The Phoenix Park’s Little Imperfections

Posted on June 16, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

I must admit I really like the desolate almost cold like feeling about this particular photograph. The photo was taken on a rather cold spring morning a few years ago, there was some beautiful early morning sunshine but the ground was still frosty underfoot and there was a general damp feeling about the air.

The photo displays the fact that whilst this park in probably one of the most beautiful in the world it still has its imperfections in places, the fence seems to be under the control of the trees as their roots have bent it out of shape over the course of many many years.

The photo was taken in an area between the visitor centre and the presidents house, two of the best kept regions in the park so it’s nice to suddenly turn a corner and stumble upon this scene.

You can purchase prints or postcards of his photo from as little as €2.50 by clicking this link.

Relaxing In The Phoenix Park

Posted on June 11, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

These lads really do have the best life in the world. An entire park pretty much all to themselves, apart from people like me annoying them with zoom lenses and inept methods of creeping up on them in the long grass. I have had days in the past when I arrive home with wet knees from crawling slowly through the long grass just to get close enough to get a good shot. After many years of employing this method I decided to experiment with a new one, this involved walking slowly straight up to them. To be fair to the deer if you don’t go running up to them they are pretty relaxed about human beings getting close, I really didn’t need to worry about the camouflage and making sure not to look them straight in the eye. I think their theory is, if you don’t bother me I won’t bother you. The deer are so used to human contact at this stage they just seem to take it in their stride, or continue to sleep in this instance.

A Successful Mistake

Posted on June 9, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

Sometimes mistakes turn into my favourite photographs. This photo was not necessarily a bad mistake as such, I wasn’t to know what was going wrong somewhere deep within the lens or camera, but if you look very closely at the very centre of the photograph you will see a strange symmetrical shape slightly brighter than it’s surroundings. This is caused by reflected light within the lens, usually when you shoot directly into the sun. I am not sure if this happened within the lens itself or something very unusual happened between the sun and my infra-red filter. Anyway, I am not going to bore you with details of reflected light and the effects of shooting directly into the sun, the majority of times this happens to me I tend to immediately reject the photo. For some reason I kept going back to this one and started thinking about the rights and wrongs of the perfect photograph, by this I mean all those sticky rules of photography that so many people seem to feel the need to abide by.

Trust me, if I entered this photograph into any competition it would fail immediately because of that flare of light in the middle, but I’m beginning to grow very fond of it. It’s strange though, if I tried to replicate that effect exactly the same way it would be virtually impossible.

I’m now thinking of setting up my own photography awards and guess what………………..the winner is…………..ME.

Please feel free to leave your comments, they really are greatly appreciated.

The Phoenix Park Whitehouse

Posted on June 8, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

This here is a shot I took of the American Ambassadors residence in the Phoenix Park a few years ago, I always have the fear when I point zoom lenses at buildings like these in the park, someday I am expecting a gentle tap on the shoulder and then none of my friends or relations will ever see me again. All they will ever find of me is an empty camera with all the images erased, hopefully they will at least get the camera back, it’s worth a lot of money [more than I am].

It’s a rather striking building, maybe slightly out of place in the park compared to some of the other architecture but in fairness it’s kept well hidden. If you don’t know how to actually find it then you probably have never actually seen beyond the big gates.

It’s fair to say the sky gave me a giant helping hand with the photo, what is it about beautiful sunny days here in Ireland, there always seems to be these massive threatening clouds just hovering in the background.

Something’s Lurking In The Phoenix Park

Posted on June 7, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

In my ongoing series of imaginary personas given to items found in the park, here comes a scene that reminds me of some long lost B-movie monster film. You can imagine the scenario where some maniac out of control lawnmower device is wreaking havoc on all the residents in the park. The deer are too scared to come out of the trees, the trees themselves are using the long grass to desperately try to hide behind [rather badly it must be added]. Sadly for the long grass, it is the last line of defence and looks like it is going to be the next victim of this rusty old killer machine. The machine seems to be lying low in an attempt to surprise its prey, not something that’s very easily achieved when you are that big and cumbersome.

The day I found this lawnmower it immediately struck me as a rather sinister looking device, ok I know its only a simple lawnmower but there is also something very evil and death-like about it.

You can now purchase prints or postcards of this photo here

Visions of The Phoenix Park

Photography by Dave Kennedy

Monthly Archives: June 2011

The Phoenix Park’s Little Imperfections

Relaxing In The Phoenix Park

A Successful Mistake

The Phoenix Park Whitehouse

Something’s Lurking In The Phoenix Park

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