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The river is Rising

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The River Lingaun, County Kilkenny
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington

Yesterday we had the storm of the century here in County KIlkenny, winds over 160kmph and a months rain , We lost power in the house and still have no water supply. We are not alone, there are some 190,000 homes in the country without electric or a clean Water supply.

The county has suffered much damage to peoples Houses and land and the rivers are on the rise again.

It was the eighth Storm this winter and in as many weeks, The First I can remember to receive a name ( Storm Darwin ), he or she will be remembered for many years to come.

The rising river Lingaun : Gallery

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Posted by  |  February 13, 2014 | Categories: Comment, events photography, Gallery, Irish rivers, Landscape, Nature and Wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

Life between the Storms .

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Life between the Storms

Today here in Ireland we are experiencing our eighth storm in eight weeks, with winds up to 160 kmph, the rivers are still flooded and we are are due two more storms before the weekend.

Yet life goes on, I took these two images of people going about their lives one getting his new paper and the other walking his dog.

As always life goes on but when its raining and the weather is very bad the doors get shut the fire is set, the newspaper is read and the dog is in his basket….

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Posted by  |  February 12, 2014 | Categories: dogs, Gallery, Landscape, street photography | Tags: , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

After the storms , Poem By : Boris Pasternak

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Storm clouds over County Kilkenny
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington

After The Storm

By : Boris Pasternak

The air is full of after-thunder freshness,
And everything rejoices and revives.
With the whole outburst of its purple clusters
The lilac drinks the air of paradise.

The gutters overflow; the change of weather
Makes all you see appear alive and new.
Meanwhile the shades of sky are growing lighter,
Beyond the blackest cloud the height is blue.

An artist’s hand, with mastery still greater
Wipes dirt and dust off objects in his path.
Reality and life, the past and present,
Emerge transformed out of his colour-bath.

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The memory of over half a lifetime
Like swiftly passing thunder dies away.
The century is no more under wardship:
High time to let the future have its say.

It is not revolutions and upheavals
That clear the road to new and better days,
But revelations, lavishness and torments
Of someone’s soul, inspired and ablaze.

Posted by  |  February 12, 2014 | Categories: Gallery, Kilkenny Landscape images, kilkenny photography, Landscape, Poetry Gallery | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

I have come down from the Mountain, Poem by : Donald J Bennett

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Comeragh Mountains, County Waterford
Irish landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington

I have come down from the mountain

By : Donald J Bennett

I have come down from the mountain
The mountain of my youthful days
I have stumbled along the rock strewn path
The path of life that leads downward towards my final days
The long journey has rendered me bruised and battered
But I have found a trove of treasure along the way
The love of my family, and my friends are the treasures
These are the treasures that I hold so dear each and every day

This Morning I shared a post talking about an old lens ( A Tamrom 24mm f2.5 lens) I have owned for many years, the images here are taken very recently using this lens.

Down from the Mountain a Gallery

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Posted by  |  February 11, 2014 | Categories: Gallery, irish woodlands, Landscape | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Two canal locks and one old Tamron 24mm lens.

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Tamron Adaptall 24mm f2.5 lens

Two Locks one lens many years of enjoyment

For some 40 years I have been taking Landscape photographs in both the UK and Ireland, one of the very first lenses I purchased when I first got a Nikon 35mm film SLR, was this 24mm F2.5 Tamron, wide angle Lens, purchased in 1987.

The images below are from a visit I made to Top side lock, near Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire in the south of England a wonderful old lock with a lock keepers house. The second image is from Ballyellin lower lock on the river Barrow, County Carlow , Ireland, taken in January this year.

Sometime keeping a hold onto equipment that you like using and that work very well, is far more important that searching for the new. Endlessly upgrading equipment has become the norm, we live in an age of none stop upgrades yet now and again it is still possible to keep a hold of the old and trusted things.

This lens works very well and in many cases even better now that its used with a digital camera body.

It is a manual focus lens yet because it contains all the focus and aperture details on the lens barrel it is very easy to use, you can set it up for what is known as Hyper-focus and shoot all day like this.

I just love using this lens and get a real kick from the fact it still works so well.

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Tarmon 24mm f2.5, Nikon Manual exposure SLR film camera

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Tarmon 24mm f2.5, Nikon Digital SLR camera

Top side lock , Grand union Canal, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

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Ballyellin Lower lock, County Carlow, Ireland

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Posted by  |  February 11, 2014 | Categories: Camera reviews, Gallery, Landscape, Travel Locations | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Following the light .

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Following the suns light through the trees
Castlemorris Woodlands , County KIlkenny
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington

During the Winter months the Suns is sitting low in the sky for most of the day, this is a feature that I personally like a lot when taking images. Long shadows form on the landscape from woodlands and trees , hedge rows form deep and dark areas in your images during the morning and long into the afternoon.

