A study of rain drops , macro image gallery
Study of Rain drops
Nature Photography : Nigel Borrington
We have just had a long weekend here in Ireland , with a bank holiday and as expected 🙂 it rained yesterday (Monday) . I had intended to do lots of walking but it was just to windy and wet. So I decided after looking out of the windows for a while to do a photo study of the rain.
These images are just a small selection and include some from lunchtime today as we still have some showers, I used a macro lens for these shots and the above image has also captured the amazing structure of the grass that the rain drops rested themselves on.
God, ” A nasty surprise in a sandwich ” – Poem by James Fenton
God, A Poem –
Poem by James Fenton
A nasty surprise in a sandwich,
A drawing-pin caught in your sock,
The limpest of shakes from a hand which
You’d thought would be firm as a rock,
A serious mistake in a nightie,
A grave disappointment all round
Is all that you’ll get from th’Almighty,
Is all that you’ll get underground.
Oh he said: ‘If you lay off the crumpet
I’ll see you alright in the end.
Just hang on until the last trumpet.
Have faith in me, chum-I’m your friend.’
But if you remind him, he’ll tell you:
‘I’m sorry, I must have been pissed-
Though your name rings a sort of a bell. You
Should have guessed that I do not exist.
‘I didn’t exist at Creation,
I didn’t exist at the Flood,
And I won’t be around for Salvation
To sort out the sheep from the cud-
‘Or whatever the phrase is. The fact is
In soteriological terms
I’m a crude existential malpractice
And you are a diet of worms.
‘You’re a nasty surprise in a sandwich.
You’re a drawing-pin caught in my sock.
You’re the limpest of shakes from a hand which
I’d have thought would be firm as a rock,
‘You’re a serious mistake in a nightie,
You’re a grave disappointment all round-
That’s all you are, ‘ says th’Almighty,
‘And that’s all that you’ll be underground.’
1983
The crows will only grow louder, by Laura Breidenthal. “Outward self-expression is a personal right , your right !!”
The crows will only grow louder.
Irish Landscape and nature photography
Nigel Borrington
I first came across Laura Breidenthal poem some two years ago and posted it the very day after, Its a great poem full of feeling and motivation !
I think we have all face these feeling at some point in our life’s and anyone who is outwardly expressive will have most of all.
I feel this poem relates to those moments we all have when other people, usually through negative and insecure motives try to put you and your creativity down in order to better themselves.!
I want to share this poem because I want it to act as a powerful motivation to keep going despite anyone Else’s opinion, if you do get someone putting you down know this its usually because they feel your creations are better than theirs if they have any and that they don’t have an idea how you do what you do.
Self expression is how your learn and how you get better at what you love !!!!!
If you read this post my advice is not to let anyone affect your personal rights to self expression, instead CROW Loader and BLOG more than ever 🙂 🙂 🙂
Outward self-expression is a personal right , your right !!
You may see a post using this Poem again and again during the year, I love this poem so much !!!!
The crows will only grow louder
By : Laura Breidenthal
There is no celestial place for you to guide my thoughts
Can you not see that I am free from you?
I am a crow perched high in the treetops
You will hear my crowing and you may hate it
But, you cannot take away my voice!
Yet still, as fire oppresses forests of life,
You can abuse my freedom to find your glory
You may discard these words for your love of gods,
And in so doing you may simply ignore
All the cries that I so passionately utter
But my infectious species will guide your mind straight back
To that once so lonely treetop where you merely glanced
And there will be multitudinous, oppressing thoughts
That shall enslave you and bind you unwillingly
The crows will only grow louder when you turn away—
When you pretend to ignore with your remaining, strangling pride
For my voice is a production sent from above
Dispatched to judge you pitilessly for your swelling lies!
And the choirs of ferocious beaks shall open forever
Harmony and dissonance as one
Harvest time, an Image then a Poem by : Darryl Davis
Harvest time. October 2014
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Harvest Time (Bois-De-Villers)
October is the month of knots.
Loose ends find each other,
Life is defined once more.
At least, this was how I saw it,
As a visitor, an urban tourist,
There to play peasant at the
Granite knob on the green knoll,
Which was always well worked into
A sticky brown smear by the time
The first tree had blushed.
For the leathery people who lived there,
It was but another day with no name beyond
That which had been scratched
On the calendar at the beginning of the year.
A single stroke which dotted one line
And indented another in calculated haste.
Indeed, it was just something else to be done.
Just another list to be compiled
Through calluses and brown sweat.
In the fields we pulled our backs bent.
Each individual plant represented six months of sun and rain,
Weeks of drying after picking and
One hard-earned day of food more.
