It Looks Windy

Posted on August 1, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago in an area just off the main road through the Phoenix Park. If you are travelling up through the park from the main gates towards the Castleknock gates you simply look to your left just before you come to the big roundabout, the one with the large phoenix statue in the middle. There is a tiny pond in the centre of this cluster of trees, known locally as “The Dog Pond”. I wish I knew where it got its name from but I must admit I don’t know everything about this park, I like to let on that I do but in reality there is plenty still for me to learn about this vast expanse.

My little 2 ½ year old boy looked at this photo yesterday as I was preparing to get it ready for posting and immediately turned to me and said “Look Dad, it’s very windy” and in fairness to him I can see exactly what he means by that. Truth be told it was nowhere near being a windy day. It was just very slightly breezy but I think both the long exposure and the infra-red effect give the impression of movement in the trees on the left hand side of the photo.

The tree right in the centre of the photo has recently become one of my favourites in the park, I must admit I’m quite fickle when it comes to favourite trees and my opinion can change from week to week, it’s kind of similar to picking your favourite records of all time, this week it’s “Heavy Rocks” by Boris but next week that all could change.

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

Reach For The Sky In The Phoenix Park

Posted on July 19, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

Another one for my “Tall trees that look like characters from Lord Of The Rings” series for you today. I find something very majestic looking about this particular cluster of trees, they seem so much more powerful than those in the background. It seems to me that some trees are perfectly happy to stretch up a certain distance and then spend the rest of their lives spreading outwards, that’s not a way of life for this particular bunch though. There seems to be some kind of fierce competition going on to find out which one can reach the highest first, I often wonder is the air more clear up there. There is a beautiful sparse look to the lower parts of the trees, barely a branch to be seen until you reach about half way up.

On a completely separate note I must say I am feeling very bad about the fact that it has been almost a month now since I have visited the park with my camera. I have been several times for family visits but as far as long strolls in the park with my trusty old Canon friend, well it’s just been too long. I should explain I was away in County Mayo for two weeks, in a most beautiful place called Carrowmore Lake. I will post some of my photos from the Mayo trip on my Flick page as soon as I get them all processed.

The Phoenix Park Polo Grounds.

Posted on July 12, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

Two photos today for you, simply because I just can’t decide which one I like the most. They are pretty much the same photograph, just taken from slightly different angles. It’s a fine example of what can happen to a photograph when you simply turn the camera around, I know a lot of landscape photographers would very rarely turn the camera sideways but I must admit there are times then it just works so well.

I love the way the fence in both of these shots tends to draw your eye up through the photo towards a point when it meets up with the little wooden fence in the long grass.

This photo was taken by the side of the polo grounds, the little black fencing in the grass is actually the outer boundary of the polo pitch. I can’t claim to understand any of the rules of polo but trust me it’s a wonderful way to spend a sunny afternoon, just lay down in the grass and enjoy the spectacle of what I like to call hurling on horses.

Both of these shots were taken using my trusty old infra-red filter, hence why the grass on the pitch looks a bit like snow.

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.

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

The Papal Cross in The Phoenix Park

Posted on May 30, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

Here’s another one from what I like to call my dark period, it’s extended from around the time I first started taking photographs to the present day, I suppose it would be fair to say I kinda like the darker side of black and white photography. Some day I will surprise you all with a lovely colourful shot of a butterfly or a baby deer frolicking around in a bed of daisies, until then you will have to make do with these.

I love the pure drama in this shot, I could possibly even say its full of movement. The clouds look like they are almost ready to fall down from the sky and capture everything in their path. Perhaps they are the clouds of the atheist gods [can there be such a thing] trying to knock down the Papal cross. You can just imagine them slowly ganging up in the background, I can’t say they are doing it discreetly, but maybe they think they can’t actually be seen. I’ve got some bad news for you lads, I can see you !

This is probably one of the most sinister skylines I have the pleasure to photograph and before you ask…….it’s completely real, no Photoshop tricks have been used in any way. You should know at this stage that I refuse to use Photoshop to alter my photographs, what you see is exactly what I saw.

If you look really closely around the base of the cross there are lots of tiny dots, some would call them human beings but to me, they are just dots. They are humans though.

The cross is still standing by the way, the clouds obviously didn’t launch their attack.

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

Lonely Tree In The Phoenix Park

Posted on May 27, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

I find it amazing sometimes what you can achieve with a camera on a beautiful bright summers day.

I placed the low morning sun directly behind this tree to see if I could create some kind of weird night-time effect to the photograph. This is one of those occasions when experimenting with a camera makes photography such fun, yes I agree it can all go horribly wrong but really you have nothing to lose by trying something new.

I really had no idea how this one would turn out until I loaded the photos on the computer later on that day. This one really caught my attention for some reason.

There is a really desolate almost apocalyptic feel to the photo. It looks like the main tree in the picture is the only one left standing from his group whilst all the other more healthy looking trees have taken a step backwards in order to get away from him. The lone tree seems to be leaning towards the others in an act of aggressive defiance, as all the others huddle up together in the hope of repelling their attacker, safety in numbers kind of situation.

I wonder if I had never read Lord Of The Rings would I have these images of trees battling one another in my head, who knows.

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

On Top Of The Magazine Fort, Phoenix Park.

Posted on May 26, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

This was taken on top of the magazine fort in the Phoenix Park, one of my favourite buildings in the entire park, derelict and all as it is.

These guys were creating quite a bit of noise on a beautiful quiet summers day, there were literally twenty or thirty birds knocking around at one stage, there seemed to be a bit of fuss about something or other. Not sure if they were arguing over ownership of the chimney stacks or maybe there were nests inside the actual stacks.

The bird on the right hand side of the photo looks like I placed a cardboard cut-out into the shot, trust me I’m not that ingenious [or tall].

I can only assume this place is a real haven for wild birds to live in, the gates are permanently locked, which is kind of sad because they could easily turn this building into a really interesting visitor attraction. It’s quite functional but at the same time rather beautiful, there is something very eerie about the general area surrounding it. I can only imagine there are some spectacular views from inside some of the rectangular lookouts planted on all four corners of the building.

Visions of The Phoenix Park

Photography by Dave Kennedy

Category Archives: Irish Landscapes

It Looks Windy

Reach For The Sky In The Phoenix Park

The Phoenix Park Polo Grounds.

The Phoenix Park’s Little Imperfections

A Successful Mistake

The Phoenix Park Whitehouse

Something’s Lurking In The Phoenix Park

The Papal Cross in The Phoenix Park

Lonely Tree In The Phoenix Park

On Top Of The Magazine Fort, Phoenix Park.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: