A visit to Ireland – Family, Photography and Culture

The trip to Ireland to see the family

I’ve just had a surprisingly good trip to Ireland to visit my family over there in the emerald isle. Two of my sons live over there permanently and the other one who is living in Dubai was also back for a week. Absolutely fantastic to be able to see all of the three lads in the same place and we even had a Christmas lunch on account of the man from Dubai not being able to be back to Ireland for Christmas last year. I had something vegetarian, although there was turkey and all the trimmings for everybody else. Even Xmas crackers! We can thank my ex-wife for doing such a good job of creating this meal and making it a very good family get-together.

Photography with my Sony NEX-6 mirror less camera

I absolutely love the fact that I can always have this camera with me because it is so light and small. I have a quick release whatsyamacallit, thingymabob that clips to a strap of any bag that I am carrying and all I have to do is to press the red button and instantly I have the camera ready to shoot. Well, I do have to switch it on first. Right from the start while I was on the train from Caldes going to awards Barcelona airport I was taking street photography shots on the train. I even managed to inadvertently include myself in a photo with the reflection from the windows of the train.

Loughcrew Gardens – Sacred Tree Walk

My eldest son George, is the general manager for the Loughcrew House and I was able to go with an organised group on a tree walk around the estate on the Sunday of the visit. There were about 20 to 30 people that got a huge amount of information and background about the estate in general and in particular about the trees within the gardens. The guide that took us around was hugely knowledgeable and it was really interesting indeed. George asked me to take some photos of the large Grecian style, neoclassical pillars that are the only thing left standing from the house, that was finally burnt to the ground in 1964. I got some good shots with smaller part of the house that was saved in the background. I think he would like to be able to use them in the advertising for the Loughcrew Gardens business.

A music night out in Chapter 1

There was a band playing called Shouting at Planes who were absolutely marvellous. The music played was varied and hugely enjoyable. The musicians also had trumpet and the saxophone which added to the whole musical experience. I got pictures of the band as they were playing, but I didn’t get any pictures of the two poets that were the warmup for the band. The poets were very good in the realm of the angry poet brigade and of course they had a particularly Irish theme to some of the poems that were recited. It was great to see that the audience were very appreciative of the art of the poets and the quality music that came afterwards. It made for an excellent night out.

Good news time!

As a family we had good news delivered to us, which I can’t really talk about at the moment. Not only was it good news in itself, but it also seemed to help myself and my ex wife turn the corner in our relationship. This really happy news that we got, really makes me feel great about the future. To a certain extent going back to visit in the past has made me feel quite anxious, but after this successful trip I think I will be looking forward to going back again, and soon.