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.

A Drunken Tree in The Phoenix Park

Posted on May 4, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

This here is one of my most recent photos, taken only a few days ago, on the 2^nd of May to be totally exact.

A beautiful sunny day in the Phoenix Park, pity I forgot it was a bank holiday though, far too many people walking in front of the camera just as I was about to hit the shutter button. It’s amazing the amount of attention you draw to yourself with a camera set up on a tripod, I think most people assume you are either

A professional photography
Somebody important.

As you may or may not know already, I am neither.

I love the completely random questions you get from complete strangers but my favourite reaction from people has to be their attempt to figure out what on earth you are trying to photograph. I always get lots of people standing close by and trying to look off into the general area you are pointing the camera at. Sometimes I overhear conversations usually featuring this phrase –“I don’t know either love, just looks like a load of trees to me too”

I think my all time favourite [and most common] question has to be – “So you’re a photographer” or “You’re into the photography then are you”, it must be said these questions most commonly come from old men, that will most likely be me someday.

Anyway, on to the actual photograph.

On first glance I thought I should really get a few shots of this fallen tree before the park wardens removed it. Once I got a little bit closer I realised it was actually still alive and seemed to be growing in this formation. I think it may have blown over at some point in its life but managed to stay alive somehow, it’s definitely still alive as there is plenty of new growth on it. It’s amazing how robust trees actually are, at least half of the trunk has been severed but it’s decided to carry on regardless.

So, basically if you are one of those old men in the park then yes, I am actually into photography [and not in the “Say no more, nudge nudge” Monthy Python kind of way].

Enjoy the first of many shots to appear from this beautiful day.

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

Candy Floss Trees In The Phoenix Park

Posted on April 29, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

This particular shot was taken back in 2007, August 21^st to be totally exact. It’s amazing what you can find out about photos when you discover how to read all the hidden data in the files. I wonder did Ansel Adams [one of my all time favourite photographers of all time] ever think that the day would come when you didn’t need to carry around a notebook to record all the data about individual photographs. I remember back in the day when I still used film and I had to basically carry around a notebook to detail the settings on pretty much every single photograph I had taken. The reason behind that was simple, if you shoot ten rolls of film and end up with just one beauty then you really want to remember what settings you had on the camera so you could possible replicate that scenario. I still think the rules are pretty much the same except now digital cameras do all the dirty donkey work for me.

Back to the subject of Ansel Adams again, if I may rewind quite a bit.

I was in town today and to be honest I must admit every time I see one of his books I tend to be drawn towards it. At this stage I think must have every photograph he has published in one of my many books but I was attracted to a book featuring a collection of his colour photography. This man is one of the greatest black and white photographers of all time so I almost felt obliged to complain to the shop owners and ask them to remove the book from their shelves, I don’t disagree with colour photography, I simply don’t like it myself.

I have often thought how cool it would be if I could go and have an operation to stop my eyes actually seeing in colour anymore, imagine the world in black and white all the time, next thing I would be saving up for the infra-red operation.

Tudor House From May 2008

Posted on April 25, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

This photo comes from back in May 2008 during an early excursion with my brand new toy, a lovely Hoya infra-red filter. It would be fair to say I spent the day taking long exposure shots with the filter and most of the photos really didn’t warrant being captured by a camera. It’s just one of those things when you get a new toy for your camera you just need to get out and play with it.

I have taken some regular shots on film of this derelict house over the years so I pretty much knew that it would look awesome in infra-red. I waited and waited for months so that the trees would come back into bloom just to add that extra dream-like fuzziness to the photograph. The house itself was just screaming out to be photographed in black and white, let’s be honest here, it’s the only two colours in the house.

There is something very ghostlike about the house, I have this lovely image of some long dead family haunting the place, you can almost imagine it being used in a film sometime.

As far as my research tells me this was originally a changing rooms for the GAA pitch that I stood on to take this shot, if you know better then please let me know, it’s pretty tough to find out any real solid information about it.

