Its the weekend so…
Images of an Irish weekend
Irish landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Its the weekend so why not get outside and find a place to walk in, somewhere like a (beach, river bank, coastal walk, a waterfall or a mountain ).
Stop take in the views and relax……
Going up to the Comeragh mountains, a poem by Li Po
Knocknaree, Comeragh mountains, county Waterford
irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Going up to the Comeragh mountains
Alone Looking At The Mountain
By Li Po
All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other –
Only the mountain and I.
—————————————-
The Comeragh mountains are located in the north west of county Waterford, Ireland, resting above the river Suir as it flows through county Tipperary.
I visit these mountain many times during the year and no day is ever the same, this place can be wonderful in the Summer and wild and unfriendly in the winter months. Ireland is not know for much snow fall, yet at least once a year these mountains will be covered in fresh snow.
This is a very special place, one I love to visit.
These Images are taken during the summer months on a walk upto Knocknaree ridge, which offers some stunning views of county Waterford and on a good day it’s coast line.
Knocknaree, Comeragh mountains, Gallery
Its the weekend so….
Images of Dungarvan, county Waterford, Ireland
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
It’s the weekend so why not find a beach to visit, take a walk and relax.
Take time to notice things you have not seen before, a lighthouse or Herons flying with the gulls.
Take your dog for a walk and throw her a stick or two…..
Gallery of Ballyncourty beach, Dungarvan
Dunmore east, county Waterford
Dunmore east, fishing village in County Waterford, Ireland.
All images using a Fujifilm x100
Irish landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Dunmore east is one of my favourite places in Ireland to visit with a camera, its fishing harbour is the countries second busiest and on the day the fish is landed for the fish-market, it is full of life and colour with the boats all being in port.
The day I went down to capture these images I took my then new fuji-film X100 and took many images along the quays, the following gallery I hope captures a sense of this wonderful place to visit and take photographs.
Dunmore east, image Gallery
Coumfea a corrie lake, Nire Valley, County Waterford
Coumfea, Nire Valley, County Waterford
Landscape Photography, Irish photography : Nigel Borrington
Taken on the same day as the image of Milk hill, this image shows a view of Coumfea a corrie lake in the Nier valley, I have many other images of the lake that I will post in full.
A Corrie lake is formed as follows :
How Is a Corrie Formed?
Answer
A corrie is formed in different steps. First, the snow accumulates in a hillside hollow and turns to ice. Then, the hollow is deepened by abrasion and plucking and the ice in the corrie moves under the influence of gravity, deepening the hollow still further. Since the ice is at the foot of the hollow and moves more slowly, a rock lip forms. When the ice melts, a lake or tarn may be formed in the corrie. The steep back wall may be severely weathered by freeze€“thaw weathering, providing material for further abrasion.
Its the weekend so…..
All images taken at Ardmore, County Waterford
Fujifilm X100
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Its the weekend so why not find a coastline to walk alone, look down at the views relax, and clear you mind…..
On Contemplating a Sheep’s Skull ~ Poem by: John Kinsella
All images taken in the Nier valley, county waterford
Fujifilm X100
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
On Contemplating a Sheep’s Skull
Poem by John Kinsella
A sheep’s Skull aged so much in rain and heat,
broken jawbone and chipped teeth half-
gnaw soil; zippered fuse-mark tracks
back to front, runs through to base
of neck, widening faultline under
stress: final crack close at hand.
Skull I can’t bring myself to move.
White-out red soil unearthed
from hillside fox den and cat haven,
now hideaway for short-beaked echidna
toppling rocks and stones, disrupting
artfulness a spirit might impose,
frisson at seeing counterpoint.
Skull I can’t bring myself to move.
Sometimes avoid the spot to avoid
looking half-hearted into its sole
remaining eye socket; mentally to join
bones strewn downhill, come apart
or torn from mountings years before
arriving with good intentions.
Skull I can’t bring myself to move.
Not something you can ‘clean up’,
shape of skull is not a measure of all
it contained: weight of light and dark,
scales of sound, vast and varied taste
of all grass eaten from these hills;
slow and steady gnawing at soil.
Skull I can’t bring myself to move.
