52 week Black and White

Week 9

Hello and welcome, here we are at the start off another month. So this week’s photo comes from County Meath, Ireland and the grand gateway to Rathaldron Castle a few kilometres from Navan town.

Some of the castles history can be found at this link: http://www.navanhistory.ie/index.php?page=rathaldron-castle

Rathaldron Castle

Thank you for viewing, have a great week.

George ☘️

52 week Black and White

Week number 8.

Hi all, glad you could join me on this weeks Irish photo rally point. This week we are at Lady Baltimore’s Statue, Bornacoola , County Longford

Lady Baltimore’s Statue, Bornacoola , County Longford .

More information here. https://www.longford.ie/en/visit/explore-the-past/baltimore-statue/

Thank you for stopping by,

George☘️

52 week Black and White

week five.

So with a mini heat wave this week I got out on the motorbike. I done one off the Irish photo rally points. http://www.irishphotorally.ie/

For those that look at the I. P. R site this photo is number five on the map.

This is the old Water pump/post office in Donaghmoyne in County Monaghan.

The date above the door is 1857, not sure if it was a post office from that date.. Today it could be somes home.

The m/c is a BMW r1200gs and me and this old girl has covered many happy miles. Hopefully a few more this year.

Black and White Wednesday

This photo I shot a few month’s back at Salts Mill, Bradford. It was parked outside the church and just managed to get a couple of shots before it left with the wedding party.

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Thank you for visiting and please feel free to comment.

George

Two more photo rally points.

For those that don’t know the Photo rally points are, they are from The Irish Photo Rally 2018. Info about the photo rally and a map with the photo points on it are HERE .

So my route for my first photo today take me across Ireland toward the west coast. It’s number 21 on the map and it’s in county Sligo. It was a foggy start to the morning but traffic was light and after 30 mile the sun had broke through. It was going to be warm, my first stop for a coffee and fuel was in Enniskillen . Jacket air vents opened it was southwest to the village of Belcoo

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Lough MaCnean

then Manorhamiton.  A few miles pass Manorhamilton I turn onto the R826 , pass the shore of Lough Gill and on to the town of Drumahair. I followed small single track roads till i was south of Sligo Town. Back roads around to the Beach Bar and follow the coast through Easky where another coffee had my name on it. Continuing on the R297  till i was south of Enniscrone at the Photo rally point ‘ The Black pig’

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The Black Pig.

With the photo taken another motorcyclist arrived and a few minutes chatting about the rally points and where I was going next. Well my next point was number 23 on the map, County Rosscommon . Put the coordinates into the Sat-nav  and set it of winding roads. Love doing this for it takes all the small roads that winds through the country side. I stopped a service area to get a bite to eat and refuel the bike. Sitting outside in the sun this Blacksmiths workshop was across the road.

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I looked the internet and found he is an artist/blacksmith. a link to some of his WORK.

One of my problems while riding is I enjoy it so much, I forget to stop and take photos. I keep saying I will but ….. so not a lot to show on this next leg of my trip. My next point was the Albert Lock.

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The lock on the left with Lough Nanoge in the background. The lough os part of the river Shannon network.Photo rally 2018-3240.jpg

The Lock keeper’s cottage.

A chat with the lock keeper and the chance to see a boat using it it was time for a long ride home. That ride would see me cover another six counties. Near 12 hours on the road that day, it was a tired body that walked into the house.

Thank you for visiting and joining me on my trips.

George.

Sunset, The Mourne Mountains

Went for a short drive along the coast and the light was not great. Looking up at the Mourne mountains I decide to drive into the hills just North West from them and wait for sun set. Stopping at the view point called the Windy Gap, it wasn’t living up to its name last night. Just a light breeze which got cold has the sun set.

 

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This first show’s the Drumlin’s (small rounded hills) with the Mourne’s in the background. Drumlin’s  make up a lot of the country side in County Down.

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This and the one below  was take with at 200mm on a Tamron 70-200mm zoom lens just has the sun was starting to set.

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The sun was setting behind me and the colour was in the clouds behind me. So I walked up a short lane way and took the next few shots.

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It was at this point I packed up, I got the heater on in the car and sat and watched the last ray’s drop and pull the night down.

Thank you for visiting, please feel free to comment.

George.

Monochrome day

I have a love for black and white images so this week, yep it’s like the weather here. Not much colour with a mix of snow, mist and the never to far away RAIN. So the first image is another misty lough shot.

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This was taken last week, I enlarged the grain a little to soften the image to get the effect of B&W film I shot some years ago.

This next shot was taken with a telephoto lens and edited in Silver Efex Pro2 which is part of the Nik Collection.

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This was taken in the afternoon before sunset with the light coming in from the right and the clouds acting like a large light modifier on the landscape. Also giving a nice rim light to the clouds. This is the Mourne mountains in County Down, Ireland with the cloud covering Slieve Donard the highest mountain in Northern Ireland.

And my last shot I took was of some woods near my daughters home. It was the play of light and shadow on the texture and into the trees that drew me to this shot.

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I edit all my raw images in Lightroom before finishing with Silver Efex Pro2 for any monochrome shots. I hoped you enjoyed the blog, please feel free to leave a comments. What you like or dislike, what software you use for B&W editing or for colour.

Thank you for visiting, liking and your comments. Have a good weekend.

George.