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Lough Crew

2010-02-01T11:52:00.000-08:00

I went to visit Lough Crew last weekend with Tom. What an amazing place that is. Some people think it may even have a greater archeological significance than Newgrange. When we arrived there you could not see 20 feet in front of your hand. There was a pea soup of a freezing fog which had iced the branches of the trees and frozen anything that popped its head out of the landscape. We made our way to the top in the hope that it might clear. We waited for maybe 20 mins and then it happend. It started to clear and drift accross the valley below. The feeling was one of being on the top of the world. What a view and photographically it was certainly well worth the wait. The fog cleared for about 30 mins and then as quickly as it had lifted it shifted across the hills and we were engulfed once more. We got some shots thankfully and I have included one here. If you go into the gallery you will see a couple more. Hope you like them.

S.

2010-01-17T11:54:00.000-08:00

So .... here we go 2010. Our first course dates are now available. Mythical Meath, a photgraphic workshop for beginners. These first courses will take place during April. Click the link to view what it is all about. Mythical Meath. You can use our booking calendar to book your dates.

Snowy Weather

2010-01-15T10:57:00.000-08:00

Here we are ...... another year. Welcome to 2010. I dont know what the weather has been like where you have been but here in Ireland there has been a cold snap which has lasted for a month with temperatures dropping to as low as -15. This is very unusual weather for Ireland and I certainly cannot remember cold like it in my life time. I was out and about with the camera on a couple of occasions and while I managed to capture the usual winter wonderlands with some success I was trying to capture something a little bit different. When you are shooting in snowy conditions you will notice that your images lack in colour because most of the colour that we usually observe becomes covered in a blanket of white. So the challenge becomes to intorduce a splash of colour into the comosition to give it added interest. The picture I have chosen to post is one which was taken in Co.Kilkenny on the grounds of Lyrath House. There is a helipad on the grounds and close to the helipad i found a wind sock which was, luckily for me, bright orange. The sock breaks the monotony of the snow and adds life and movement to the composition. It is also a little unusual looking which adds interest and of all the images I took during the snowy period it is my favourite. I hope you like it. See you soon. S

2009-11-25T10:59:00.000-08:00

Ok. Here is the pic I promised this morning. I was in Drogheda yesterday. Drogheda gets a lot of bad press but people forget that it is one one of the oldest and most historical towns in Ireland. The town was chartered in 1194 AD but the history extends even further back into the folklore of the arrival of the celts.

Unfortunately when I was there yesterday the weather was really dreadful but so as the day would not be completely lost I went indoors and photographed some of the magnificent churches that inhabit Drogheda. The Picture in this post is a shot of St. Patricks Cathedral. This is where the head of St.Oliver Plunkett lies encased in a tomb of glass.

I decided to shoot for HDR as I find shooting HDR indoors to be really dramatic. HDR is not every ones cup of tea but I must admit until HDR arrived I was never really that satisfied with the quality of my photography. I always felt like I was being cheated when I saw the results as I knew the film or the sensor could not handle the complete dynamic range of the scene in the same way as my eye. So therefore, the final shot always looked a lot less impressive then the "original". However the hyper real look of the images is not to every ones liking but for me it is absolutely the way forward. I will post more images in the coming week.

S.

Some shots from China

2009-11-25T02:55:00.000-08:00

Tom is just back from China so today I wanted to post a few images as mini-bites of what is to come. One or two of the images are still work in progress but I think you will agree well worth a look even at this stage. Personally I really enjoy the photo-journalistic feel to the images which is in stark contrast to our main gallery which is comprised primarily of landscapes.

He was away with a group of 15 and by all accounts the trip was a great success. We were even discussing the probability yesterday of adding this trip to our schedule when we start to deliver the courses. Chinese culture is so different to what I am used to it would certainly prove to be a photographic journey I would relish. Over the next few weeks I will post more of Toms wonderful images on the blog. I hope they might inspire you to travel and to experience a part of the world that is soaked culturally both in the old and the new.

Watch out for another post later today with pic a pic of St.Peters Cathedral in Drogheda here in Ireland. A little less exotic than China perhaps but none the less spectacular. The reason I want to post though is so you can see how effective and spectacular HDR photography can be indoors.

S.

