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The Fields of County Cork

On the way into Cork Airport I snapped this shot of the beautiful green fields of Co. Cork.

After the desert landscape of Arizona it was a relief to see familiar countryside again.

Blue sky on a dull day

Today is dull, there’s a glimpse of blue out, it’s cold, there’s a chilly wind blowing.

Blue sky and fluffy clouds in Kerry while on holiday. Great memories.

Yellow Walking Man

An arrow points the way for walkers near Wine Strand on the Dingle Peninsula. Across the water is Ballydavid or Baile na nGall.

Beautiful clear skies, lovely calm water. Ideal weather.

Dingle

The town of Dingle, or “An Daingean” as it’s officially known as now. The name change has upset many local people who mourn the loss of their identity and fear that the brand recognition of the name Dingle will be lost on (mostly American) tourists who flock here through out the summer.

The 2005 Placenames Order changed the name and it’s an utterly silly law. Yes the town is in an Gaeltacht, the Irish speaking part of the country. Yes, more people (hopefully?) speak Irish in those parts than in others, but a region does not survive on it’s own without interaction with non-Irish speaking people. I’m all in favour of An Gaeilge but this law is wrong.
Luckily, locals have stencilled the word “Dingle” back onto most signage but they missed a few signs here and there.

Clouds move at night

Clouds fly across the sky in this nighttime shot of Cork City. A crane is in the middle distance, practically a symbol of the City at this stage.

The building site in the foreground is on the old site of the Guy And Company building. There’s St. Anne’s Church or Shandon Bells in the distance.

Sunlight in the city

The sun hides behind the buildings and street furniture of Patrick’s Street in Cork.

Sky High Cork City

Cork City as seen from the top of the carpark on the Grand Parade. The big ugly white building is the tax office on O’Sullivan’s Quay, the church is a disused one nearby. I’m not sure of the name off the top of my head, anyone?

Technique:
1. Use two layers, one over and the other underexposed and join at the horizon using a gradient layer mask. Erase and fill in where necessary using the mask.
2. Use an overlay layer to create the nice vignette effect at the top of the image.

The image needs to be slightly rotated I think, I spent so much time getting the horizon correct I didn’t notice how crooked things were!

Orange stripes and white clouds

The orange stripes of the road lead off into the Conor Pass, north of Dingle in Co. Kerry. This was taken in September last year and they did a great job of improving the road.

The cloud you see is fog that literally rolled in off the hills. One moment there was a beautiful view down into the Pass and the next we were surrounded by a white wall of wet.

Donkey in the field

I almost made an ass of myself and forget to post a picture today! You’d be saying to yourselves, “He haw-lways posts a picture every day, where is today’s one?”

Never fear, here it is and I’ve run out of donkey jokes so it’s back to normal. Feel free to contribute in the comments however!

This donkey was snapped down in Kerry last September. We were driving back from Baile Na nGall (Bally David) when I spotted this donkey and a few horses in adjoining fields. I pulled over and ran across the busy bothaireen. Well, a Hi-ace and a tractor passed by..

More of the donkey to come!

Lifebelt in the grass

A lifebelt lay in the grass at a beach on the Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry last September. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, beautiful clouds contrasted with the deep blue of the sky and a light breeze blew off the sea.

We were just going back to the car after a nice stroll on the beach. I had just taken footprints in the sand down on the beach when I looked back one more time and saw this striking scene in front of me.

The clouds were perfect, the sun was shining on the beach, the far away hills were in shadow and light. Perfect moment!