Category Archives: Irish Landscapes

The Wellington Monument Plays Hide And Seek

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Phoenix Park, Wellington Monument

I’ve been trying to get a decent photo of the Wellington Monument in the park for quite some time now, I tend to give up for months and then head back down and start off all over again. I have never been a great lover of photographing such huge upright monuments [or buildings for that matter], there just tends to be so many problems with trying to achieve decent results. I tend to give in and head off to meet some familiar trees instead.

Speaking of familiar trees, I am truly gutted to discover that I missed an exhibition by Thomas Pakenham in The Molesworth Gallery, in whose wisdom was it to have such an amazing collection on for only two measly weeks. If you are not familiar with this man then I suggest you run out and get yourself a hold of a book called “Meetings With Remarkable Trees”, and that’s just for starters. I guarantee you that you will end up buying all of his photographic books, especially if you are tree fanatic like me.

Anyway, back to my main subject here today.

I was going through some old infra-red photos from about three years ago and found this here little beauty, obviously that’s my personal opinion, you can be the real judge of that. The photo doesn’t feature the entire monument but I really like the fact that it appears to be attempting to hide behind the trees, I wonder is it aware that we can all see it. Not the greatest game of hide and seek I have ever witnessed. I also get the impression that the trees on the left of the picture seem to be looking towards the monument with a “We can see you, stupid” look on their faces.

Ok, so the trees don’t have faces and the monument can’t actually play hide and seek, they do when you have the imagination of a two year old running around the house.

This one’s for wee Paddy who has opened up my imagination all over again.

Can You Hear The Noise

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Furry Glen

I kind of like the idea of a photograph having an actual sound. Let me explain a little bit about that theory.

If you look at this photo and imagine the cracking sound this tree made when it finally toppled over, imagine also the noise it made as it most likely snapped several branches from other trees on its way down. Every time I look at this photo I can help hearing that lovely dry cracking sounds of branches breaking, I can’t say it happens with every photo but I do hear sounds in them from time to time. There are also plenty of occasions when I can get a sense of smell from some photos, I love the way certain images can evoke a particular smell………….please tell me you agree with me and I’m not just going completely mad.

Anyway, this one was taken quite recently during my trip down the Furry Glen. It was quite an awkward shot to capture, I had to set up the camera on quite a steep slope and delicately balance the tripod on shifting ground. I think it was worth the effort.

Somebody just mentioned to me that it looks like some giant bear has been on the warpath through the woods, I replied “Trust me, if there were bears in the Phoenix Park I wouldn’t have stood still for long enough to take this photo”, I like the idea though, it adds to the many fables I hear about the Furry Glen area.

The Boathouse in Farmleigh

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Boathouse in Farmleigh

I took this photo about three years ago on a truly beautiful summers day in Farmleigh.

Believe it or not but a beautiful summers day is not always the best time to take photographs. Sometimes the light from the sun can be so bright and strong that it makes things very difficult to photograph. The difference between shaded areas and those in direct sunlight can be so vast that you have to decide what you want visible in the photograph. I stood in this spot for about twenty minutes slowly waiting on some clouds in the distance to arrive so I could finally get just the right light on these plants in the foreground. I tried to capture the scene on infra-red but the gentle breeze just made it impossible to keep the upright plants still enough for such a long exposure.

If you get the chance there is a really lovely walk around the lake, don’t worry it’s not too long but well worth the effort.

Farmleigh can get quite busy during the summer at weekends so if you are like me and free during the week then I recommend you take a trip with the kids or a camera.

Enjoy the photo and as always, comments are greatly appreciated.

The Crocodile Tree

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Furry Glen, Phoenix ParkI have to admit I spent ages trying to get the right photo of this here tree.

I have visited it on several occassions over the years and finally I got what I wanted.

You see, what I always wanted to capture on film was the likeness to a snarly old crocodile leaping out of the marshland.

I think I have finally managed to satisfy my desire.

