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 ……
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.
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.
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
An evening in County Kilkenny, through its trees
All images using – Nikon D200, Mamiya sekor n 45mm f2.8 lens, iso 100
County kilkenny, through its trees
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
A sense of Kilkenny
Getting out and about in county Kilkenny on these summer days is just wonderful, this Gallery of images was from an evenings walk through some local country lanes. I hope they get across a sense of the county and its wonderful landscape on an evening in July.
Nigel
Kilkenny through its trees – A Gallery
Kilkenny photography – a farming gallery
All images using a Nikon D7000, 35mm focus length, iso 200
Images of framing in county Kilkenny
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
By far the biggest industry in county Kilkenny is farming, The main land use is grassland, dairy farming and tillage farming especially around Kilkenny City and in the fertile central plain of the Nore Valley. Conifer forests are found on the upland areas.
Last year I set out to produce a collection of farming images and have worked with some of the counties Farmers on this. The images below are just some of the pictures so far, its a pleasure to be working out in the fields and watches the work being carried out.
Images from the farm – Gallery
Images for a summers day – Water Lilies
Fujifilm X100, 35mm lens, iso L100
Water Lilies at the butler house gardens, county kilkenny
Irish landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Two more images to help cool down a little on what is going to be a very warm day here in Kilkenny, these images are taken in the Butler house gardens, county kilkenny. I will post fully at some point very soon on this wonderful location but just for now here are these very cooling water lilies.
Fujifilm X100, 35mm lens, iso L100
Water Lilies at the butler house gardens, county kilkenny
Irish landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
I walked through an ancient path, woodland poems
Fujifilm x100, 35mm focus length, iso 800
Kilkenny woodlands
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
A woodland walk
I walked through ancient paths,
where hidden mysteries lay
beneath our feet
and a choir of birds sing out loud,
with jewels dancing in the air.
Scrunching feet walk along
the twisting paths which
zigzag their way through
tall giants. Giants who
stand next to us.
While stepping on the
bones of the past,
sweet smells turn orange to red.
The giants form a roof with windows.
Sheltering the emerald flowers that
dapple the green carpet.
Spider webs shimmer like silver silk
as they whisper their secrets.
I walked those ancient paths.
………………………
A Woodland Walk
I took a walk today,
where the trees like giants,
held up the sky.
The breeze tickled the leaves
Many people have walked
on these ancient paths,
Discovering hidden secrets,
Foxes hiding in the shadows,
birds calling from the tree tops.
I took a walk today
and passed a trickling stream,
Where leaves crunched underfoot.
Water ran over boulders,
as it tumbled down the bank.
In the dappled shade,
jewel like light hits the ground.
Flies hang in the air, dancing.
What a wonderful walk!
Kilkenny Slate Quarries
All images using a Sigma SD15, 15-30mm f3.5-4.5 lens, iso 100
Victorian Slate quarries, County Kilkenny
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
I can remember the first time I came across the Slate quarries near Windgap, County Kilkenny, there are about four or five of these sites in the area all of the now disused and flooded, How long they have existed varies but all of them go back to the Victorian period.
The quarry in these images is located near Ahenny, Co.Kilkenny and the reason I find it more interesting than the others is that it still has remains of some cottages that the workers would have lived in during the period that the quarry was in operation.
Quarry lake
.
I don’t know how deep the lake is, I have been swimming in it many times and it feels deep very deep, the miners would have had to blast most of the slate out and the sides of the lake go strait down below the water. If you swim underneath the water and down the sides a little you still cannot see the bottom of the quarry, many would feel a little unhappy swimming here.
Workers Cottage’s
.
There are some ten cottages in this row, its just around the corner from the lake, which when the quarry was in operation would have been a very dangerous location, with blasting and all the machinery in very close proximity to the cottages it cannot have been great living condition. This as-well the fact that the location is miles away from any village, the conditions for the worker must have been very poor.
The Quarries Today
.
Today these quarries have become a wildlife and natural reserve, slate lies everywhere but this has provided a haven for plant life and wildlife, Herons hunt in the rive below the quarry and the lake is full of fish. The area covers about 2 square miles.