Neither herbivore nor carnivore,
earth and sky-eater, fire in its shout
or whisper, racing through to leave a bed
of ash on which the mind might rest,
drinking sun and light and smoke,
choked up with experience.
Skull I can’t bring myself to move.
Drawn to examine
despite aversion, consider
our head on its shoulders,
drawn expression
greeting loved ones
with arms outstretched.
John Kinsella is Founding editor of the journal Salt in Australia; he serves as international editor at the Kenyon Review. His most recent volume of poetry is Divine Comedy: Journeys through a Regional Geography (W. W. Norton) with a new volume, Disturbed Ground: Jam Tree Gully/Walden, due out with W.W. Norton in November 2011.
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
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.
Stone circle in the comeragh mountains
All images using a Sigma SD15, 15-30mm lens, iso 50
Comeragh mountains – stone circle
Irish landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Stone circles
For myself I love being out on a summer evening walking in the hills, a lot of the Irish hill sides are defined as common land and even though farmed by the same families for many generations these areas are by law open land.
The Comeragh mountains in county waterford has many locations well worth finding but for myself the most interesting are the neolithic monuments and grave sites.
While out last evening I came across this stone circle resting in one of the many valleys in this area, it once would have been a monumental site with its some eight foot high standing stones used to mark the passing of the farming year.
Ireland has a wealth of prehistoric sites that few since the Christian period pay any attention to, for myself however this is where the true history of Ireland exists, People existed in small communities at a local level, however they had everything in common with and communicated with people throughout Europe.
They existed in nature, out in the wilds and they understood the world around them with their very survival in mind, they held personal skill that they learnt from each other.
This stone circle marks those skill’s very well as measuring the seasons was vital to them.
NB: I have circled the above map to locate the stone circle and give some idea as to its size.
Comeragh mountains stone circle – Gallery
Comeragh Mountains – Wild cotton grass fields
All images using a Sigma SD15, 15-30mm lens, iso 50
Comeragh Mountains, co.Waterford – Wild cotton grass fields
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Wild Cotton grass, Comeragh mountains, county Waterford
Last evening we went for a long walk with our dog through the comeragh mountains and came across an area of Bog cotton, it covered the entire hill side and valley in front of us as we walked through it.
So I just wanted to share this wonderful view and I hope get across just how amazing a view this offers on the hill sides of these mountains in the middle of a very warm July.
Common Grass Cotton
As its other common name, Bog Cotton, might suggest, this is a plant of very damp peaty ground. Its leaves mostly arise from the base of the plant, often being tinged with red or brown. It has tiny insignificant little brown flowers in April and May but it is really when it is in fruit that this becomes a most eye-catching and attractive plant. Borne on 30-50cm high, cylindrical stems, the little seeds are held in fluffy, downy, white tufts which quiver and shake in the wind, a most effective dispersal method. This is a native pant belonging to the family Cyperaceae.
Wild Cotton grass – Gallery
Lismore Castle
Sigma SD15, 15-30mm f3.5-4.5 lens, Iso 50
Lismore Castle, country Waterford
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Lismore Castle, county Waterford
The town of lismore sits on the banks of the Blackwater river, as it flows through county waterford. The town is small with a population of about 1500 people.
I have visited the town many times, a farmers and craft market is held each Sunday morning just outside the gates of the Castle, there is also one of Ireland’s best rural arts galleries here.
The town is the location of Lismore castle and it’s one of Ireland’s longest standing building, of it’s kind.
Its described as follows below:
Lismore castle : Early history
The castle site was originally occupied by Lismore Abbey, an important monastery and seat of learning established in the early 7th century. It was still an ecclesiastical centre when Henry II, King of England stayed here in 1171, and except for a brief period after 1185 when his son King John of England built a ‘castellum’ here, it served as the episcopal residence of the local bishop. In 1589, Lismore was leased and later acquired by Sir Walter Raleigh. Raleigh sold the property during his imprisonment for High Treason in 1602 to another infamous colonial adventurer, Richard Boyle, later 1st Earl of Cork.