As we lumbered about, marveling
At our clothes covered in clay
And the soreness of our hands,
They were careful to pick up everything
Which had fallen from our floundering wheelbarrow
And studiously counted each load before
Sliding everything down the chipped hole
To the root cellar for stacking and drying.
At the day’s yawn, they scurried around us still,
Too busy warming creaking chairs,
Too tired to much care.
Cramped from thumb to elbow,
Our fingers were crinkled walnut branches,
Knotted and done like the damp bundles
We wouldn’t need to bear a thought of
For another year to come.
County Kilkenny Landscape photography
Callan, County Kilkenny,
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
This image is of the Friary Green, Callan, County Kilkenny on an early Autumn walk.
Dzogchen Beara, Retreat Centre, Beara Peninsula, West Cork
Dzogchen Retreat center, Beara Peninsula” title=”Dzogchen Beara
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
The last time I visited Allihies in West Cork someone Suggested calling into the Dzogchen centre. Its located on the south side of the Beara Peninsula and as you can see, it is located in one of the most peaceful locations in Ireland, I was a great place to produce some landscape images and a fascinating centre to visit.
One day soon I may stay for a little longer?
About
“Dzogchen Beara is a long-term retreat centre for Rigpa, and is registered as a Charitable Trust in Ireland. Sogyal Rinpoche is the spiritual director of Dzogchen Beara.
The Centre is situated on the wild and beautiful Beara Peninsula in south-west Ireland, and sits high on cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean with breathtaking views of sea and sky. Many Tibetan masters, and almost everyone who visits, comment on the extraordinary qualities of Dzogchen Beara – its beautiful natural environment and atmosphere of profound peace which comes from deep spiritual practice. We welcome everyone, from all walks of life and of any faith or none, and offer many different ways to visit Dzogchen Beara. ”
Ref: Dzogchen Beara
A Grain Of Sand, Poem by Robert William Service
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
A Grain Of Sand
Poem by Robert William Service
If starry space no limit knows
And sun succeeds to sun,
There is no reason to suppose
Our earth the only one.
‘Mid countless constellations cast
A million worlds may be,
With each a God to bless or blast
And steer to destiny.
Just think! A million gods or so
To guide each vital stream,
With over all to boss the show
A Deity supreme.
Such magnitudes oppress my mind;
From cosmic space it swings;
So ultimately glad to find
Relief in little things.
For look! Within my hollow hand,
While round the earth careens,
I hold a single grain of sand
And wonder what it means.
Ah! If I had the eyes to see,
And brain to understand,
I think Life’s mystery might be
Solved in this grain of sand.
The Pig, By : Roald Dahl
Pigs at Snowdon National park
Photography : Nigel Borrington
The Pig
Roald Dahl
Once there lived a big
And wonderfully clever pig.
To everybody it was plain
That Piggy had a massive brain.
He worked out sums inside his head,
There was no book he hadn’t read.
He knew what made an airplane fly,
He knew how engines worked and why.
He knew all this, but in the end
One question drove him round the bend:
He simply couldn’t puzzle out
What LIFE was really all about.
What was the reason for his birth?
Why was he placed upon this earth?
His giant brain went round and round.
Alas, no answer could be found.
Till suddenly one wondrous night.
All in a flash he saw the light.
He jumped up like a ballet dancer
And yelled, ‘By gum, I’ve got the answer! ‘
‘They want my bacon slice by slice
‘To sell at a tremendous price!
‘They want my tender juicy chops
‘To put in all the butcher’s shops!
‘They want my pork to make a roast
‘And that’s the part’ll cost the most!
‘They want my sausages in strings!
‘They even want my chitterlings!
‘The butcher’s shop! The carving knife!
‘That is the reason for my life! ‘
Such thoughts as these are not designed
To give a pig great piece of mind.
Next morning, in comes Farmer Bland,
A pail of pigswill in his hand,
And piggy with a mighty roar,
Bashes the farmer to the floor…
Now comes the rather grisly bit
So let’s not make too much of it,
Except that you must understand
That Piggy did eat Farmer Bland,
He ate him up from head to toe,
Chewing the pieces nice and slow.
It took an hour to reach the feet,
Because there was so much to eat,
And when he finished, Pig, of course,
Felt absolutely no remorse.
Slowly he scratched his brainy head
And with a little smile he said,
‘I had a fairly powerful hunch
‘That he might have me for his lunch.
‘And so, because I feared the worst,
‘I thought I’d better eat him first.’
Irish Landscape Photography
A sunset over the lower lakes of Killarney national park.
