It was a reasonably good day, meteorologically, warm and not raining for a change, so I suggested a trip to Belfast might be a good way to put in the day, – after all, I’m meant to be resting this week… And with me went Janette, my long suffering wife, and the Nikon FM3a.
So we caught a train at Antrim Station. If you’ve visited here, and never used Northern Ireland Railways, you should put that right on your next visit. The trains are modern, clean, warm and safe, and best of all, they are mostly on time! Not bad from a state owned company!
This project was about evangelicalism in Northern Ireland. Up to this point, I had been looking at how the secularisation of society had impacted on evangelical beliefs, practices and worship styles, in the evident decline of the mission-hall culture in the province. But how are the evangelicals striking back? There are a number of different answers to that question, but at least in Northern Ireland, one of the most visible ‘attacks’ on secularism, historically and consistently used by evangelicals and fundamentalists is the strange practice of nailing messages to trees throughout the countryside. A number of these placards had been erected around the Ards Peninsula.
Introducing another of my eclectic camera collection, – meet the iconic Agfa Karat 36, a strut-folding 35mm camera.
This cute little camera is no lightweight, not in performance, and not in bodyweight! Made of metal, the camera was German produced and made to last! It made its first appearance around 1935, and was discontinued in the 1950s. The original Karats used a specially fitting film cartridge, but from 1948 the design changed allowing the camera to use standard 35mm film cassettes. Mine is the latter.
It must have been around 2005 when I visited the home of Belfast artist Denis Johnston and viewed some of his paintings. Denis lives in Belfast and was a member of the same church as me at that time, and so I would have visited him on occasions, but on this particular visit he showed me some of the art he had showed on display in an exhibition. The imagery was stunning, with amazing technique and beautiful scenery. Yet my eye was continually drawn to one particular painting, and I couldn’t resist expressing my admiration for it. It wasn’t a beautiful landscape or an amazing sunset or mists rolling across a lake, – it was a small section of Regent Street in Newtownards, with a pedestrian crossing and a big dark shadow, and some old, and entirely unremarkable buildings. Thousands of people must walk past it every week. Yet I couldn’t take my eyes off it! Why? Just because it made me feel that I was right there! It had a ‘sense of place!’ It told me about the place, gave me a sense of ‘belonging’ to it, drew my mind visually into the picture.
Situated at the edge of the Bann Estuary in County Londonderry, this quaint abandoned cottage was built around 1600, by fishermen who trawled the waters for the salmon who travel up the Bann.
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, photographed with the Fujifilm X-T5
Glenarm sits in a peaceful bay, surrounded by a forest to one side and the North Channel on the other.
Our 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.
Murlough Bay, with the Mourne Mountains in the background.
Portraits2Go.co.uk 