Category Archives: Irish Landscapes

The Less Friendly Trees.

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I promise I will eventually make it as far as the Pope’s Cross to photograph it, but every time I head in that direction something catches my eye and that’s me done for another hour or two.

At least this time I actually managed to capture the cross, somewhat in the background but at least it’s actually there.
There are hundreds of these wild gnarly looking trees all over the park, I simply can’t resist photographing them to be honest. I love the fact that they always seem to be just sitting in a wide open space all on their own, for some reason they never seem to grow in groups. This makes me think of them as some kind of grumpy loner that doesn’t enjoy the company of other trees, you can almost imagine them shuffling along in their early years until they find a spot in the park where they won’t be disturbed by the other trees. It may seem like a crazy idea but part of me does believe that trees can communicate with each other in some way or other, don’t ask me to explain it, you either believe or you don’t.

I tend to approach these angry-looking lads with plenty of caution, it’s best not to get too close, you can never be too sure. They may be small but I have yet to see anybody brave enough to try to climb one of these little fellas, they are covered in prickly spines, even the squirrels dare not attempt.

You need to be very quiet when near one of these trees and don’t ever turn your back on them.

The Perfect Winters Day.

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These kind of perfect winter days always ends up screaming one thing to me when I am out with my camera – get out your infra-red filter and start shooting the world as the human eye can’t see. It’s something I particularly love about infra-red photography, whilst this spectrum of light does actually exist, we as humans can’t actually see it. I am going to try and keep the technical blurb out of this blog for as long as possible, I would prefer it to be about the images rather than how they were made.

This photo was taken just last week in the wide open plains near the Popes Cross, I was actually on my way over to the Popes Cross as it was perfectly lit up with late afternoon winter sunshine. I never made it that far, this kind of thing happens to me quite regularly, I stop to shot something else and then an hour later the sun has gone and its time to head home.

I like the effect of the walkway in the grass, it looks like some kind of alien entity making its way towards the trees.

You can now purchase prints or postcards of this photo here
 

The Visitor Centre in Infra-Red

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Phoenix Park Visitor CentreThe visitor centre in the Phoenix Park has some of the most stunning trees to be found anywhere in the park. I think a lot of people visit this area of the park on a daily basis and simply don’t even think about looking up.

There are some of the finest and probably oldest trees to be found right in front of you but most people visit this area to have a look at the visitor centre and maybe a picnic in the summer. Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with that, in fact I think the visitor centre and cafe are two of my favourite things to do on a rainy day.

If you ever find yourself in the visitor centre then I recommend you walk out past the beautiful little mini-maze and just stand in the middle of the grass by all the picnic benches, then slowly raise your head and take in some of the tallest and most beautiful trees to be found in this wide expanse of woodland. The gardens and general area around the visitor centre and superbly maintained, credit must be given to the staff for the job they do around here.

There was something very striking about this tree and I have gone back to it on many occasions, I have never been happy with any of my photographs though. There are so many other trees close to it that it’s always been really hard to isolate it in a photo, I think it deserves a photo all to itself. I just happened to chance a visit a few weeks back with some infra-red equipment, it was one of those bitterly cold but sunny mornings and I thought it was worth trying out in infra-red. Finally,  I got a shot that I was more than happy with, I think the infra-red really does it justice and seems to remove anything else from the shot altogether.

Just because I finally got a shot of this tree that I am happy with doesn’t mean I won’t be visiting again, and again and again and again. Trees are so dependable, they are always in the same place you left them regardless of how long you leave them til your next visit.

This particular tree should think about getting an equity card, its only a matter of time before the producers of the Hobbit movie come looking for its like.

A Small Duck Pond Saves My Day.

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This shot was taken at a very small little duck pond just off the main road as you approach the Phoenix Monument. It is almost directly opposite Aras An Uachtarain [where the president lives]. It’s not something you would really notice that easily, very cleverly hidden by a circle of rather beautiful trees. To be honest I have seen it many times and have walked by on many occasions too. I was in the park on this particular day in September 2010, one of my first days out in the park in several months and at this stage I had taken about 60 shots but really didn’t feel I had anything really worth printing. I decided on a whim to have a stroll around this little pond and immediately noticed the perfect Autumn light just peeking through the trees where I was standing. The reflections in the water were truly stunning but still I was desperate to capture something of any value. As I walked around the pond this scene just opened up for me. I set up the tripod really quickly and snapped as soon as I could get the lens focused. Literally 30 seconds later the clouds had covered the sun and the entire scene changed again into some altogether rather dull. This is something I really love about this park, you find something new every time you visit and in the space of just a few minutes appearances can change from simply breath-taking to walk on by bland. I am so glad I took the time out to stroll in here, I have been back to the exact same spot twice since this photo was taken and neither occasion would have produced anything like this.

This little pond really feels very private at times, you can still hear the traffic going by on the road but with the trees providing protection all round it can feel like you are just all alone hidden away. It’s almost like the trees don’t want you to know whats in here, or even happening in here. Sometimes I feel like trees have their own little way of trying to keep certain things to themselves, it may seem a bit mad to say but you really do feel like they are trying to protect this little pond and all that goes on within. You are allowed to come in but you must stick to their rules. I must remember to back and visit this spot during the summer, I can imagine a very different scene, I would imagine the trees in full bloom would block out all the summer sunshine to create something very haunting indeed.