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
One evening on a visit to Killarney, National park, I was just returning from a long walk after watching the Stag’s in the mountains above the lakes and getting some photographs. I then noticed that the Sun-set was just wonderful over the far hills in the west.
I had about 20 shots left on the card I had, so captured a few images from the grounds of the Hotel.
I have shared some of them before but still enjoy looking at them and remembering this wonderful moment, so here is another one that I wanted to share and post.
Irish photography – Irish rivers
River Nore, Thomastown, County Kilkenny
Digital Infra-red image
Irish landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
County KIlkenny’s rivers
The River Nore, one of the three sisters.
The River Nore, is a 140-kilometre (87 mi) long river located in south-east of Ireland. Along with the River Suir and River Barrow, it is one of the constituent rivers of the group known as the Three Sisters.
The river drains approximately 977 square kilometres (377 sq mi) of Leinster. The river rises in the Devil’s Bit Mountain, North Tipperary. Flowing generally southeast, and then south, before emptying into the Celtic Sea at Waterford Harbour, Waterford.
Kilkenny landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
A January Morn, a Poem by Nelda Hartmann
Kilkenny landscape photography
New years day 2014
Irish Landscape
A January Poem
January Morn
By – Nelda Hartmann
Bare branches of each tree
on this chilly January morn
look so cold so forlorn.
Gray skies dip ever so low
left from yesterday’s storm.
Yet in the heart of each tree
waiting for each who wait to see
new life as warm sun and breeze will blow,
like magic, unlock springs sap to flow,
buds, new leaves, then blooms will grow.”
Stable By Claudia Emerson
A Family Stable in county Kilkenny
Photography : Nigel Borrington
Stable
By Claudia Emerson
One rusty horseshoe hangs on a nail
above the door, still losing its luck,
and a work-collar swings, an empty
old noose. The silence waits, wild to be
broken by hoof beat and heavy
harness slap, will founder but remain;
while, outside, above the stable,
eight, nine, now ten buzzards swing low
in lazy loops, a loose black warp
of patience, bearing the blank sky
like a pall of wind on mourning
wings. But the bones of this place are
long picked clean. Only the hay-rake’s
ribs still rise from the rampant grasses.
Snow on snow, By James Hart
Snow covers the welsh hills
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
It Christmas eve, so I felt it was time for a winters poem and a picture.
Happy Christmas everyone!
Snow on snow
By : James Hart
Snow on snow
Flakes gently falling
Like leaves from a tree
Asking permission
Before they land
On the snowflakes underneath
Each one different
Like leaves on a tree
A white carpet
Pure white till soiled
By children’s shoes
They love its touch
Ooo snowball fights
Snow doesn’t hurt
Snow is soft and forgiving
People hurt
They are selfish and cruel
So let it snow
Snow on snow on
Snow on snow
The Storm Crow Calls. By, John W. McEwers
The storm Crow
Landscape Photography, Nigel Borrington
The Storm Crow Calls
By, John W. McEwers
It sounds like rain
big rain
the kind that hurts
if you tip your face back
and catch drops on your tongue, ill advised.
But whether the rain hits hard or you stay inside
it screams thunder, and you must pay
attention enough to hear
the storm crows call,
telling you you aren’t safe
or strong enough
or big enough
or happy enough
but you dont know better
and you believe him when he calls
and the storm crow gets your goat
in his talons.
Photo restoration
Restoring the past
During last week I was working on some only Family albums and wanted to share this image of two family dogs taken way back in the 1920’s in America.
The first image is of the photograph in its current condition and the second after I have spend some time restoring it to the best possible condition I can achieve while keeping the image looking very natural for its age.
The carpenter’s challenge, By : Joe Bergin
The Carpenters spokeshave
Photography by : Nigel Borrington
CARPENTER’S CHALLENGE
Joe Bergin
First heard of him from Uncle John
Something about a carpenter coming down
From back up in the mountains to work
In the town and on the camps down by the lake
Ate no meat, nothing from the deadly nightshade family
And didn’t drink but once a year
In a three day bacchanal on the summer solstice
I’d seen his work and it was damn good
He was something of a mystery to me
Came down to the lake and that’s where I met him
Working on the family camp
Alight in his eye and doing the work I should’ve done
He had but one good hand and the other
The right one, I believe, had a part of a thumb
And no fingers to speak of really
But Bert could frame an addition or
Build a deck as good and fast as anyone
Had his tricks, though, like the rubber band
Around his wrist to hold the nails his hand
Couldn’t grasp,and many more I’m sure
Tried to find his house once in the back country
To drop off an anti-war t-shirt I knew he’d love
Had the right address but got lost on the
Winding dirt roads and couldn’t find it
Told my brother James about it and he said
“Maybe you weren’t supposed to!”