I am also quite fascinated by the small little outhouse to the left of the photo, yet again any information would be greatly appreciated.

Wild Goalposts Growing In The Phoenix Park

Posted on April 12, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

Another blast from the past here, I took this photo way back in 2008 and it has been one of those photos that I just couldn’t get right for years.
I have tried and tried to get a sky that I was happy with but as there was no cloud coverage it was just various shades of gray.
Finally I decided to increase the contrast so high that the sky just went completely black, this may seem like some photoshop cheat but trust me this is nothing that couldn’t be done in a darkroom on traditional paper. By increasing the contrast so high I have also ended with a patch of grass that actually looks more like snow.
I love the starkness of the goalposts against the pure fuzziness of the trees in the background. I also love the angle of the trees, it is almost like they are leaning in to make sure I capture them in the photo.
A few people have mentioned it’s typical of me to seek out the GAA goalposts and not the soccer ones, it’s just something I did without even thinking, maybe there is more of a symmetrical beauty to them or maybe it’s just because I love the GAA.

Enjoy the photo, and please don’t be afraid to leave your comments.

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

Trees Glorious Trees

Posted on March 26, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

Two photos in one day, you can tell it’s Saturday and the wee lad is fast asleep in bed for a while. Obviously it’s too early for any sporting events on tv so all the normal distractions are well out of the way.

Isn’t it amazing how sports channels fill up Saturday mornings with utter rubbish while they wait for anything interesting to happen. Anyway, I digress, apologies for that.

I actually took this photo way back in July 2007, one of my earlier forays into the magical work of infra-red photography, I must admit at this stage it was all down to trial or error. I reckon I could easily come back home with at least 30 shots of exactly the same scene, I will never bemoan the onset of digital photography again, you simply can’t do that amount of experimentation with film unless you’ve just won the lotto and the prize comes with its own free darkroom. Imagine the amount of film I would have to carry around with me for a full day out in the park. I suppose I could get the young fella to follow me around with a wheelbarrow full of film for me. I also suppose I could do a fair amount of processing in Photoshop but yet again, that’s just not for me, you either record the shot exactly as you want it or you have to go back again another day.

Anyway, to say I personally love this photograph is a bit of an understatement. I truly love the symmetry of the perfectly upright trees juxtaposed with the one stray almost semi-circular branch right smack bang in the middle of the shot. I just couldn’t have asked for a better scene……well one or two fluffy Irish clouds would maybe have added to it.

Did I Just Dream About This Photo

Posted on March 26, 2011 by visionsofthephoenixpark

This has to be one of the finest examples of why I love taking infra-red photographs.

You can turn a lonely almost desolate looking scene into something totally dreamlike. I tried many times to capture this scene normally but I just couldn’t get any drama out of the shot. So I decided to switch to infra-red and see what happens.

I love the way it turns a perfect summers day into something almost storm like, I really couldn’t have asked for a better skyline. As you can probably see from this photo, a perfect cloudless summer day is not really what you want when you are all ready for an infra-red shoot in the park. Big fluffy clouds really make whole thing come together [Big Fluffy Clouds, is that a Cocteau Twins song by any chance].

This tree is also one of my all time favourites in the park. It’s obvious at one stage that the main stem of the tree itself was broken, so it just seems to have decided to grow another one, don’t you just love the resilience of trees, if only humans could loose limbs and grow another spare one.

The photo was taken in an area just off the main road through the park on the left hand side just before you reach the turnoff for Farmleigh, the tiny bridge has a tendency to appear in quite a few of my photos.

Visions of The Phoenix Park

Photography by Dave Kennedy

Tag Archives: Dream Like

Something’s Lurking In The Phoenix Park

The Papal Cross in The Phoenix Park

Lonely Tree In The Phoenix Park

A Drunken Tree in The Phoenix Park

Candy Floss Trees In The Phoenix Park

Tudor House From May 2008

Wild Goalposts Growing In The Phoenix Park

Trees Glorious Trees

Did I Just Dream About This Photo

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