Monthly Archives: May 2012

Your Shadow

31 Thursday May 2012

Posted by in Dublin, Insane Ireland, Photography

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Sometimes a plan doesn’t work out. So you’re forced to come up with a better idea!

I’ve been wanting to join my boyfriend for one of his tennis matches, figuring it could make a good bloggable subject (I believe thinking like that is a sign of addiction.) I’m saving my original idea for another time..

For now I used the perfectly sunny day and my position up on the terrace to take some pictures of the interesting shadows the players provided. I’m not sure who the man with the white shoes is. In case you recognize your own, thank you for modelling! 

More Beach

30 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by in Insane Ireland, Photography

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Can’t. Help. Myself. More. Beach. Photo’s….

I always wanted to live near the sea. It seemed like such a luxury to me, to be able to go out on a sunday morning and take a stroll on the beach. Enjoying the wind and the waves. You can guess how often I’ve done that since I moved to Dublin more than 9 months ago? Indeed, not often enough!

I took these pictures at Killiney beach. Killiney is a small town south of Dublin. The area is amazing to get lost (a little, as far it’s possible over there). We ‘Europeans’ had a  bank holiday on Monday. Since it wasn’t a day off for the Irish we managed to find some empty spots. Officially we were heading for another place but we couldn’t resist once we spotted this gem through the trees. After a few dead ends and dodgy roads we managed to park the car close to the beach and we even took a (short and cold!) dip in the sea. It was quite windy and some dark clouds were steadily moving in on us. What do you think of the ‘dreamy’ look of the images? And which one do you like better? The horizontal of vertical perspective?

 

 

Rooftop Fun

29 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in Dublin, Insane Ireland, Photography

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As I said yesterday, I was too busy with sunbathing, beach visits and a barbecue. Dublin, and the Irish coast for that matter, absolutely transforms when the sun comes out and we reach outrageous temperatures of 23 degrees Celsius. Imagine ;)

After the beach I was invited to a barbecue on a rooftop in Spencer Dock, one of the Oracle employee infested (sorry, occupied) buildings in the city. I lived there myself for a short wile, but I was nine floors down from that particular spot. It’s not that I’m complaining about our current view, but this terrace is the best I’ve seen in  this city until now. If anyone thinks they can beat it, please let me know so I can come over and take some pictures!

Tom, once again, thank you for the invite and I hope you enjoy these as a reminder when you leave the apartment!

 

 

The One Lovely Blog Award

25 Friday May 2012

Posted by in Award, Photography

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Thank you Shirsha! Shirsha nominated me for this award earlier this week so it’s time for me to pay it forward! Shirsha is posting on http://technikolordreamer.wordpress.com/ on a daily basis, taking at least one picture every day for her leap year. I admire the consistency! That is something I need to work on..

One Lovely Blog Award

Even though I am very happy people are reading my blog and appreciating it, the rules seem a bit funny to me. They remind me of those chain-emails we used to send around when we were in highschool ;). In case I nominate you and you feel hessitant about participating; I understand. I can’t resist though!

The 7 random facts about me:

  • I studied fashion but currently I sell IT
  • I have a weak spot for nail art. And nail art tutorial video’s. And Nail Art web-shops. Check the link to Naildays below, they have an awesome competition going ;)
  • Even though I moved from The Netherlands to Ireland recently I have about 50 pairs of shoes. Maybe more, it’s been a while since I counted (and my boyfriend, who tries to ignore my shoes, reads my blog too)
  • I am a TV show addict. I won’t get on a plane without at least 5 episodes of something on my tablet.
  • I speak German but I never use it because deep inside I’m a perfectionist.
  • Go figure how that last point affects my progress in my current project: learning Danish!
  • I cannot help myself when I see cheap photo-accessories from Hong Kong on Ebay. The mail-room girl already knows where to deliver when she sees a package from Hong Kong with no name on it.

And finally, 15 blogs I enjoy and appreciate:

http://leannecolephotography.com/

http://mimokhairphotography.com/

http://naildays.wordpress.com/

http://sillymonkeyphoto.com/

http://newsferret.wordpress.com/

http://earthquakeboy.wordpress.com/

http://hovercraftdoggy.wordpress.com/

http://mozuqunoire.wordpress.com/

http://roryalexanderphotography.wordpress.com/

http://notquiteold.wordpress.com/

http://wernerpriller.wordpress.com/

http://photobypawelp.wordpress.com/

http://lindsaymariko.wordpress.com/

http://adrianharveyphotography.com/

http://myawesomebeauty.com/

Tower House

25 Friday May 2012

Posted by in Insane Ireland, Photography, Travels

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More abandoned buildings today. In Ireland you find tower houses. Big mansions with (surprise ;) ) some kind of watch tower. I should find some photo’s of a tower house restored but this small one I found driving along Killarney National Park. Just after a sharp bend in the road it was standing there in the sun. I did climb over a few fences that weekend…

 

Irish Summer

24 Thursday May 2012

Posted by in Insane Ireland, Photography, Travels

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It seems like Irish summer has started. I have to admit, it feels great! I might have said before that Dublin isn’t a nice city but last night from the rooftop, enjoying the sun it looked pretty good.

