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november woods, filtered
I took this photograph in the woods this evening, of the lowering sun filtered through trees. Then I filtered the photo and added a frame that lent it an older look. As the image changed on my computer screen I analysed the feelings it evoked, and eventually it synched with an emotional response I wanted to express. It reminds me how we change events after we experience them: we add in more hue and contrast or bump up the warmth. Our memories are refined in the re-telling. Details are zoomed upon and unsightly ugliness cropped out. Finally, we create the perfect capsule moment. This is what we show to others.…
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first shrooms
One of the events I look forward to in August is the return of the mushroom. I love taking photographs of fungi, so I was delighted to discover this large colony of shrooms on a fallen tree in the forest today. Alas the light was not the best, but this is a decent shot of one of the clusters. Hopefully it will be the start of a fruitful season of autumn photos.
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slanted
An old post, slanted deep in summer foliage, against the changable sky. Summer in Ireland.
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electric hugs and spinning
Last weekend I went to a Silent Disco in the Big Top – a venue that’s erected for the Galway Arts Festival every year. The premise is that everyone is given a pair of wireless headphones, and there are two channels where different DJs compete for the crowd’s affections. At first I thought it would be quite weird, but it turned out to be great fun. It’s a strange combination of feeling liberated by wearing headphones and yet being part of a crowd experience. It’s interesting to watch the dynamics of the responses in the crowd as one DJ falls out of favour and another one catches on. There was…
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escape artist
the shadow of the bars can cast a longer shade than the sentence served behind them. when their cold memory dents recoiling skin recall the first free breath inhaled outside. the gaol of the past is the vital prison for the escape artist to crack.
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graveyard red
During our brief sunny spell at the weekend I stopped into the Forthill Cemetery in Galway city, an old graveyard I’d never visited before. It was ablaze with roses, and I seized the moment to take plenty of pictures, which was a good call as the lashing rain today probably stripped the bushes of their blooms by now. Under the blinding sun the atmosphere was upbeat and cheery. The roses struck supermodel poses against the stark, blue sky or the plain, grey palate of the gravestones. It was inclement weather for ghosts. I bumped into the caretaker, who was pleased I was so attentive to his roses. He gave me…
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festival season
This trio of buskers were offering up beautiful music on High Street in Galway on Saturday. It was a hot, sunny day, and the start of festival season in Galway. Actually, from about March onwards Galway is the host of festival after festival, but it reaches its cultural peak during July. Tomorrow sees the start of the Galway Film Fleadh, an internationally-famous film festival that’s an important marker on the Irish film calendar. The city can’t even hitch in a breath before the two-week Arts Festival descends, and then it’s the annual Galway Races. Before you know it it’s August and the summer is sliding away and the Oyster festivals…
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donkey roll
In late April I visited Farmleigh House in the Phoenix Park, which was ablaze with flowers. The weather was warm, but the sun was ducking in and out of cloud cover, giving an inconsistent light to the photos I took that day – I went crazy taking snaps of the blooms. So much so I kept putting off when I was leaving. Along the path to Farmleigh is a pasture in which grazed a number of donkeys. When I went over to take some pictures one of them plopped down in a patch of dry earth. Perhaps the donkey was entirely disinterested in my attention, and just had an itch…
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summer colony
I took this image the other day while walking my dog through a patch of woods I hadn’t been through before. I noticed this colony of fungus attached of the bottom of a branch, which was just above eye level. There are so many new things you can notice every day, if you just pay attention.
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espresso day
I don’t normally fuel my day on an espresso, but this little cup is a new purchase and it demanded use! It’s a piece of Paul Maloney Pottery, and I bought it because when I picked it up I felt like Goldilocks finding the perfect bed: it was a natural, comforable fit. It’s as if the potter knew the exact dimensions of my fingers and how I like to hold a cup. When you find a match like this you bring it home, and keep it forever.