Barley Cove

A little while ago now, for a belated family celebration we took a trip an hour-and-a-bit West from here to Barley Cove for the night.  It is a beautiful place.  We got a great deal on a family room overlooking the beach, which was only a couple of minutes walk away.  If the sun is shining it is hard to beat Ireland (that's a very big 'IF' though)!

I limited myself to just two rolls of film and a 50mm lens, so no sweeping landscapes, just little details here and there...

Garden Colour Part Two

See how the lilies of the field grow.  They do not labour or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.  

(Matthew 6:28b, 29)

Well Spring has sprung a bit more since last time.  If ever you are thinking about a film for showing off colour (whether it be in your garden, landscapes or even for portraits) may I humbly recommend Fuji's Reala 100.  Seeing as only strange people like me use film these days I got twenty rolls of this film off eBay for £20!  All these pictures were taken with a Nikon F100 and 28-105 AF-D lens.  

Out of Season

Olympus OM-1, G.Zuiko 50mm f1.4, Fujifilm Sensia 100

The postman delivered some slides yesterday of pictures that I took last October (I only got round to posting them a couple of weeks ago). Included were a few autumnal shots and one that mad me sad, a picture of our cat 'Sticky' (along with 'Charlie' the kitten) taken just a couple of days before he died.

Olympus OM-1, G.Zuiko 50mm f1.4, Fujifilm Sensia 100

It's funny how pictures bring back to life old memories. The moment you press the shutter release a moment in time is forever captured - for better or worse. I was speaking with someone who lost their elderly mother recently and of the emotions that looking at old pictures brought. There is something uniquely special at looking at pictures of old family members, your parents or grandparents when they were children. Moments in time captured on a thin square of film.

Olympus OM-1, G.Zuiko 50mm f1.4, Fujifilm Sensia 100

What photos that we have taken will be looked at by our decedents in a hundred years from now...?

Annascaul Lake

Nikon F100, Nikkor 18-35 D, Fujifilm Superia 200

On our way to Dingle, my better half and navigator saw something interesting on the map so we decided to take a small detour and investigate. Despite driving on narrow, icy roads (with a severe drop down a cliff awaiting any slippery mistakes) it was definitely worth the diversion. The lake was flat-calm, the air still and cold and the scene very beautiful.

When we rounded the corner to see this scene in front of us it was a special moment. Being naturally a booky indoors type, I've gradually over recent years began to see the importance of appreciating God's creation in worship. Trying to find a good place to take the above photo from was done with a mixture of prayer, excitement and carefully placed footfalls. Looking at the picture now makes me excited, excited about God.

A Fête (not) worse than death

Camera: Olympus OM-1, Lens: G.Zuiko 50mm f1.4, Film Fujifilm Reala 100

Camera: Olympus OM-1, Lens: G.Zuiko 50mm f1.4, Film Fujifilm Reala 100

Camera: Olympus OM-1, Lens: G.Zuiko 50mm f1.4, Film Fujifilm Reala 100

We enjoyed great weather for our Parish Fete in Glanmire recently. It's really good to see everyone from different parts of the Parish coming together to get this thing organised every year. Even though it's a real slog and people get fed up, by the time it's all over we are agreed that it wasn't the "Fête worse than death" that we had all feared!

The above photos were all taken on my old Olympus OM-1 film camera and the negatives scanned using an Epson 4490 flatbed scanner. If you are interested you can see more photos on our Parish web site.