Abandoned Structure, Ireland

Abandoned Structure, Dingle Peninsula, Ireland

I do not post here very often as I now have my blog on my website as the home page....Every once in awhile I put one here to remind anyone interested where the blog currently lives.

So here is the new info:

http://harrysandler.com

http://twitter.com/dabrucke

http://facebook.com/hcsprod

Thanks for checking out the new locations....

This image was made using the iPhone and iPad....

Caravan, Northern, Ireland

Image made after a clearing storm in Northern Ireland. Spotted the Caravan getting pounded by the most beautiful flat front light and had to stop. While making th eimage all I Could think of was the cover of Leon Russell's Carney album and the song 'Tightrope' quoted below. Go Figure!!!


'Like a rubber-neck giraffe
you look into my past
well maybe you're just to blind to - see
I'm up in the spotlight
ohh does it feel right
ohh the altitude
seems to get to me'....Leon Russell

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I have moved this blog to a new location - http://harrysandler.com - to change your email subscription or RSS feed click on this link and the new sign up is in the upper right hand side of the home page.

Ireland

One of my favorite things about Ireland is the way they leave old structures standing and many times incorporate them into the new. It is not uncommon to see very old stone buildings being used or simply being preserved. For me this is the proper respect for the old...

I found today's image driving down a one lane road and unfortunately can not remember where...A bit of a fixer upper -

Caravan, Northern Ireland

Caravan, Northern Ireland

OK, looks like I have pushed through my printing black mentioned yesterday. Maybe it was the 'words with friends' that took my mind off the matter at hand or maybe I was thinking my work was not that good and that I would never make a decent print again...Maybe I need to read Art and Fear again.......I always think there will never be a good print again....

This images has been posted before. Did a bit of post processing to prepare for print today......What magical light exists in Ireland - I felt blessed to have stumbled on this scene in this light......WAHOO

Am now thinking this image might just work in black and white....

Ireland, Portrait

Couple and Dog, Finny, Ireland

Last winter while traveling in Finny, Ireland we met this couple on a small road just about wide enough for the vehicle we were driving. They stopped our car to let us know the road ended about a mile ahead and I asked about a portrait, to which they agreed. Sometimes you just have to travel the road less traveled......

Dingle Peninsula, Surfer

Surfer, Dingle Peninsula 

Today's image is from last Christmas while exploring the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland. It was one of those cold, windy days in Ireland, not unusual for this time of year. We were just finishing a drive out on the beach when the surfer appeared....I was able to get off a couple of hand held frames before the cold, wind and sand drove me back into the car. Dingle is definitely on the list for a return visit -  hopefully in better weather.

Ireland, Farm Buildings

Ireland, Farm Buildings

When I first saw this scene I fell in love with the color and the cloudy sky. Also liked the juxtaposition of the background mountain against the foreground buildings. .

 After importing the raw image it just did not live up to what my mind was telling me I saw at capture - I don't really like the word capture but can't think of another word at the moment. Frankly, I am of the mindset that one can vaguely remember the color, but not exactly like it was.  - yes there are those who will say they can.

In the end the iamge seems to work being a bit more organic - I do prefer the detail in the less subtle color

The image below is right after import....

Orignal IMage

Ireland Rainbow #2

Ireland Rainbow #2

This image is from two years ago very near the Cliffs of Moher in County Claire, Ireland. These cliffs are just east of Shannon, south of Galway. We were traveling some back roads when the rainbow suddenly appeared. For the most part in Ireland you just stop the car, grab a camera and shoot - there is usually never a place to park..

As it happens quite frequently in Ireland when we arrived at The Cliffs about 15 minutes later the fog had rolled in and the rain was coming down.  On the bucket list for a summer visit...

This is a 5 image panoramic stitched in Photoshop.

Ireland, Ballybunion Beach

Ballybunion Beach, Ireland

'There's room at the top they're telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill'.....John Lennon, Working Class Hero

I am never quite sure what he motivation is for me to post an image with a quote....they just seem to appear so I follow the lead....This image has been posted in color some time ago...Today it changed...