Boyle came to Ireland from England in 1588 with only twenty-seven pounds in capital and proceeded to amass an extraordinary fortune. After purchasing Lismore he made it his principal seat and transformed it into a magnificent residence with impressive gabled ranges each side of the courtyard. He also built a castellated outer wall and a gatehouse known as the Riding Gate. The principal apartments were decorated with fretwork plaster ceilings, tapestry hangings, embroidered silks and velvet. It was here in 1627 that Robert Boyle The Father of Modern Chemistry, the fourteenth of the Earl’s fifteen children, was born. The castle descended to another Richard Boyle, 4th Earl of Cork & 3rd Earl of Burlington, who was a noted influence on Georgian architecture (and known in architectural histories as the Earl of Burlington).
Lismore featured in the Cromwellian wars when, in 1645, a force of Catholic confederacy commanded by Lord Castlehaven sacked the town and Castle. Some restoration was carried out by Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Cork (1612-1698) to make it habitable again but neither he nor his successors lived at Lismore.
The Dukes of Devonshire
The castle (along with other Boyle properties – Chiswick House, Burlington House, Bolton Abbey and Londesborough Hall) was acquired by the Cavendish family in 1753.
The daughter and heiress of the 4th Earl of Cork, Lady Charlotte Boyle (1731-1754) married William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, a future Prime Minister of Great Britain & Ireland.
Their son, the 5th Duke (1748-1811) carried out improvements at Lismore, notably the bridge across the river Blackwater in 1775 designed by Cork-born architect Thomas Ivory.
.
Castle Gardens
The castle’s gardens are open to the public and feature contemporary sculptures, including works by Anthony Gormley, Marzia Colonna and Eilís O’Connell. The upper garden is a 17th-century walled garden while much of the informal lower garden was designed in the 19th century.
You can visit the Gardens of the Castle during the summer months for a fee of €8 and they are wonderful.
Gallery of Lismore
For the best views of the castle itself you need to cross the river and enter the fields below the castle on the other side of the bridge crossing the Blackwater river.
I spent a couple of hours in these fields just walking along the river and taking some photo’s of the castle above me, its just a wonderful spot to sit down and watch the fish jumping and the Herons hunting for fish in the river.
The Images Below are just some that I took, I hope they have captures a sense of this place…..
Sigma SD15, 15-30mm f3.5-4.5 lens, Iso 50
Lismore Castle, country Waterford
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Sigma SD15, 15-30mm f3.5-4.5 lens, Iso 50
Lismore Castle, country Waterford
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Sigma SD15, 15-30mm f3.5-4.5 lens, Iso 50
Lismore Castle, country Waterford
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Sigma SD15, 15-30mm f3.5-4.5 lens, Iso 50
Lismore Castle, country Waterford
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Sigma SD15, 15-30mm f3.5-4.5 lens, Iso 50
Blackwater river/Lismore Castle, country Waterford
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Sigma SD15, 15-30mm f3.5-4.5 lens, Iso 50
Blackwater river/Lismore Castle, country Waterford
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Images from the Blackwater river
Sigma sd15,15-30mm f3.5-4.6 lens, iso50
Images of the Blackwater river, Munster, Ireland
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
The Blackwater river
One of my favourite river’s in Ireland is the Blackwater, it flows from Co.Kerry all the way to Youghal Harbour, on the south coast.
“The Blackwater or Munster Blackwater (Irish: An Uisce Dubh, The Black Water) is a river which flows through counties Kerry, Cork, and Waterford in Ireland. It rises in the Mullaghareirk Mountains in County Kerry and then flows in an easterly direction through County Cork, through Mallow and Fermoy. It then enters County Waterford where it flows through Lismore, before abruptly turning south at Cappoquin, and finally draining into the Celtic Sea at Youghal Harbour. In total, the Blackwater is 169 kilometres long.
The Blackwater is notable for being one of the best salmon fishing rivers in the country. Like many Irish and British rivers, salmon stocks declined in recent years, but the Irish Government banned commercial netting of salmon off the coast of Ireland in November, 2006.”
Lisomre
Sigma sd15,15-30mm f3.5-4.6 lens, iso50
Images of the Blackwater river, Lismore, Munster, Ireland
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
As it passes just below Lismore Castle ( Which I will do another full post on ), it has carved out one of the most Beautiful river valley’s in the south of the country. I have many images from this area and visit regularly so will come back many time to post some more images.
