Tag Archives: Phoenix Park

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.

Sometimes you need to look up !

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So as you may know at this stage if you have visited this blog before, I am rather obsessed with trees and pretty much everything to do with them.

On occasion I do love to simply look up when I am in the middle of a cluster of trees and see what the world looks like way up there.

I love the effect of a wide-angle lens on this kind of scene, everything seems to be falling in on top of me. It’s quite rare to see people wandering around looking up at the tree tops, I suppose it’s quite dangerous when you think about it. Personally it’s one of my favourite past-times, you just never know what you are going to spot up there. I love the massive tangle of branches, at times it’s hard to figure out which branches belong to which trees. I think this photo could make a great [and rather complex] game for kids, make them trace back each branch and work out which tree it leads back to. I know it would probably melt their brains but at least it would keep them quite for a while……….and before you ask, yes I do have kids.

This Deer Did Not Want Me Coming Too Close !

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If only you could hear the noise this magnificent beast was making at the time of taking this photograph. I was first attracted by the guttural howls of  this animal from quite a distance away. I can’t claim to be any expert on the behaviour of deer but I am thinking there was some kind of mating ritual going on here. This male was just pouncing around the place howling and growling at almost anything that moved, that included me too. Obviously this was taking using a very long zoom lens, it’s one of the few occasions I have decided not to try to get too close to them.

These particular lads were going about their business in the large expanse in front of the Papal Cross, it’s quite a common area to find them and a lovely place to just sit for hours watching wild animals go about their daily routine. It’s normally a very placid affair, but not on this particular day, as you can see.

I love the sense of action in this photo, a very gentle reminder that these are genuinely wild animals and must be treated with great respect. On a light note I also love the animal in the background with half his antler missing, he almost seems to be saying “Relax my friend, what’s the point in all this activity”, perhaps he enjoys a quieter life and just can’t be bothered with all this running around and mating lark.

This photo was actually found whilst rummaging through my archives, it was taken way back in 2005 on one of my first excursions to the park with a digital camera, a beautiful shiny new Eos Digital Rebel, proof that you don’t have to spend thousands of Euro to take decent photographs.

Enjoy this one, there are lots more wild deer photos to come very very soon.

Please let me know what you think of the photo, I really do appreciate feedback and comments.

The Phoenix Park Bandstand

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Two of my most recent shots featured in this blog so far, in fact they were only taken three days ago.

I have been meaning to visit the bandstand area of the park for quite some time now, in truth I have a tendency to avoid places like this, I can be quite a solitary individual when I am out with my camera so I shy away from places where lots of other people congregate. As you can see from the shots there are not many people around this area early on a Tuesday morning so I had it all to myself.

The bandstand is located in the middle of a truly beautiful hollow, surrounded by old trees and lots of handy white benches. It’s a stunning place on a sunny day, even in the winter, the hollow tends to block out any wind so if you are wandering around the park and feeling a bit cold then head straight down here and warm up a bit. You are also very close to the rather quaint Tea-Rooms so grab a coffee first and then simply enjoy one of the most peaceful places in the park. The entrance to the zoo is also very close so there is always a bit of activity going on around here, being a father of a young child myself I must admit I love the sounds of kids playing in the park, it just seems to make things seem more alive.

The bandstand itself was built around the end of the 19th century and is very well looked after, its in immaculate condition and is a credit to the staff of the park. The almost Tudor like design of the bandstand really lends itself to black and white photography.

I couldn’t really make up my mind about which photo I liked the best and somebody suggested I put both of them up, so here you go.

The close up shot of the bandstand was taken in infra-red whilst the more distant shot was taken using a very high iso giving it a lovely grainy almost dated like feel. I like the effect of the extra grain in the photo, it kind of suits the era the bandstand comes from.

If This Park Bench Could Talk !

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I must say I have always loved the square shape of medium format photography and I try to replicate that from time to time when the scene suits. This one was just perfect in my opinion. It’s got to be said the majority of the park benches in the park are extremely well cared for and its rare to find one like this. I love the texture in the wood.

I often think about the different people who have used these benches over the years, they have obviously been in the park for quite a long time, if only they could talk eh !

This particular series of benches are up on a small hill and overlook one of the other favourite places in Dublin, The War Memorial Gardens in Kilmainham / Inchicore. It’s a really lovely calming place to sit and look out over a busy road below, so close but still the traffic seems so distant at the same time.

A Dreamlike Vision In The Trees

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Anytime I look at this photo I always think how soft everything looks in it. It’s a wonderful side effect of infra-red, particularly on grassy areas, it almost makes it look like snow. Believe me it couldn’t be further from snow if I tried, this was in fact a beautiful summers day, this entire area just happened to be under the shade of the trees. I love stumbling upon this little used walkways through some of the thicker forested areas, I am sure there are plenty of other people who use them but I always get this feeling that I am the only one around, very pleasant indeed.

I wasn’t sure at first about the two main trees in the shot, both look like they are falling over but I find you tend to lean your head whilst looking at the picture and I love watching people doing exactly the same thing as me when they view it.

I find this quite a lonely almost cold feeling photograph but there is something about the trail of the pathway that always makes me wonder what is around that corner.