Ireland, Horses

Ireland, Horses

This image is one spotted out of the corner of your eye while traveling 100KM per hour on a barely wider then your car Ireland road just after a vicious rainstorm...So, of course you back up, fit your car in  a parking space, and make the image......

Belfast Political Murals

Belfast Mural 

On the last trip to Ireland I took the Black Taxi tour of what was once war torn Belfast. Our driver told stories of growing up during the more turbulent times in the Republican and Loyalist areas - somewhat like battlefield tourism. I doubt very much that any particular driver will not have an opinion, albeit biased, of the many political murals that cover the walls and homes in these areas. I asked my driver what would happen if someone did not want a murla on their house to which he replied, 'then they need to move'...

These neighborhoods are safe today as much as the black taxi's want to tell you otherwise - they do, however, know which areas to avoid on any given day....Well worth the cost.

This image, according to our driver, is a mural of how this all got started. Of course a bit of shameless promotion added...

Leaving for Cape May today for two days of shooting with a friend....

Ireland, Loch Na Fooey

Loch Na Fooey, Finney, Ireland

Today's image was made late in the day, almost sunset, on the shore of Loch Na Fooey in the town of Finney, Ireland. And, yes, another one of those Irish days with on and off rain and wind.....pretty much had to lean against a barbed wire fence to get the image. How much do we love the landscape possibilities in Ireland......and yes that is snow on the hillsides...

Just a note that after this last weather adventure in Ireland I bought weather protection gear for my equipment. This after reading Laurie Excel's blog and learning about Lenscoat, a company that makes covers to protect your gear in foul weather....Click on the name above to see their website.

That being said this image was processed in the new Adobe Lightroom LR4 Public Beta application. Adobe has made several upgrades to the existing LR3 modules and has added two new modules, Book and Map. The Map module will allow one to display the location of the image to include GPS coordinates and metadata information.  The Book module is in partnership with Blurb - although there might be others coming. You can output to a book or simply print a PDF. It has all the capability of the online Blurb site right inside of Lightroom.

There are several changes in the other modules and rather then go into a long winded description of LR4 please fond below a link to the Luminous Landscape video overview - They have done a superb job of showing what LR4 is all about.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/software/whats_new_in_lightroom_4_overview.shtml

I would suggest anyone using LR3 should take a look and give LR4 a look.

And here is the link to where the LR4 Beta can be downloaded - it is, of course, free.

http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/2012/01/lr4betanowavailable.html

Thanks to my good friend Mark Segal in Toronto for letting me know about the LR4 Beta and the Luminous Landscape tutorial....

Northern Ireland, Vintage Caravan

Vintage Caravan, Northern Ireland

Just back from Ireland yesterday. Other than the fact that I picked up the wrong bag from the carousel and had to go back to Newark Airport the flight home was rather seamless - albeit almost 8 hours due to high winds - also The Edge was sitting right in front of us....as my friend David said, 'The Edge is the soul of U2'...On a good note I got to play with images for the entire flight.....

As I mentioned most days were filled with rain and wind....but there were enough pockets of decent weather to get around. It was a two week class in shooting in less then favorable conditions and I learned a good deal on how to make that work....I will be buying a raincoat for my camera next week...

Found this image along the road driving from Belfast to Derry...the same day we also saw yellow sheep in a meadow by the water and a rainbow at the top of a hill.....quite the colorful day....

Happy New Year everyone - 2012 is finally here.....and it is a Leap Year...

Ireland, Tuliag Beach Sunset

Tuliag Bay, County Donegal, Ireland

Just running out to drive back to Dublin from Adare....Spent yesterday touring the Ring of Kerry in Country Kerry just outside of Killarney. No images from The Ring yet but down below find an iPhone4s image of Ladies View (Ring of Kerry). At th end of the day yesterday we stopped by Peter Cox's photo gallery in Killarney....Peter has some amazing images of Ireland. His gallery is a must see if you are in the area - 3 High Street, Killarney.