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.
Images from the road , A west cork Sunrise
Nikon D7000, 35mm, f2.8 Nikon lens
The Sunrises over Reentrusk bay and the Atlantic ocean , West Cork, Ireland
Irish Landscape Photography
Nigel Borrington
One very early Morning on the first of November, I was out walking our dog Molly along the coast road that links Reentrusk and Allihies, west cork. The Sun was just starting to rise in the distance so I took this images along the Atlantic coastline looking to the North.
These early morning coastline walks in the Autumn are wonderful after a cold a fresh night.
Two cleats on the river bank.
A cleat on the River Barrow, County Kilkenny
Nikon D700, 35mm f2.8 lens
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
A cleat on the River Barrow, County Kilkenny
Nikon D700, 35mm f2.8 lens
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
A Fellow Man , A Humanist Poem : Tom White
Nikon D700, 35mm f2.8 lens
The doors of, Santa Maria Degli Angeli, Rome.
Photography by : Nigel Borrington
A Fellow Man
A Humanist Poem : Tom White
I have no prayers or charms of faith
If God there be, He’ll know my weight
If God be nought, I’ll still do good
And practice justice as I should
We should not seek reward to do
What decency expects us to
Should Heaven be a kingly court
I’ll go elsewhere to prove my worth
Don’t get me wrong – I’ve sought belief
But lust for faith brought no relief
Mere logic leaves me where I stand
I am not blest, nor am I damned
I seek to do what good I can
I am your friend, a fellow man.
Beyond the Sea, Poem by Thomas Peacock.
Fujifilm X100
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Beyond the Sea
Thomas Peacock
Beyond the sea, beyond the sea,
My heart is gone, far, far from me;
And ever on its track will flee
My thoughts, my dreams, beyond the sea.
Beyond the sea, beyond the sea,
The swallow wanders fast and free:
Oh, happy bird! were I like thee,
I, too, would fly beyond the sea.
Beyond the sea, beyond the sea,
Are kindly hearts and social glee:
But here for me they may not be;
My heart is gone beyond the sea.
November comes And November goes, a Poem by Elizabeth Coatsworth.
Autumn colours in county Kilkenny,
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
November comes
– Elizabeth Coatsworth
November comes And November goes,
With the last red berries
And the first white snows.
With night coming early,
And dawn coming late,
And ice in the bucket
And frost by the gate.
The fires burn
And the kettles sing,
And earth sinks to rest
Until next spring.
Its the weekend so …..
The Landscape of County Kerry
Reen, Ballinskelligs, Ring of Kerry
Irish Landscape photography ; Nigel Borrington
It’s the weekend so why not take yourself out for the day, find some wonderful landscape to look at.
Sit down for as long as you need to clear your mind and relax ….
Nigel Borrington 
A vote for All the colors of the Rainbow, Ireland’s same-sex marriage referendum. May 22nd 2015
All the colours of the Rainbow
Nigel Borrington
This Friday (May 22nd) Ireland votes in a referendum for same-sex marriage and its a big moment for this country !!!
I don’t usually comment here , if at all about social of political issues , this is my area of personal escape in many ways from these areas !!!
However by posting one of my rainbow images here , I hope I make it very clear what I am thinking !!!
We as a race (HUMAN RACE!!!) need everyone – all ( colors, shapes and sizes ) and this involves everyone being equal and thus having the same rights in all areas of life !!!
Details of the vote
SO Clearly I will be Voting YES!!!! 🙂 🙂
Rainbow Colors
by Sharon MacDonald
A rainbow of colors,
In the light, after rain.
There are seven of them,
And, each one has a name.
Red is the first
Rainbow color in the sky.
Orange is next
Like jack-o-lantern pie.
Yellow is the third,
Lemons come to mind.
Color four is green,
Think of grassy hills to climb
Blue is color five,
Like the water in a lake
The sixth is indigo
Blue-gray blends that you can make.
Violet is the color
Of the last rainbow band.
Violet is flowery;
Like the pedals in your hand.
So, wave your arms above you
Cast your colors high
And, try to make a rainbow
Across a cloudy sky
Free the alternatives of life !!!!!
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May 20, 2015 | Categories: Comment, Landscape, Nature and Wildlife, Solo images | Tags: Civil Marriage, Civil Partnership, Colors of life, Ireland, Irish photography, Nigel Borrington, poems, poetry, rainbow, Rainbow Colors, same-sex marriage, Sharon MacDonald | 13 Comments