Sigma sd15,15-30mm f3.5-4.6 lens, iso50
Images of the Blackwater river, Munster, Ireland
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Sigma sd15,15-30mm f3.5-4.6 lens, iso50
Images of the Blackwater river, Munster, Ireland
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Image from the Waterford coast.
Sigma SD15, 18-50mm lens,iso 50
Waterford coastline, June 2013
Irish landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Last evening I went for a drive and stopping the car, I walked along the Waterford coastline. At some point I sat down and looked at the views. Just taking some time to really look!, we spend most of our life’s thinking and talking, watching tv and living other peoples life’s not our own.
Maybe! we should find a space, a space for our own life’s, a space in which we can grow something called “a mind of our own….”, this isn’t a sin! to give yourself time, to be individual.
So then, a Poem
Cool sea laps against the rocks,
following the sands of time,
Sometimes the sea seems suspended like a clear mirror reflecting peace
and sometimes the sea rages, undeniable in it’s quest to never cease.
People can gaze upon it and think they have found a reason to exist,
others gaze and see themselves and begin a peace with tomorrow.
But only the waters of the sea’s stay
yet the tides come and go and seem to show time drifting away.
One picture is not enough nor will any amount,
as the sea is all of them and none of them, calm and smooth or angry and rough.
It keeps the wheels of the world turning more than a single life,
as it will always be their giving life and gaining the respect it always should.
Time and space ….
Kite Flyer – Bunmahon Beach
Nikon D200. 50mm f1.4 lens, iso100
Kite Flyer,Bunmahon Beach, county waterford
Landscape photography by kilkenny based photographer : Nigel Borrington
I first displayed this image as part of a photography exhibition about six years ago, It was taken on a very wet day on the beach and it was a pleasure to work with about five Kite flyers for the day. Keeping the camera dry was a skill I had to learn very quickly…..
Nigel
“Its my weekend so…” : Molly
You have done the Grass, cleaned the car, washed the windows, weeded the beds, cleaned the house and done that blog thing again.
So can we please, please, please go back here… !
Molly@wordpress.com
PS if you love dogs please go and check out this Blog : http://mydogablog.com/2013/05/04/do-you-think/, Anne Casey and her Family along of course with Monty have the best little Doggy blog you can visit !! 🙂
Warning : You will fall in love with this Dog : Monty !!!
Tramore Beach
Nikon D200, 35mm focal length f2.8 lens, Iso 800
Tramore Beach,
County Waterford
Word list and play:
People, beach, sand, sounds, waves, cars, chips, cans, parking, fun, dogs, running, holes, digging, walking, sitting, looking, sleeping, parents, kids, couples, crying, kicking, ball, boats, boards, paper, bags….
Feel free to add more !
Kate Rusby
Fujifilm X100
I Courted A Sailor
I courted a sailor for six months and many,
I courted a sailor, now he’s far from me.
I courted a sailor for six months and many,
I courted a sailor, now he’s far from me.
On a fine summer’s evening he said his heart was grieving
On a fine summer’s evening these words he said to me
CHORUS
Oh I’m bound for the waves, the waves dearest Annie,
I’m bound for the waves, the waves upon the sea.
Oh I’m bound for the waves, the waves dearest Annie,
I’m bound for the waves, the captain calleth me.
CHORUS
Me heart has been yours now for six months and many,
Me heart has been yours now and will always remain.
Me heart has been yours now for six months and many,
Me heart has been yours now and will always remain.
Take with you me ring and me heart you’ll always bring,
Take with you me ring when you sail away to sea.
CHORUS
I’ll wait for me sailor for six months and many,
I’ll wait for me sailor till he comes home from sea.
I’ll wait for me sailor for six months and many,
I’ll wait for me sailor till he comes home from sea.
I’ll wait for you me dear, for time we’ll know no fear.
I’ll wait for you me dear till you come home from the sea.
CHORUS
I’ve married me sailor for six months and many,
I’ve married me sailor now he’s safe with me.