.
When some of the local streams run dry in the summer you can see jut how much slate was left in the area after the mining finished, it covers the entire area.
I will come back to these quarries over the next weeks as they are wonderful places to post about and I love being around these quarries very much.
Mount Leinster
Canon G1x, iso 100
Image of Coolasnaghta ridge, Mount Leinster, Co Carlow
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
An image of the Coolasnaghta ridge walk, mount leinster, County Carlow. Taken back in February 2013, the mountains grass and heathers were still brown and yellow from the snow and cold of the winter.
This is a great walk along the ridges of mount leinster in Co.Carlow as it offers views of four of Ireland county’s below (Carlow, Wexford, Waterford and Kilkenny ). The mountain is best accessed from the village of Borris, Co.Carlow and is about a 10km drive away.
Images from a dog show
Nikon D7000, 18-200mm Vr2 lens
Kilkenny dog show
Nigel Borrington
Each year we have a local dog show and for me its one of the best events held local.
I just love watching the dog as they show off their abilities, through different stages of the afternoon, here are just some images that I wanted to share.
Nikon D7000, 18-200mm Vr2 lens
Kilkenny dog show
Nigel Borrington
Nikon D7000, 18-200mm Vr2 lens
Kilkenny dog show
Nigel Borrington
Nikon D7000, 18-200mm Vr2 lens
Kilkenny dog show
Nigel Borrington
Nikon D7000, 18-200mm Vr2 lens
Kilkenny dog show
Nigel Borrington
Sunday evenings by the river
Sigma sd15, 18-50 os lens, iso 50
The River Barrow at Graignamanagh, Co Kilkenny
Landscape Photography by Nigel Borrington
Sunday evenings are just a wonderful time in June, a time to take to your feet and get out for a long wall before the weekend is over.
These images are from a walk we did along the river Barrow, Co.Kilkenny today 23rd of June.
Gallery – from the river Borrow
Mid-summers day 2013
Fuji film x100
Sunrise over kilkenny
Midsummer’s day 2013
Midsummer’s Eve/Litha/Feill-Sheathain/Alban Hefin/Gwyn Canol Haf
The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year falling circa June 22 when the Sun enters Cancer (this year 20 June 2012 19:09 EDT). This is the time of celebrating the Earth’s bounty. The God is vibrant and at the peak of his power and the Goddess is fertile and pregnant. This reflects in our fertile gardens, brimming with life and and the fruits of our labor. The Sun is bright and strong. Animals in nature have established families they are showing off to the world. Midsummer is a celebration of the Earth and all she provides for us, also known as Litha after an ancient European fertility Goddess. This is also time sacred for the Fae and is one of the days one can see the them (keep a sprig of rue in your pocket so they don’t lead you away!!)…This is the time when the Oak King and Holly King battle for supremacy again, Holly King emerges triumphant this time around, they meet again at the Winter Solstice when the Oak King shall prevail.
Activities:
Midsummer is a good time to see the Fae folk; skip through your garden ensures fertility (not necessarily your own fertility) for the season; renew your vows/affirmations/bond with the God/Goddess; Stay up the entire night (old custom); harvest your herbs and other light garden work (weeding, etc.); have a bonfire (if you are oh, so lucky to have the place & clearance to do so!!); If you practice sex magic today is a powerful day to do so; ideas for family: spend a day at the beach, go birdwatching (be sure to bring a bird guide!), gather flowers and make Midsummer crowns or garlands for you hair and/or altar.
Incense: Wisteria, Rose, Mints
Decor: Suns, green plants, flowers, early garden bounty, herbs, bees, butterflies, birds, dragonflies,etc.
Herbs/Flowers: St. John’s Wort, Fennel, Vervain, Trefoil, Mugwort, Lavender, Rose, Fern, Daisy, Elder, Honeysuckle, Oak, Chamomile
Colors: Red, Yellow, Gold (represents the Sun God), various shades of green
Stones: Jade, Garnet, Lapis Lazuli=psychic awareness & fertility of mind & body (for more info on lapis visit http://www.earthbow.com/crystals/lapis.htm) ,diamonds
Knockroe, County Kilkenny
.
