,
If we repeat, it is because the wind
Encircling us, speaks always with our speech.
Light, too, encrusts us making visible
The motions of the mind and giving form
To moodiest nothings, as, desire for day
Accomplished in the immensely flashing East,
Desire for rest, in that descending sea
Of dark, which in its very darkening
Is rest and silence spreading into sleep.
…Evening, when the measure skips a beat
And then another, one by one, and all
To a seething minor swiftly modulate.
Bare night is best. Bare earth is best. Bare, bare,
Except for our own houses, huddled low
Beneath the arches and their spangled air,
Beneath the rhapsodies of fire and fire,
Where the voice that is in us makes a true response,
Where the voice that is great within us rises up,
As we stand gazing at the rounded moon.
Sigma sd15, 15-30mm lens, iso 50
A view of slievenamon, from the red gate
Landscape images from : Nigel Borrington
Sigma sd15, 15-30mm lens, iso 50
The red gate with a view of Slievenamon
Landscape images from : Nigel Borrington
Slievenamon – A Mystery on the mountain
Slievenamon, county Tipperary
Landscape photography, Nigel Borrington
Slievenamon the mountain is covered with different type of megalithic remains going back many thousands of years and a lot of these areas remain undocumented.
It was in spring 2012 however while I was walking up the path that rises to the top of the mountain, about half way up I noticed this new monument. I have passed it a few time since and its a bit of a mystery.
If anyone can help with the symbols it would be very much welcomed….
Last Night as I was sleeping
Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: Along which secret aqueduct,
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never drunk?
Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.
Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that a fiery sun was giving
light inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt
warmth as from a hearth,
and sun because it gave light
and brought tears to my eyes.
Last night as I slept,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that it was life I had
here inside my heart.
Antonio Machado
Slievenamon
Canon G1x
Landscape photography by : Nigel Borrington
Rising as a huge heathery dome amid gentle green countryside, Slievenamon’s profile naturally attracts the eye. This is an easy mountainwith with a broad and clear track leading all the way to the summit cairn.
On fine days there are extensive views, taking in all the best walking areas in the South East of Ireland.
Slievenamon is a mountain of history and mystery of lore and legends. Its name means the ‘Mountain of the Women’ and the story is told how all the fairest women raced to the top to claim the hand of the warrior, Fionn Mac Cumhail. Fionn secretly fancied Grainne, the daughter of the High King of Ireland, so he advised her how to win the race!
Although it looks like a solitary height, Slievenamon is surrounded by a series of lower heathery humps. Some of these, like the main summit, are crowned by ancient burial Cairns. The highest cairn is said to mark the entrance to the mysterious Celtic underworld.
The Celtic Underworld … and the Otherworld
According to the Celtic myths, the Celtic deities and the fairy folk lived in the spiritual domain that was generally called the “Otherworld”. These domains were usually hidden from mortal eyes, though not always. Sometimes, human beings are admitted, sometimes against their will or better judgement.
In Irish myths, the Otherworld could be an island, such as Glastonbury, or a dun or hill-fort. Sometimes, the Otherworld was called Sidhe, the fairy hill-fort (dun) or palace.
In the Welsh myths, the Otherworld was often called Annwfn or Annwyn, and the fort or castle was usually known as Caer.
The Underworld is what many people today might call the afterlife, referring to the spiritual realm in which newly dead spirits and souls go. Sometimes the underworld is identified as being like the Christian Hell because Hell is sometimes pictured as being under the Earth. The Underworld is possibly linked to the Earth because that is where the body goes after death.
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
Slievenamon
View from the top of Slievenamon, June 2011
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!
Carraigmoclear
Carraigmoclear – Slievenamon
Carraigmoclear - Slievenamon
Nikon D300, 10mm lens
Carraigmoclear is located in the foot hills of Slievenamon, Co.Tipperary, the location of a 1798 battle between the united Irishman and the British forces located at Kilcash castle. Today it offers one of the most peaceful locations you could wish for, offering wonderful views of the south Kilkenny and Tipperary borders.
This is one of the best location to get a full view of Slievenamon, a Landscape photographers dream.
The above image is taken using a 10mm wide angle lens, the resulting images perspective is then corrected using photo-shop. I feel that the results, showing a 180deg view of Slievenamon area I hope should inspire you to walk this hill.
Slievenamon
Sunsets on Slievenamon May 2011
Slievenamon sunset April 2011
Nikon D700, 70-200 Af-ed f2.8 Vr lens.
Nigel Borrington 
If they can do this – You can achieve anything .
Nikon D700, 50mm lens, iso 200
Two men walking the summit of Slievenamon, Co Tipperary
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Sometimes in life you cannot help but stop in order to admire the abilities that some people hold and have inside themselves.
Last week I came across two of those people and one of those moments. A couple of weeks ago I posted about slievenamon a local mountain that is located about 8km from our home, I wanted to produce a series of posts over time that cover the area of this mountain. I started this project by doing a walk to the top during the week and after sitting down for a little rest got out my camera to photograph the views below.
I had already quickly said hello to two other walkers sitting down on the cairn at the top but at that stage was just happy to find my own spot and get some energy back. As I started getting some images the two of them passed by me again and we started talking about the weather and the views, it was then for the first time I noticed that one of the walkers was blind and the other his friend was attached to him with a cord.
The walk up Slievenamon takes about two hours and uses a strait path up from the village of Killcash below, it’s not a simple walk its rocky and you have to keep your eyes open every step.
For every step these two took the leader had to pass on information about the conditions, rocky or if the ground was level, how close to the edge of the path they stood and if the ground was solid or likely to move under foot. A lot of the path can slip under foot as its just loose stone.
I don’t think I need to say to much about how this experience made me stop and think, Its just one of those moments you will never forget and I wanted to share it here as I think it could inspire anyone who thinks they cannot do something – We can do anything if we truly want to !!!
Gallery of images
Share this:
June 26, 2013 | Categories: Comment, Gallery, Landscape, Slievenamon | Tags: hill walking, Inspiration, Ireland, irish mountains, Irish photography, Landscape, Nigel Borrington, personal development, Slievenamon, Tipperary | 10 Comments