Irish Photo rally 2017

On April 17, 2017April 17, 2017 By George McNeillIn General, photo rally6 Comments

Started doing the first photo points on the IPR this year. There’s a link here which shows the map and rally points. You can do them in any order and have a few months to complete them. My first was number 8 on the map.

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Moylough Castle or Church

Then traveling south it was number 7 next, Ballinahowen Tree Sculptures

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There are a few of these tree sculptures here so will do a post about these soon.

Still heading south to the next one number 13 on the map it was another tree sculpture in Banagher. It is called The Musician (J McEvoy) link

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Heres a link with Johnny McEvoy singing The Ballad of Jack Reilly.

Then it was over to the town of Tullamore to see a friend and enjoy a coffee. Back on the road home in the evening sun with just short of two hundred miles covered, the buzz of riding is still there even after forty years of motorcycling.

Thank you for visiting

Natures lovers.

On April 1, 2017April 13, 2017 By George McNeillIn General8 Comments

There’s a different look on the lough, with the winter water fowl and duck’s away the summer residents have made a show. Back are the Great Crested Grebe, Mallard’s and the Mute Swan’s. Mute Swans pair up for life and seldom divorce. Courtship takes place in late winter with synchronised head dipping and necks and breasts pressed together. With their S shaped necks a heart shape forms during this ritual.

I shot this photograph last year and converted it to black and white. It shows the heart shape they form doing the above ritual.

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Thank you for visiting

Spring morning in the back yard.

On March 25, 2017 By George McNeillIn General13 Comments

Woke this morning to the rising sun hitting the bedroom window, one look and I and my old pal where quick to get outside. I was setting up the tripod just has the last of the mist was kissing the lough surface. I took these with a 70- 300 telephoto lens, bracketing some of them and editing them in HDR Efex Pro. With the mist and a hoar frost coating the foliage it was a beautiful morning to be out. My old pal enjoyed following whatever scents and trails he was came across. Exploring the world by his nose like dogs do.

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Thank you for visiting.

Garden vistors

On March 19, 2017 By George McNeillIn General4 Comments

We get a good range of birds visiting the feeders in the garden, this afternoon I grabbed a few shots from a window in the house. Also been making and putting nesting boxes around the area, with plans to make and install a camera in one for next year. So a couple of photographs off our visitors.

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Great Tit swinging in the breeze.

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Blue Tit

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Chaffinch (male)

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Chaffinch (female)

Rook a member of the crow family.

Thank you for visiting.

Lake Muckno

On March 18, 2017March 18, 2017 By George McNeillIn General4 Comments

Sunday evening and it looked like it was going to be a lovely sunset, so took a drive over to Lake Muckno in Country Monaghan. Any clouds in the evening sky must have went else where has the sunset, the sky went flat. So shot a few Black and white photos. With interesting trees and the last on the sun has it dropped into the hills. With the camera on the tripod I got this shot.

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I love the beauty in these twisted limbs as if they were drawn in a quick sketch. A short walk saw me looking over a short stretch of water at what I think is the water skiing club.

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Has I drove home over higher ground I saw the last of a beautiful sunset in the direction of my home.

Thank you for visiting.

Waiting

On March 6, 2017March 9, 2017 By George McNeillIn General8 Comments

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We stand on a hill top, watching the passing of time.

The world of change goes spinning pass

Vast forest of our ancestors, culled long ago,

Land naked for man to grow his food,

Or cleared to build his caves.

Soon no place left, for him to rest his soul,

Or clean the air, that’s life for him.

Upon this little hilltop,

There’s now just two of us.

Our leaves there are no more.

Thank you.

Below is a quote from John O’ Donohue. I was given a book many years back by this man and his writing awoke a spirit within me.

“Behind your image, below your words, above your thoughts, the silence of another world waits.”
― John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Is photography art, an age old question.

On February 11, 2017 By George McNeillIn General11 Comments

Been very busy this last few months so the camera has not seen a lot for use. So any breaks in working, I have my nose stuck in a book even if it’s only a lunch break. I love reading anything from the daily paper to whatever catches my eye. I bought a photographic magazine which there was a letter asking is photography art. I believe it is, I decide on a number of settings which affects the look of the in camera shot before pressing the shutter. There there is the post shot processing, which is unlimited in the looks you can achieve or the message you hope to convey. I got a book yesterday called ‘ Why it does not have to be in focus’ Modern Photography Explained by Jackie Higgins. Published by Thames & Hudson ISBN 978-0-500-29095-8 . My base for buying this book came about from reading that letter. Jackie Higgins explains the artistry behind 100 key works of modern photography. Into chapter 2 and it makes an interesting read into the art of modern photography and the expression expressed within the image.

My photographs here don’t claim to be works of modern photography, but are they what I saw in front of my camera.

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Trying to figure if the trees were holding this upright.

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The frost was real.

Thank you for visiting

Drumlin’s , lough’s and frost.

On January 26, 2017January 26, 2017 By George McNeillIn General2 Comments

Sunday morning with a hoar frost covering all the vegetation and the gravel welded together, me and my old pal set off for our morning walk. The cold biting at flesh exposed and the sun rising in the sky it was a beautiful morning.

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This part for Ireland has rounded hills called Drumlin’s and within the valleys lough’s of various size. With the sun still low the land contours and the frost covered foliage stood out has the landscape changed with the light acting has a large craving chisel.

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And with nay a breeze the lough mirrored the beauty of nature’s landscape plantings. Has my old pal and I wandered around the lanes exploring short off shoots heading down the lough’s edges where others came to fish.

With it being cold the edges around the lough still had ice on them. Carved like cut glass with the remains of last years reeds forming hollow masts. It gave a look like a modern sculpture to the edge.

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Reaching the far side of the lake and the sun in our faces we stopped to watch a swan drift by. I turned around and there sitting in the sun my old mate was sat waiting. Getting low I quickly shot a couple of frames.

With the sun reflecting of his coat and the sun in his eyes it was time to make our way back. Like myself he loves his rambles around the lane and lough’s as he checks out every path our wild friends make while living there lives.

Thank you for visiting

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Thought I would give it an Irish tricolour look.

Enjoy your weekend.

Belfast people.

On January 19, 2017January 20, 2017 By George McNeillIn 365 Shutter Release Challenge 2015, General3 Comments

A wet Saturday in Belfast and the rain hammering down, large puddles at the road side had people playing chicken with the traffic. Timing was everything. So out of the railway station and one of Belfast’s oldest pub’s is doing a good trade judging by the numbers of people it’s doorway is swallowing. We head for another old building in the city, five minutes walk away. St Georges Market an indoor market building housing some craft stalls and all kinds of cooked foods. Live music in the centre area with table and seats is just the place to enjoy a needed cup of coffee. But to day it’s the people I’m watching.

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