Categories » ‘My Life’

Glendalough Ruins and Lakes

Categories: Ireland My Life Photography
December 15th, 2011 by

Back in March, and again the beginning of June, I decided that I needed to get out of the city and go see a bit more of Ireland. I had heard many lovely things about a place called “Glenda-lock”, which is situated in the Wicklow mountains. I have to say that after taking a friend there in March, I had to return in June (when the weather was better) and take my mom and a bunch of photographs.

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(Sunset at the Upper Lake at Glendalough)

Glendalough (Irish: Gleann Dá Loch, meaning “Glen of Two Lakes”) is one of the most visited places in Ireland. It’s located in the Wicklow Mountains National Park and has lots of walks and trails. The Glendalough Valley was carved out by glaciers during the Ice Age and the two lakes, from which Glendalough gets its name, were formed when the ice eventually thawed.

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(House ruins with foggy mountain in the background)

It is also renowned for its Early Medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by St Kevin, a hermit priest (now in ruins). Kevin was born to one of the ruling families of Leinster, and studed under several early Christian leaders. During this time, he went to Glendalough and was enchanted by its beauty.

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(St. Kevin’s Cell)

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(Looking through the interior of St. Kevin’s Cell)

Shortly later, St. Kevin returned with several monks to found a monestary. As his fame spread, the settlement grew. Kevin died in 618, but the settlement continued for nearly 600 years – surviving through Viking Raids and deaths of many Abbots. In 1398, English troops finally invaded and destroyed the peaceful monestary for good.

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(Cemetery with 30 meter high Round tower to watch for raiders – Lower lake of Glendalough)

Since then, the place has remained one of pilgrimage, and I can see why as it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. It’s mentioned in many manuscripts and there are remnants of cemeteries, workshops, guest houses, infirmaries, farm buildings and dwellings all over the upper and lower lakes. Most of the buildings that exist today are from the 10th and 12th centuries.

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(St. Kevin’s church)

For More information, please see http://www.glendalough.ie/heritage_of_glendalough.php

For more pictures of my trips there, please see my flickr set.

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DeVreeze Wedding

Categories: My Life Parties & Concerts Photography
December 2nd, 2011 by

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Earlier this year, some very wonderful friends of mine finally decided to tie the knot. Knowing that I enjoy photography, I talked things over with H & J and offered that instead of actually buying them a gift, I’d save them some money and do both their wedding portraits and the wedding event photography. I wanted to document the day from beginning to end – and make sure that their memories were saved – and also not based on a time limit. (Here in Dublin, for 5 hours of wedding event photography it costs about 600 Euros – and that doesn’t even include prints nor a cd/dvd of the images taken!)

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It’s not the first wedding that I’ve photographed – but it was the most intense and wonderfully gratifying experience that I’ve had in a long time. I got there at about 10 am, and left around midnight. Over the course of the day, there were some 1500 pictures taken – which were later parsed down to about 350 that were kept as good enough to put in the photo book of the event. I think they were delighted – because I managed to cover everything from the moments of the family getting ready together, through the bus to the registrar’s office, to the first kiss.

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I also remembered to get the decorations, the cake (which was decorated by a baker in the family), and then both the wedding brunch at the Crowne Plaza and the Barbeque in the backyard where the first dance, flower toss, and cake cutting ceremony was performed.

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I also found the opportunity to get the quirky things that perhaps another person would have missed, but that I really was able to pick up on because I know them as individuals and as a couple. Things like the two of them kissing – and their shadow merging into one, The bottom of H’s shoes as she went into the registrar’s office (she’d pasted stickers of hearts and the words I DO),

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The teasing that happened at the wedding brunch (balancing spoons on their noses)

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And the naturalness of them walking down the street, holding hands – J carrying the picnic blanket and H carrying the beautiful red cups – as if they were walking into the rest of their lives.

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Sure, I was exhausted when it was all over, but after 2 days of photo processing and then turning over the photos to them- I feel not only blessed to have been there, but also blessed to have been allowed to take the photographs of such an amazing event in their lives.

Congratulations, H & J.

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My “feral” family

Categories: Ireland My Life Photography
October 25th, 2011 by

Sitting on the neighbor's balcony, Mom kitty

Back in June, for about 2-3 weeks, I kept seeing a little mottled black and gold female kitten wandering around the area and up to the local grocery store. Not too long after, I saw the same scrawny cat in my back garden, and realized that she had had kittens. Because I’m such a softie, I decided that I couldn’t watch the cat starve to death (she was all skin and bones) and had to start putting out a bit of food for her.

Mom kitty getting fed

By the first week of July, I started seeing random fluff balls peeking out of the bushes in my back garden. They would scatter at any bit of noise. Eventually, as I continued feeding the momma kitty (now nicknamed June), I got to see the kittens playing in my back garden romping about on a sunny day. It was then that I realized that momma kitty had 4 tabby kittens…one of whom would always be in hiding when 3 others were out.

Most of the kitten family

After several weeks of daily feeding of her and the kittens, I’ve now reached the point where they know what time they get fed. They sit outside my back door and meow, curl up in the window sill, and even know their names – even if I can’t pet them, per say. They’ve become my “feral” family, and I do worry about them – especially now that I’m not sure what happened to Bibs. Last weekend, when it turned colder and the fall rains started, I decided it was time to buy a “cat house” for them. Unfortunately, I didn’t find one that I thought would work. So, I improvised and bought a storage box with a lid – and cut a hole in it. Then, I filled it half full with straw. The kittens shunned the box for 2 days, despite my putting their food on top.

The "winter box" of kittens

Today, when I got home from work, it was pouring down rain. It’s been raining all day and the weather service is predicting floods. I figured that by the time I got in, I would have some seriously soaked, miserable, bedraggled kittens to put food out for. I opened the bedroom curtain and peeked out, and could just see what looked like two “logs” pressed up to the side of the box. I started to think “great, they maybe think it’s a litter box” and put on some shoes to check if that was the case. As I opened the back door, I was quite relieved. Why? Because this is what greeted me:

Runt and Two Socks We're here, k?
(we’s found a warms, we stay in here, okayz?)

Yep, Runt, 2 socks, Ms. Piggy and momma kitty were all curled up inside the box, warm, dry, and purring happily away. It makes my heart sing.

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