The only thing keeping us foreigners down here are the Irish. Quotes like ‘Enjoy it, this will be the few days of summer we get this year’ and ‘Wow, it’s so hot!’ To clarify, that last comment was made when it was 19 degrees at lunchtime ;)

For now we will enjoy it, for as long as it lasts and a sunny picture to match!

I took this picture on a morning in April in Kinsale in the South of Ireland. We were driving along the coast and we were there quite early (read: before the tour buses were in operation). Kinsale is a small town with a pretty harbor and a few medieval buildings. I enjoyed wandering through the small streets in the morning sun before a stop at a lovely bakery and the rest of the route along Cork’s coastline.

Abandoned

23 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by in Insane Ireland, Photography, Travels

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One of the things I love about making roadtrips here in Ireland are those small sheds and abandoned houses (or even tiny castle-like buildings) you find along the road. I can never resist stopping to take a few pictures. That has got me in some awkward situations with my car parked half on those narrow roads :-)

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Tourist in Amsterdam

22 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in Photography, The Netherlands, Travels

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Ok. I am officially a tourist when I go to Amsterdam. I started taking pictures of bicycles. And I finally realised what all foreigners mean when they are so surprised by the number of bikes. After 10 months of living in a country where cyclists are heavily discriminated (Bus lane equals cycle lane, those double buses are big, scary and out to get me!) I actually liked tripping over bikes that are parked in every impossible spot.

Tropical Island

14 Monday May 2012

Posted by in Insane Ireland, Photography, Travels

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I recently discovered that Ireland every now and then does look like a real tropical Island. Along the west coast there are a few beautiful white beaches with turquoise, Chrystal clear, blue water. Sadly the temperatures didn’t really match my ideal of spending some time there ( Enjoying the warm sun, cocktail in hand) but that meant I could put some energy in taking photographs :)

At The Gate

10 Thursday May 2012

Posted by in Insane Ireland, Photography, Travels

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I simply can’t get enough of driving along those beautiful (but bumpy and with too many sharp bends and fast driving locals!) roads along the Irish coast. Or of posting pictures taken there for that matter! Today another picture taken along the  Ring of Kerry.

It is an HDR image, does anyone have any advice on what software to use for processing HDR’s? I’ve used Photomatix and PS6 before. What do you feel is the easiest and most flexible?

Connemara National Park

08 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in Insane Ireland, Photography, Travels

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Maybe I should dedicate a post to ‘the places my car goes’ it seems I am collecting pictures taken from the drivers seat of my car looking out over a beautiful view. Every now and then I let go of the urge to see as much as possible on two or three days and leave my car to take a nice walk.

We walked (partly ;) ) up Diamond hill in Connemara national park. Beautiful sights!

 

Lovely Kylemore Lady

07 Monday May 2012

Posted by in Insane Ireland, Photography, Travels

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The lady in the picture below is one of the sisters of the Benedictine community living in, and taking care of the Kylemore Abbey in Connemara on Ireland’s West Coast.

I asked whether I could take a picture of the sister sitting at the desk below the big staircase. It turned out she is very fond of photography herself and is more than willing to pose for a picutre (on the condition that I come into the picture with her as well). She is busy making cards out of her own photographs of the place to send them to her friends. She tells me that she is so happy to live in this amazing place and she shows me her pictures of the Abbey and the surrounding nature in different weather conditions. I am especially yealous of the shots she took in beautiful evening light with no wind so a perfect reflection of the abbey in the lough. She is very pasionate in talkbin about her abbey and her mountains :)

The abbey was built in 1867 by Mitchel and Margaret Henry. Mitchel Henry built the castle on the place where Kylemore Lodge once was. The couple had spent their honeymoon there and they fell in love with the place. The Henry family lived there for several years untill Mitchel sold the (at that time) castle to te Duke and Duchess of Manchester. It is said that the Duke gambled with the deeds of the house and lost. It took a few years before the Castle was inhabited again, by the time the Benedictine sisters took it over in 1920 there was a lot of restoring to do.

Roadtrip Reflections

03 Thursday May 2012

Posted by in Insane Ireland, Photography, Travels

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When I moved to Ireland I brought my car from The Netherlands. That was such a good decision! Dublin is a nice place to stay for a while but Ireland gets really beautiful once you leave the city and explore small country roads.

Luckily it is not too hard to move a car around within the EU, I have a few more months before I’ll have to sort out how to officially import the car and see to it that I get an Irish licence plate. I briefly looked into it before and somehow it reminds me of Indian bureaucracy… To be continued!

For now I get to plan the next road-trip starting tomorrow, towards Connemara national park. We have some visitors so it’s time to explore the West coast further. The pictures below were taken along the N71 in the South of Ireland between Cork and Kenmare, we might have been on our way to The Ring of Kerry but the route there was at least as amazing as the destination!

 

 

Rain and Waterfalls

02 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by in Insane Ireland, Photography, Travels

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When taking the pictures of these waterfalls the impressive and dark clouds kept closing in on us. About 15 minutes after taking the last picture in the sun we were high up in the mountains, completely in the dark and it became hard to see anything around me on the narrow winding road.

It’s Ireland!

The pictures were taken around The Gap of Dunloe and in Killarney National Park.

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