Derryboye Crossroads, in deepest Co.Down, where an Israeli flag has been raised on a lamppost!
Photographed with the Nikon FG20 camera on Ilford HP5 pushed to ISO800, and developed for nine minutes in FD10, 200mm lens.
Rural Geopolitics?
Category Archives: Beautiful Ulster
Ballymena Sunset
Ballymena, the ‘Middle Town’ in Co.Antrim, is known for its shopping streets and its churches, and its friendly people… But tropical sunsets, – in January? Yet here’s the sight that caught my eye as I turned the car into Ballymena Showgrounds car-park on Monday 29th January 2024…
Such a stunning sight deserved to be photographed, even if the only camera I had with me (apart from my black and white loaded film camera) was an iPhone 12.
Ballylaggan Church
Ballylaggan Reformed Presbyterian Church lies close to Agivey in the district of Aghadowey, on Curran Road, the road between Kilrea and Coleraine.
I often pass this church on the journey from Randalstown to Portrush, and I’ve often wanted to make a photograph of it. Its austere architecture denotes its Covenanter / Presbyterian heritage and its rural location gives it an attractive surround. But we’re always in a hurry, and I’ve never had time to stop…
Continue reading Ballylaggan ChurchEast Belfast Library
The public library at CS Lewis Square, on the Newtownards Road, in East Belfast.
Photographed with the Nikon FM3a on Ilford HP5, ISO400 film and developed in Fotospeed FD10.
Island Hill Panorama
Islandhill on 17th January 2024, tide out, bitter cold, but sunny.
Photographed with the Nikon FM3a, – two images with a 50mm lens at f/16, blended in Photoshop.
BallyhackAmore!
Don’t ya just love The Hack! BallyhackAMORE! (Pretentious suburb in East Belfast!)
Fujifilm X-T30 F = 66mm, f/10 @ 1/125th sec on ISO1250.
Queen’s University, Belfast.
Rarely is there anywhere to park a car in the vicinity of Queen’s University, – parking spaces are few and hotly contested, but on 27th December 2023, I was driving through the area on return from an appointment in South Belfast, when to my surprise, I found an empty space, right beside the Students’ Union. I quickly parked, and stepped out with the Fujifilm X-T30 fitted with an 18-135mm zoom lens.
Photographed with a Fujifilm X-T30, F=18mm, f/5.6 @1/125th sec on ISO250.
Because it was still student holidays, traffic around the university was light, and that helped quite a lot with the photography. I stood outside the Student’s Union to capture the main image, but it wasn’t long before some human interest occurred.
Continue reading Queen’s University, Belfast.The Village Pump
The old village pump at Crossgar, Co.Down. This rotary pump was installed around 1870, over the site of an existing well. The wall behind the cast iron pump rises into an arch, from which villagers could suspend a bucket to draw water from the former well. When the pump was installed, the arch was bricked up.
Lislea Mission Hall
Lislea Mission Hall, in the townland of Lislea, between Portglenone and Kilrea. Now long abandoned and disused, it has been boarded up, and become overgrown and is slowly crumbling away. Once would have been a meeting place for worship to groups of local resident, farmers and their friends, and their children.
Feehogue Terrace, Randalstown
In September, 2023 I visited the Belfast Book Fair, held this year in Methodist College (Methody) at Stranmillis. There was little in interest this year, by way of books, (mostly Irish history etc), but there were a couple of dealers selling antique postcards, and I spent quite a time trawling through them – with no intention of buying, of course, (some of these antique postcards can be rather expensive), despite the enthusiastic sales techniques of one of the vendors, who mistook my prolonged browsing for a potential sale. I was looking for photographic inspiration! Actually, I was sorry I hadn’t taken a notebook and pen!
Continue reading Feehogue Terrace, Randalstown
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