Infra Red Film

Posted on February 6, 2014 by visionsofthephoenixpark

This is one of my first forays into the surrealistic world of infra red film. I have posted many digital infra red shots in the past but this here is one of the first examples of infra red film. I must say this was a really really exciting trip to the park. I felt like a little child again as I shot two rolls of film and literally had no idea if anything would come out on them. Do any of you remember waiting on a roll of film to arrive back from the chemist when you were a kid, it used to take a couple of days and then the excitement when you got your prints. I decided not to develop the film myself this time as I didn’t want any mistakes to be made on my part. After a few days waiting I received two rolls of perfectly exposed infra red film all ready and waiting to join me in the dark room. Some of these photographs took up to four minutes to actually expose and if you look really closely just to the left of the tree in the lower area of the sky you can see the trails of two airplanes. I even had a small herd of around ten deer stroll in to the photograph but alas none of them ended up appearing in the final print, I promise you they were there but unfortunately the moved too fast through the scene.

The photograph was taken using a Bronica medium format 120mm camera. I used a roll of Rollei Infrared 400s film and then made the print in the darkroom on Kentmere paper.

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To purchase a signed 10 x 10 inch print of this photo, just click the button below.

You can either pay directly via paypal or with your own credit card. Don’t worry if you don’t have a Paypal account, you don’t actually need one, you simply click on the button and enter you card details to pay via Paypal.

The Prints are €25.00 each and that includes shipping to anywhere in the world. Your print will be made to order and will ship out within 48 hours.
If you would like a bigger or smaller size please don’t hesitate to email me with your requests.

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Through The Trees

Posted on July 25, 2013 by visionsofthephoenixpark

Amazing the things you can find when you root around under your bed. I found this photo a few months ago whilst searching around for a particular photo to print up for an exhibition. I think I took this about seven years ago and originally didn’t really like it too much. Sometimes it helps to leave things alone and then go back to them after a while. It’s one of the reasons I tend to print up every photo that at least reaches the “Ok” box for me. I tend to have boxes of printed digital photographs as I like things the old fashioned way, there is something about rooting through boxes of prints rather than trying to find something on a computer. Its much easier to come across photos that didn’t make it the first time but then on second glance just seem to work.

I took this photo near the cricket pitches in the Phoenix Park. I was working on a series of photographs of the old tudor style house that used to be the changing rooms for the GAA pitches and happened to move about ten feet to the right of the house.

It’s a digital image using an infra red filter attached to the lens on the camera.
File under “Dreamy”

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To purchase a signed 12 x 8 inch print of this photo, just click the button below.

You can either pay directly via paypal or with your own credit card. Don’t worry if you don’t have a Paypal account, you don’t actually need one to simply pay with your credit card.

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Infra Red Tree On A Frosty Morning.

Posted on October 6, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

I have to admit it’s photos like this one here that really got me totally hooked on the joys [and pains] of infra-red photography. I will warn you in advance for every one of these you will probably get another ten that don’t actually come out that well, such is the hit and miss nature of infra-red. Half the time the camera will have focused on something way off in the distance and the main interest in your photo will just be a hazy blur, you simply have to trust the auto focus on the camera as you can’t actually see anything through the lens once you place the infra-red filter on it.

I am about to start experimenting with infra-red film again soon, I have just bought a batch of it and I’m going to head out once I get a nice sunny day and my medium format camera fixed.

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

A Frosty Morning In The Phoenix Park.

Posted on October 3, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

What is it about lonely single trees that attracts me to them so much, if I knew the answer to that believe me I would gladly tell you. There is definitely something very photogenic about these odd solo characters but there is more to it than that. I have found myself on occasion in the park just sitting and watching these trees, I know that sounds a bit odd as they don’t really do any fancy tricks or talk to me but I must confess I find something truly satisfying about just watching a beautiful tree.

I love the contrast between winter and summer months too, from lush green foliage to something sparse and barren. I’m sure if I visited the tree above during the summer months I would end up with a completely different photograph, and to be honest, something with a completely different feel too.

This shot was taken on a very cold winters morning, the tree itself seemed to be hanging on to the last of its leaves. The grass was almost frozen and the sun was desperately trying to shed some light on the situation through some very heavy cloud and early morning mist.

I kind of think if you closed your eyes and actually touched this photo it would be cold on your hand.

You can now purchase prints or postcards of this photo by clicking this link.

Tom Waits’ Big Top Tent

Posted on September 14, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

Ok, so the story behind this photo goes like this……….
Here I was wandering around my favourite place in Dublin and I stumble upon this very large big top style tent well hidden in the trees. The tent was just at the side of the visitor centre in the Phoenix Park and on the day I was wandering around there was lots of activity with trucks, forklifts and burly security men. At first I thought it must be some kind of kooky circus setting up in the park but I thought the fencing and security was a bit too tight for it to be just a circus, I also kind of wondered why it would be so well hidden in the trees.
Anyway I proceeded to set up my camera and started snapping some very long exposure infra-red shots of the tent as it was being assembled. On several occasions I noticed security men, all dressed in black, passing me by in a very casual just having a wander in the park style. One or two of them would stop and have a quick chat, it was pretty obvious they wanted to know exactly what I was up to. I’m happily clicking away thinking the lads are just a little bit too concerned about what I’m doing so I finished shooting and decided to hightail it away out of the area, just in case.

On the way out of the park I bumped into a friend of mine and he asked me if I was going to see the much advertised Tom Waits show in the big top tent………………….DOH !

You can now purchase prints or postcards of this photo on my Redbubble page here

I’m Back At Last

Posted on September 13, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

This particular broken down tree has already appeared in this post but I also really like the way it looks from this angle. It’s amazing sometimes the way two different angles of exactly the same thing can look so contrasting.

It’s been a while since I have been able to pay any attention to my blog, six weeks to be exact, due to a small fracture in my collarbone.

Along with not being able to type very well one other concession I had to make was giving up photography for the same period. I must say it’s kind of strange not being able to use my camera for such a long time. I don’t think I have ever gone this long without even taking the odd snap shot. Since I became obsessed with photography twenty years ago I very rarely go anywhere without a camera, there are times when I can’t even go to the supermarket without bringing at least a little compact camera in my pocket, you just never know what you might see on the way.

I am so obsessed with having a camera at all times that I have now noticed my [almost] three year old son now goes to the park and make clicking noises whilst holding his hands up to his eyes, he regularly tells me to stand still and then uses his imaginary camera to take a snapshot of me. I have also noticed, much to my delight I should add, that he also makes sure to wind on the film after every shot, now there’s a traditional photographer in the making.

Anyway, it’s great to be back again and I hope to have some lovely new shots in the next week or two. Firstly I have to find out where the young fella has hidden all my cameras though.

You can now purchase prints or postcards of this photo here

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.

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.

Visions of The Phoenix Park

Photography by Dave Kennedy

Tag Archives: Dream Like

Infra Red Film

Through The Trees

Infra Red Tree On A Frosty Morning.

A Frosty Morning In The Phoenix Park.

Tom Waits’ Big Top Tent

I’m Back At Last

It Looks Windy

The Phoenix Park Polo Grounds.

The Phoenix Park’s Little Imperfections

A Successful Mistake

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