I’ve married me sailor for six months and many,
I’ve married me sailor no more he’ll say to me
You tube performance : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybRPZAqN7WA
The Sea
The sea is a hungry dog,
Giant and grey.
He rolls on the beach all day.
With his clashing teeth and shaggy jaws
Hour upon hour he gnaws
The rumbling, tumbling stones,
And ‘Bones, bones, bones, bones! ‘
The giant sea-dog moans,
Licking his greasy paws.
And when the night wind roars
And the moon rocks in the stormy cloud,
He bounds to his feet and snuffs and sniffs,
Shaking his wet sides over the cliffs,
And howls and hollos long and loud.
But on quiet days in May or June,
When even the grasses on the dune
Play no more their reedy tune,
With his head between his paws
He lies on the sandy shores,
So quiet, so quiet, he scarcely snores.
The sea is a hungry dog,
Giant and grey.
He rolls on the beach all day.
With his clashing teeth and shaggy jaws
Hour upon hour he gnaws
The rumbling, tumbling stones,
And ‘Bones, bones, bones, bones! ‘
The giant sea-dog moans,
Licking his greasy paws.
And when the night wind roars
And the moon rocks in the stormy cloud,
He bounds to his feet and snuffs and sniffs,
Shaking his wet sides over the cliffs,
And howls and hollos long and loud.
But on quiet days in May or June,
When even the grasses on the dune
Play no more their reedy tune,
With his head between his paws
He lies on the sandy shores,
So quiet, so quiet, he scarcely snores.
James Reeves
The Sea – Louis MacNeice
The Sea
Incorrigible, ruthless,
It rattles the shingly beach of my childhood,
Subtle, the opposite of the earth,
And, unlike earth, capable
Any time at all of proclaiming eternity
Like something or someone to whom
We have to surrender, finding
Through that surrender life.
Louis MacNeice 1907-1963
Canon G1X
Gone Fishing
Just after the New Year I decided to pick up a second hand Canon G1x as part of a project that I have been undertaking for some time, this being to replace a missing part of my camera kit.
Since the end of the 1990’s I have owned Nikon digital slr’s, having dumped film cameras and moved to digital in about 1999.
For a long time I worked with a Contax G2 film camera and have not owned a compact system since, so the aim was to fill this gap. The purchase of this camera is I hope the start and finish of this aim for some time to come.
This morning I put the camera in a bag and along with my dog headed to a place called Boats strand, Co. Waterford, the following images are some of the results.
These images have Canon G1x filter effects applied in camera.
I will be posting the others soon.
As for the Camera well, yes I think it’s going to be everything I expected. I had read that the autofocus system was a little slow, however it’s not that bad for a contrast based system and I would much prefer correct than lighting fast.
I will keep posting my G1x impressions and images.
Nigel
Ballydowane Cove, Co.Waterford
Ballydowane Cove, Co.Waterford :Nigel Borrington
An Infra-red photograph of Ballydowane Cove, Co.Waterford.
Using a Nikon D7000 with a Nikon 24-120mm AFD lens with the camera and lens set to a 30 second exposure at F10 with ISO @100.
Irish Landscape photography by Kilkenny Photographer, Nigel Borrington
Autumn Equinox
The 23rd September Equinox Explained
Autumn Equinox : Nigel Borrington
The 2011 September equinox occurs at 09:04 (or 9:04am) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on September 23, 2011. It is also referred to as the autumnal or fall equinox in the northern hemisphere, as well as the spring or vernal equinox in the southern hemisphere (not to be confused with the March equinox). This is due to the seasonal contrasts between both hemispheres throughout the year.
What happens during the September equinox?
The sun crosses the celestial equator and moves southward in the northern hemisphere during the September equinox. The location on the earth where the sun is directly overhead at solar noon is known as the subsolar point. The subsolar point occurs on the equator during the September equinox and March equinox. At that time, the earth’s axis of rotation is perpendicular to the line connecting the centers of the earth and the sun. This is the time when many people believe that the earth experiences 12 hours of day and night.
Images from the Waterford Coast line for the 23rd September 2011
The Celtic year is almost over, Samain is almost here!
Landscape photography by Kilkenny photographer : Nigel Borrington
Nigel Borrington 
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