Each midsummers there is a meeting at knockroe passage grave, Co Kilkenny to mark the rising and setting of the mid summers sun.
.
We welcome in Mid summers day !
The last Primrose of spring
Fujifilm X100, iso200
The last primrose of spring
Irish landscape photography by,
Kilkenny based photographer : Nigel Borrington
On an early morning walk along our local river bank, I noticed these fading Primrose’s. Spring was very late this year and as a result all the spring time flowers have lasted a long time. The primrose is always the first out but even now they are fading.
I think its made for some wonderful images so here they are, the last primroses of this year.
The last primrose of spring
Irish landscape photography by,
Kilkenny based photographer : Nigel Borrington
The last primrose of spring
Irish landscape photography by,
Kilkenny based photographer : Nigel Borrington
The last primrose of spring
Irish landscape photography by,
Kilkenny based photographer : Nigel Borrington
The last primrose of spring
Irish landscape photography by,
Kilkenny based photographer : Nigel Borrington
The last primrose of spring
Irish landscape photography by,
Kilkenny based photographer : Nigel Borrington
Its the weekend so……
Nikon D7000, 18-200mm vr II lens, iso 200
River Barrow walks, Co Kilkenny
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Its the weekend so why not find a river bank and go for a walk, relax and take in the views…….
Nikon D7000, 18-200mm vr II lens, iso 200
River Barrow walks, Co Kilkenny
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Red damselfly, on the banks of the river Barrow, co.Kilkenny
Nikon D7000, 85mm Focus length, iso 200
red damselfly resting, Banks of the River Barrow, Co.Kilkenny
Irish nature Photography by : Nigel Borrington
Walking along a river bank at this time of year you should always have your camera with you, all kinds of insects are out and about. Just brushing past the long grasses brings up the Dragon fly and the damselfly, you have to move very slowly to get them but it’s well worth the effort.
I managed to get this shot along with some others, I will post more of them over the next few day or so.
Flowers on the river bank
Nikon D7000, 85mm focus length, iso 200
Flowers on the banks of the River Barrow, Co.Kilkenny
Kilkenny photography, Nigel Borrington
I took this image yesterday, while walking along the banks of the river Barrow here in County Kilkenny. There had been a shower just before I got out of the car but the weather and the temperature afterwards was like a head wave for Ireland !
Sunset on the River
Sunset on the River
Jan Weeratunga, South Africa
Reds, pinks, oranges and gold’s catch the edge of the clouds and slowly turn the evening sky into a canvas waiting to be painted.
The sun’s last ray’s bounce off the cloud’s lining as it sinks gradually beyond the horizon.
Playfully the rays dance off the shimmering surface of the river,
Another fish jumps from the water,
Sending a concertina of ripples to the riverbank’s shoreline.
Golden waves approach as the setting sun sinks slowly below the horizon,
And small waves lap the side of our boat in an unending regular rhythm.
The repetitive knocking of the fender against the hull takes on the beat of the river,
Tapping the boat and shoreline alike,
It’s constant rhythm disturbed only by the wake of a passing boat or water bird landing on its surface.
Crickets join in with their own percussion as the melody is taken up by the surrounding birdlife,
Each chorus, their evening song as they head along the river bank in search of their nights roost.
Insects buzz over the surface, darting this way and that,
As swallows swoop swiftly, snapping them up in their gaping beaks.
Against the Western horizon a kingfisher dives into calmer waters bathed in a glorious warm orange light.
To the East the night’s first star is born,
It shimmers and shivers into life,
Just as the river serenely falls to sleep.
Peace is coming to the river as the ‘time between times’ –
That suspended few minutes of sunset –
Links all things in this world in a glorious golden moment before darkness descends.
Gradually the river slips into sleep
And the moon begins to rise and perform her dance across the waters glassy surface;
Replacing her brothers golden rays with her own silver ones.
Silver shimmering light bathes all beneath it,
Only disturbed by an occasional fish breaking free of its watery surrounds,
To be touched and blessed by the moonlight,
Before diving back down to the river bed.