I have always looked at this tree and for some reason it reminds me of the jaws of some crazed prehistoric animal, I’ve never been able to get the right angle on the camera compared to what the naked eye can see. I finally gave in and spent ages setting up the tripod on a small hill opposite, it was a rather precarious situation featuring lots of heavy bricks and painful body positions. The torture people go to for their art, eh !

To me, the tree looks like it is actually rising up from the ground, almost like a scene from some old cult horror movie, you know the scenario – “They thought the tree was dead but it rose up from the ground and devoured unsuspecting people in the park”. It also looks like the tree trunk has physically eaten away most of the metal fence surrounding it in a real show of defiance.

I always fear the day that I go back to this part of the Furry Glen and finally discover that the park rangers have remembered to take the trunk away, it’s been there in this exact spot for many years now and it’s pretty obvious it didn’t just fall down on its own. I wonder did somebody place it there specifically for nerdy photographers like me to spot and think they have stumbled upon something totally unique. There are probably a gang of mischievous park rangers hidden from view watching this spot all day just waiting to have a laugh at my expense. Well lads, if you’re reading this you can take it away now, I don’t want anybody else coming along and copying my antics.

Infra-red Airplane Smoke

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I think this particular tree has appeared already on this blog at one point but never mind, as I always say, every time I come back to the same spot I see something completely different. Some days the light is just so different that things look totally new to me.

I was really lucky on this day, just as I was walking back to the car after a fairly unsuccessful afternoon with the camera a plane noisily shoots over my head and leaves this wonderful trail in the sky. I rapidly tried to set up my tripod and get everything in place to capture what was going on above my head. I love the fact the literally five minutes either side of this plane flying over, the moment would have passed.

Whilst processing this photo I also noticed an interesting detail in the trunk of the tree. If you look really closely it almost looks like two people embracing each other, actually the first thing I thought of was those wonderful Ents from the Lord Of The Rings. If you get a chance, enlarge the image on your screen and focus on the trunk of the tree, it looks like a pair of arms are coming from the left hand side.

This was taken at the car park opposite the walkway down to the Furry Glen in March 2011.

You can now purchase this print by clicking here

Tall Trees In The Furry Glen

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Furry Glen

Another photo taken in the rather picturesque area known as the Furry Glen.

This was taken just at the main wooden steps on the way down into the Glen itself.

I found this pair of trees and they kind of reminded me of a pair of cacti, maybe they have some grand aspirations to slowly morph into another type of plant or maybe I am witnessing the dawning of a new subspecies of tree.

The pathway between the trees leads down to a small lake which is over to the right of the picture, I will hopefully get some good photos of the lake very soon.

Down In The Furry Glen

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Furry Glen in Phoenix Park

This was taken only yesterday in an area of the park known as The Furry Glen. It’s a beautifully quite part of the park set in a hollow and surrounded by some awesome tall trees.

Down in the hollow sits a calming area of water, too small to be a lake and not quite small enough to be just a pond, if you try to amalgamate the words you end up with either a “land” or a “poke”, you can choose which one suits best.

It’s a real suntrap down here, even on a cold winters day you can barely ever feel even the slightest breeze.

It’s funny but every time I visit this area I always meet some highly knowledgeable local with plenty of interesting tales about this part of the park, rumour has it that there are lots of magical happenings going on down here. Just yesterday I met one man who informed me of the rather rare phenomena of seeing water travel up a hill. Apparently every time it rains there is a certain stretch of path upon which rainwater travels uphill to a shore. I also met another lad who guaranteed me that if I photographed a certain cluster of trees that the resulting photo would reveal three faces in the photo, not visible with the naked eye. I should have been immediately sceptical but I tried and tried with no success, he then told me the light wasn’t quite right for them to appear, I wonder who the gullible one is in this scenario.
There are some lovely rustic wooden steps in and out of the glen and obviously with such a love of trees I just couldn’t resist spending a bit of time trying to capture them.

Taken on a beautiful March afternoon with some lovely golden spring sunshine.