Going to China

2009-11-05T03:16:00.000-08:00

Well .... Tom heads of to China with a group today. Unfortunately I am not able to attend. Maybe next time. This is Toms second visit there this year. Some of the work that he produced after the last visit is in my opinion quite spectacular. It is a stunning combination of photojournalism and photoshop. When he returns from his visit I will be posting some of those images so watch out for them. So ... safe journey to Tom and his class and we look forward to seeing the results of your trip.

S.

Sand Painting

2009-11-04T02:46:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine pointed out this artist during the week. Nothing to do with photography but visually very interesting and stimulating. It is amazing the talent you can find in the most unusual of places.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=518XP8prwZo&feature=related

You will have to copy and paste this link into a browser until I figure out how to publish external links. Apologies.

S.

Mythical Meath and Course Dates

2009-11-03T02:14:00.000-08:00

I have not been here for a while as we have been preparing for our first courses. We went into the heart of the Meath countryside last week and we will be devising a course based around this mythological centre of Ireland. There are so many wonderfull places to shoot in this part of the country and the area is steeped in folklore which is to be expected of a place where the high kings of Ireland sat for centuries.

Watch out for the course and course dates which will be posted in the next week. We are also planning a trip to Lanzarote for next summer. This trip will probably take place over the duration of a week and will include some extra-curricular activities such as diving and hill walking (hill-walking takes on a whole new meaning in Lanzarote as it is a Volcanic Island) for those of you who are interested.

Watch the blog closely over the next week or so as I will be posting a full Itenerary for both trips. If you have any ideas for trips within Ireland please contact us and remember wherever it is you would like to go we have been there before you so we will be able to show you how to photograph your favourite spots from a different perspective.

S.

2009-10-01T11:40:00.000-07:00

I was shooting in Trim last weekend and in particular Bective abbey which of course is where this shot was taken. The day itself was pretty uninspiring, as grey a day as is possible in Ireland which is pretty grey.

When I was shooting I heard a bit of a commotion above so I popped my head out and looked up. Above me were 5 teenagers climbing the walls of the Abbey. When I say climbing I mean free climbing using the cracks in the walls of the old abbey as footholds. UNBELIEVABLE. Genuinely I have never seen anything like it. One of the guys was right at the top which must have been 90 feet straight up. So while the day itself was pretty uninspiring I must admit to being pretty impressed with these guys, although I cant imagine either their parents or the bord of public works would have been.

This shot from here on in will always remind me of spiderMEN. Unreal.

S.

I thought you might like to see these

2009-09-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

2009-09-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

I have today uploaded some of Tom's new work. There are two galleries. The first gallery is a gallery of his image-making which is a combination of photography, model-making and illustration.

Tom has a great interest in folklore and legends and so in this body of work he has attempted to combine his photographic work from the various legendary sites of Ireland with some of his illustrative work in order to reveal the legend of that particular area.

His underwater work is a new passion of his and although he is new to the area his work is already some of the best around (after all it is my opinion that counts ).

If we do head to Lanzarote next year for our first Course ( and it looking increasingly more likely) we are strongly considering an underwater/snorkeling day in the overall itinerary. All will be revealed when we release the dates and details.

O yes, I just wanted to add, if you are thinking about following our blog it would be nice if you left your name and your contact details. Of course this is not necessary but it would be nice to know who is watching us and if necessary to open up a dialogue to discuss what it is we are all about.

S.

This is where it all begins

2009-09-18T02:23:00.000-07:00

Ok .... so here we go . Today is the first day of the ImageIreland blog. We are finally up and running. For those of you who have come here looking for courses, well, the truth is , we have nothing available until next summer. Please check back any time to see how we are progressing.

For those of you who are just here for the Images .... enjoy. Both myself and Tom will be adding to the galleries, over the coming weeks so keep an eye out for whats new. Tom is currently working on a series of underwater photographs which are quite amazing and I will be adding to the Dublin/Ireland Galleries.

As ImageIreland is a new venture and both myself and Tom are busy with other projects progress over the coming months may be slow but I can assure you that by the start of the coming year we will hope to be fully operational.

We are looking to Lanzarote for our first course and the most likely dates are next summer. So even at this early stage if this is something you might be interested in feel free to contact me , stephen (yep, I have been given the task of blogger) at our info@imageireland.org address and I will answer any questions you may have.

S.