What about the Sun in the deepness of the forests, its light finds it hard to penetrate far into the woodlands and onto forest floors.

If you get as deep into the woods as you can and find an thinned area of old tall trees however the light that does get through can be used to wonderful effect, in the images below I did my best to capture the light that was getting through, making use of some moss covered rocked and the trunks of the trees themselves.

One thing I noticed was that if you position the sun right behind a tree , the light wraps its way around both sides of the trees in front of you, forming an outline of sun light.

I also very much like placing the sun on the very edge of the image or just outside it and using lens flare to bring a beam of light on to some of the rocks and plants.

Following the suns light through the trees: Gallery

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Posted by  |  February 10, 2014 | Categories: Gallery, irish woodlands, Kilkenny Landscape images, kilkenny photography, Landscape, Nature and Wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Monday mornings in the Mist

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Mist on a Monday Morning
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington

Misty Monday Mornings.

Some Monday Mornings start full of purpose, the weekend has revived your spirits and you have a clear focus of what your aims are for the week. Other Monday mornings you just don’t know what your doing, you have aims but they just are not in focus sitting in a misty haze and you just cannot reach out to grab them.

This Monday morning, well ?

It was a wonderful Morning for a walk to clear my mind and try to find some direction, the mist was down on the local fields again and a blue and very peaceful haze just floated about the trees.

After Lunch time I hope the mist will lift ….. ?

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Posted by  |  February 10, 2014 | Categories: Comment, Gallery, Kilkenny Landscape images, kilkenny photography, Landscape | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

Borris Viaduct, County Carlow

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Borris Viaduct, Co Carlow, Ireland
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington

In January I visited the Viaduct in Borris, County Carlow.

The Viaduct is Located just north of the town and was an amazing construction for its day, back in the 1800’s this construction help link north county Carlow to county Wexford for both passenger transport and goods – daily , until 1947.

History

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On the 1st January 1855 the first ground was cut near Borris, County Carlow, for what was to be the Bagenalstown County Carlow to Wexford, Railway.

However with expensive construction costs and difficult terrain the company only ever made it half way to Ballywilliam in county Wexford, shortly after going bankrupt with debts of £100,000.

After a period of failed ownerships the railway was sold for £24,000 by the board of works to GS&WR in 1876. Passenger services ceased on the 2nd Febuary 1931, a goods service remaining until 27th January 1947, CIE finally closed the line on the 1st January 1963, 108 years to the day after the first ground was cut near Borris.

Visiting the Location

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The day I visited here it was very damp and cold as you can see in the images.

The Viaduct is located on a farm and is used as a public foot-path, access is through the grounds of a local school. The path up to the level that the rail line would have been on is steep but easy to walk up.

The first thing you notice is that the walls each side of the Viaduct and the path are very low and are not fenced, so you feel that you want to walk down the centre of the path. It is a good few hundred meters to the end of the Viaduct itself but the walk is well worth it as the views of County Carlow from here are spectacular !!

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Once you reach the end of the path the old rail line cuts through some trees, there are picnic areas offering some great views of the county, at the end of this wooded part of the walk is a small bridge with a well kept garden and another picnic area.

You get the feeling that this is a much love and well kept area for the town and a pleasure to visit.

If you are in county Carlow you simply have to pay it a visit.

Location Gallery

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Posted by  |  February 7, 2014 | Categories: Gallery, Landscape, Travel Locations | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Fleeting bird, A poem – a moment in flight.

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Capturing a birds flight.
Wildlife Photography : Nigel Borrington

Fleeting bird

Fleeting bird
With wingspan so large
Fleeting
Fleeting bird

I did not see you
until you got up to go
Fleeting bird
In the night
You flapped your wings
And went out of sight

I did not know you were there
Right in front of me
This whole time
Seeming to be watching

Waiting
But you withstood your time
And gave up
Before I could even
Glance up

Then flew away
with nothing
But the view
Of a great opportunity
Fleeting
Flying away

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Posted by  |  February 6, 2014 | Categories: Gallery, Nature and Wildlife, Poetry Gallery | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

When the river floods

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The River Suir, Kilsheelan, County Tipperary
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington

The power and energy of a flowing river has to be one of the wonders of nature, if you live anywhere near a river you will know very well the seasonal effects that wet and dry weather can bring to the environment of the river banks.

We have had about two months of very wet weather here In Ireland and it has created some of the worst floods for over a hundred years, in many towns along Ireland’s river banks.

These images, I feel show the effects and power of the flooding river Suir, County Tipperary. The river level here is about eight foot higher than its normal level and none of the river banks can be walked along. Two the pictures show the posts of some steps that you walk through to get to the banks of the river, they are fully submerged under about 4 feet of water.

I took these images on Monday of this week, since then the water level is even higher.

The river Suir in flood : Gallery

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Posted by  |  February 5, 2014 | Categories: Gallery, Irish rivers, Landscape, Nature and Wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments