Tag Archives: Furry Glen

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.

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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.