The moon arches across the night sky,
Playing with the stars,
Until her brothers warming rays tell her it is once again time to allow the miracle of night and day to exchange places.
.
At first only a thin glowing red streak spreads along the tree line,
But quickly the shades of red are replaced by orange and then yellow,
And as the sun wakes from its nights slumber,
Dawn summons us from sleep,
And the tempo of waves against the boats hull increase with the blaze of activity that is engulfing the river,
And the throbbing beat signals a new day is beginning.
The bronze crabs of Galway bay
Nikon D700, 105mm macro lens, iso 400
Crab shell at Galway bay
Nature photography, Kilkenny photographer : Nigel Borrington
I came across these grab shells on a beach at the far end of Galway bay last year and there were hundreds of them, crabs molt their shells every time they have out grown them, some people think that this is at the turn of a new moon.
A Poem :
A Green Crab’s Shell
by Mark Doty
Not, exactly, green:
closer to bronze
preserved in kind brine,
something retrieved
from a Greco-Roman wreck,
patinated and oddly
muscular. We cannot
know what his fantastic
legs were like–
though evidence
suggests eight
complexly folded
scuttling works
of armament, crowned
by the foreclaws’
gesture of menace
and power. A gull’s
gobbled the center,
leaving this chamber
–size of a demitasse–
open to reveal
a shocking, Giotto blue.
Though it smells
of seaweed and ruin,
this little traveling case
comes with such lavish lining!
Imagine breathing
surrounded by
the brilliant rinse
of summer’s firmament.
What color is
the underside of skin?
Not so bad, to die,
if we could be opened
into this–
if the smallest chambers
of ourselves,
similarly,
revealed some sky.
Nikon D700, 105mm macro lens, iso 400
Crab shell at Galway bay
Nature photography : Nigel Borrington
Adult Tanner crab mating
Crabs (and other crustaceans) cannot grow in a linear fashion like most animals. Because they have a hard outer shell (the exoskeleton) that does not grow, they must shed their shells, a process called molting. Just as we outgrow our clothing, crabs outgrow their shells. Prior to molting, a crab reabsorbs some of the calcium carbonate from the old exoskeleton, then secretes enzymes to separate the old shell from the underlying skin (or epidermis). Then, the epidermis secretes a new, soft, paper-like shell beneath the old one. This process can take several weeks.
A morning walk for Molly
I love this time of year, we get up early and go for a walk in the woods….
The paths have turned so green and full of life…..
The Hawthorn flowers are all out and looking their best…
Its so warm already, I have to go slower than in the winter. This gives me time however to look at so much….
The clover
All the new leafs
Even the seed heads…
Finally a slow walk up the hill…
I was 10 last weekend, so I really enjoy a sit down and a long look at the view.
Thank you for sharing my morning with me.
Sleivenamon (Mountain of the women)
Nikon d7000, 300mm focus length, iso 100
Slievenamon, county tipperary
Irish landscape photography, kilkenny photographer : Nigel Borrington
Slievenamon
The origin of the mountain’s name is explained in Irish mythology. According to the tale, Fionn mac Cumhaill was sought after by many young women, but he said that he could have only one partner. His partner would be whichever woman won a footrace to the top of the mountain. Fionn stood on the cairn atop the mountain and gave a signal to start the race. The winner was Gráinne
Kilkenny landscape photography
Its a great morning here in county Kilkenny….
Nikon D7000, 18-200mm vr lens
A kilkenny landscape
Nigel Borrington
I was Up early this morning, and took this shot of our local landscape as the very early sun broke through the clouds, just for a while. I am trying as hard a possible to fight that Friday feeling and get some plans going, we have a long weekend here with a bank holiday on Monday but must keep going, just one more day …..
Kilkenny Landscape Photography
Nikon D7000, 24mm lens, iso 100
River Barrow, Country kilkenny
Kilkenny landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
What a wonderful spring evening we are having in County Kilkenny, A walk with our dog Molly along the river Barrow was just a wonderful way to end the day…..
Nigel Borrington 
You must be logged in to post a comment.