Today's image (above) is from Tuliag Beach in County Donegal in the Northwest part of Ireland. I thought I might get a colorful sunset but the clouds blew back in just as the sun  was setting.....I do, however, love images like this one.....it is a true reflection of the wind blowing and the cold weather of the day...

The image below reminds me of The Hudson River School.....

Ladies View, Ring of Kerry, County Kerry

Ireland, Birthday Rainbow

Birthday Rainbow, Irealnd

What a way to spend my birthday - tooling around Ireland looking for images....And I get a birthday rainbow......these rainbows just show up - they seem to materialize out of the mist.......alas no pot of gold - but still looking......

Ireland, Malin Head

Main Well, Ireland

Today was County Donegal - northwestern Ireland. Headed out early wanting to make Malin Head, the farthest northerly point in Ireland. As usual in Ireland, if you don't like the weather just wait 5 minutes and it changes.....there were a minimum of 10-12 weather changes today from rain, to sun to hail to winds around 50 miles per hour........I can honestly say being pelted with sleet really stings......

PS: Both photos on this page were taken within one half hour of each other.....

At any rate we stumbled upon a rocky beach around three miles from Malin Head....the car was actually parked just behind where this image was made...This rock was just in front of Malin Well (the sleet adn rain came in so hard I never got that image) which contains both a natural spring as well as a natural cave. Since pagan times locals have viewed these as holy....The spring water was though to cure disease. Legend has it that a hermit once lived in the cave and no matter how many people entered there was always room for more....If only the weather had held up..but at worst a wee bit of a history lesson...

Not sure about anyone else but I see a fairly well defined face in this rock formation.....

The image below is an iPhone4s panoramic image looking east from the top of Malin Head... luckily there were some old military structures still standing to block the wind....

Malin Head is on the Inishowen Peninsula... According to Wikipedia during WWII the Irish Government allow the British to site two radio direction finders on the head. This was a top secret operation - The RDF equipment was to to monitor U-Boat and aerial activity in the North Atlantic. After the war it became a weather station..Several of these structures are still standing today...

Looking East from Malin Head

Ballycastle Beach, Northern Ireland

Ballycastle Beach, Ireland

Left Belfast today and headed north and west  to Londonderry. Drove back over some of the same roads from Wednesday - this time the weather cooperated a bit - some rain but mostly dry weather....I saw this image the first time through and was happy to get back for a second shot at it......

 Spending New Year's Eve and Jan 1 in Londonderry exploring the northwest peninsula of Inishowen.

According to Wikipedia Inishowen is the largest peninsula in Ireland and the most northerly point, Main Head. Additionally, they say it has some of the highest sand dunes in all of Europe - as well as a fort constructed in the sixth century, Grianan an Alieach.....

Ireland Landscape

Ireland

'One of the biggest mistakes a photographer can make is to look at the real world and cling to the vain hope that next time his film will somehow bear a closer resemblance to it'......Galen Rowell

Dublin Theater

Grand Canal Theater, Dublin

This image is the side of the Grand Canal Theater in Dublin. It was turned 90 degrees counter-clockwise to create a bit of drama.

Image Management:

Canon 5DMKII
24-105MM Lens
Photoshop CS5
Lightroom 3
Capture One

Abandoned ireland

Abandoned Ireland

I was pleasantly surprised by the abandoned buildings still standing in Ireland. They seem to cherish these old structures, and, rather then take them down, these buildings, in many cases, are incorporated into much newer buildings. Most of them actually perform a function, whether it be to house a tractor or winter feed for the animals.

Driving down a road barely big enough for the car I noticed today's post set back on the right - of course I might have missed it had I not been driving on the wrong side of the car. Then, of course, there is the challenge to find someplace to park....Try as I might there was no way to get inside...