Iv’e run my first roll of Kodak T-Max 100 film through my Nikon F100 camera, on a recent two night break on the North Coast of Northern Ireland – the world renowned ‘Causeway Coast.’ The scenery in this area is spectacular, but on a rainy November weekend, with a strong wind blowing in from the sea, cheesy tourism like images are scarce! But I managed a few black and white…
Glenarm is a picturesque coastal village and conservation area located on the beautiful Antrim Coast Road, – that tourist gem stretching from larne to Ballycastle and the world famous Giant’s Causeway. We visited the town for an afternoon on a sunny day in August 2024 (One of the very few sunny days this summer) and found it well endowed with visitors, especially families with small children, paddling in the sea, and enjoying the sand and the ice-cream band.
Glenarm sits in a peaceful bay, surrounded by a forest to one side and the North Channel on the other.
Continue reading Glenarm, Co.AntrimOur seemingly annual trip to Derry/Londonderry (So good they named it twice?) or ‘Stroke City as it became known during the era of the late Gerry Anderson, the legendary (should that be ‘legend-derry?) famous BBC Radio Ulster broadcaster and entertainer. Where was I… Oh yes, our annual trip to Northern Ireland’s second city saw me taking a wander, with the Fujifilm X-T5, around the city centre, namely Guildhall Square and Waterloo Place, and then later round by the Craft Village. I’d walked the famous walls many times, and somehow that day I just didn’t have the energy to struggle up all those hilly ramparts. So, – city centre it was, while my so-much better half went to explore the big shops to be found in the city.
Lots of towns have festival weeks during the summer months, but I don’t know of anywhere that can put on a week long event like Portstewart, Co.Londonderry. The Red Sails Festival is named after the songwriter Jimmy Kennedy’s classic ‘Red Sails in the Sunset’ which he wrote after seeing a yacht sailing across Portstewart Bay, during one of those spectacular North Coast sunsets.
Thousands must flock to the seaside town for these events, many of which take place outside, around the town, and particularly at the Band Stand – right by the sea. Here’s a section of the crowd at this popular venue, undeterred by the rather inclement weather…
I’d a roll of Rollei RPX25 in the Nikon F100, so when (at last) a sunny day unfolded over Northern Ireland, I decided the light might be just bright enough for some ISO25 photography. It was Thursday, 1st August 2024, and nothing much was happening that was photo-worthy, so Janette and myself, and Lottie the wiry dachshund made our way to Murlough Bay, a Nature Reserve sandy dunes area on the east cost, owned and managed by The National Trust, situated between Newcastle (the Co.Down one – ‘Where the Mountains of Mourn Sweep Down to the Sea’) and Dundrum.
On Tuesday 23rd July 2024 Janette and I visited (for the first time) the small island of Rathlin, just off the north coast of County Antrim. Rathlin is the only inhabited island on the coast of Northern Ireland, with a population of around 150, although it is reported that the population is steadily growing. I can understand why. We were quite taken with its tranquility, and its peacefulness. The island is very community focused, and a graphic near the Co-op lists the values that mark the community, – seeking to make Rathlin a welcoming place for everyone.
I spent an hour at the annual Randalstown Community Festival, an event aimed at bringing the community together in the town centre, for a night of free open air entertainment and fun, with cuddly animals and funfair rides for the kids, a mini-market selling novelties and food, and a stage featuring local artists.
So, there was me, taking a stroll through the beautiful city centre of Lisburn (there’s a joke – boarded up shops and empty buildings – the place looks decrepit, a shadow of its former self). I got up to Castle Street, where once stood the Co-Op supermarket, and the big NIE electricity showroom, and Frederick Thomas Prams and Nursery Goods, and I noticed that amid the dereliction, there were ridiculous balls of some sort strung across the street. I decided to make an image – this is it – mediocre enough, like Lisburn itself.
All that makes it interesting is what happened next.
Continue reading Lisburn, Co.Antrim, – and a strange encounter…The Crosskeys Inn is a traditional thatched building in Co.Antrim, sited between Randalstown and Portglenone, north of Lough Neagh.
Photographed here with a Fujifilm X-T30 camera, F= 21mm, f/4 @ 1/1250th sec on ISO640. If the shutter speed seems a little fast for a static building – I agree! I’d just managed to capture a shot of a motorcycle and sidecar roaring by!
My Nikon FM2 film camera has no meter, for the battery connection is broken and I can’t find anyone willing to fix it. “It’s too old, – it’s not worth it…’ etc etc. But I bought this great camera back in 1987, and it’s been like an old friend. I can’t just throw it away. I’d tried using it with a Sekonic analogue meter attached, but the numbers are too small now, for me to see them!
But there may be a solution, the TT ARTISAN LIGHTMETER.
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