St. Patrick’s day in Dublin

March 19, 2017iz4vve Leave a comment

What happens when you mix Dublin, St. Patrick’s day and a bunch of people from all over the world? That’s right: an Multicultural Consortium of Drinkers (MCD©).

It was also the first time I left my film cameras at home since last year 🙂

Selfie

Green

Face

Vendetta?

Phones

Spikes

Food

Moving leprechaun

Hug

Call

Smile

Hair

Flag

And, as usual, we missed the parade because we were late… We only managed to get a glimpse of it on TV 😦 … in a pub 🙂 …

More green

Fountain

Moustache

On the shoulders of giants

Patrick? Is that ayou?

And for yet another year, there were no casualties in our MCD… 😀

Women’s march and US embassy

February 9, 2017February 9, 2017iz4vve Leave a comment

A couple of interesting events took place over the last few weeks: the Women’s march in Dublin – coinciding with similar marches all over the globe – and a evening protest outside the US embassy against the so called “Muslim Ban”.

Apparently some of the latest choices in American policy are not well regarded in Ireland…

Women’s march

Patriarchy Canon FTb – Kodak Gold 100 (Expired 2004)

Not Canon FTb – Kodak Gold 100 (Expired 2004)

Revenge of the kittens Canon FTb – Kodak Gold 100 (Expired 2004)

Red Canon FTb – Kodak Gold 100 (Expired 2004)

Marching dogs Canon FTb – Kodak Gold 100 (Expired 2004)

Resist Canon FTb – Kodak Gold 100 (Expired 2004)

Trumping Canon FTb – Kodak Gold 100 (Expired 2004)

Dump Canon FTb – Kodak Gold 100 (Expired 2004)

Against patriarchy Canon FTb – Kodak Gold 100 (Expired 2004)

Shame Canon FTb – Kodak Gold 100 (Expired 2004)

Resistance Canon FTb – Kodak Gold 100 (Expired 2004)

Respect Canon FTb – Kodak Gold 100 (Expired 2004)

One struggle Canon FTb – Kodak Gold 100 (Expired 2004)

No walls Canon FTb – Kodak Gold 100 (Expired 2004)

Actual Zenza Bronica SQ-A – Ilford HP5+

Don’t give up Canon FTb – Kodak Gold 100 (Expired 2004)

Respect 2 Canon FTb – Kodak Gold 100 (Expired 2004)

Grab Canon FTb – Kodak Gold 100 (Expired 2004)

US embassy

Stand with refugees Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

I can show you the world Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

Very Irish Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

Gaze Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

Memories Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

Resisting 2 Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

Resisting Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

Anti-racism Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

Disobey, please Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

Untitled Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

Bystanding Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

Enthusiasm Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

Interview Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

History Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

Don’t play with lives Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

Migration Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

No craic Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

Girl Canon FTb – Ilford Delta 3200 (pushed 6400)

I shot a few rolls at both events, but a couple of pictures really struck me when I saw them:

I’m with her

Peace, love and solidarity

Back to film

January 21, 2017January 21, 2017iz4vve Leave a comment

Sometimes it’s good to go back. Let go of all the modern technology and return to the basics. I started shooting pictures using film (well, it was 1995…) and I have kept using film well into the first decade of 2000. I only switched to digital 7-8 years ago, but every now and then I like to back to film. That’s what I have mostrly been doing for the past few weeks and I forgot how fun it can be 🙂

Slowing down, thinking more about the composition, metering to get a good exposure, waiting for the right moment and *click*.

The quays. Canon FTb, HP5+.

Walking the dog. Canon FTb, HP5+.

Connolly station. Canon FTb, HP5+.

Connolly station 2. Canon FTb, HP5+.

Gotcha back. Canon FTb, HP5+.

No spray and pray, no do-overs… Ok, some film can be quite forgiving, but you can’t get it too far off the target or you lose everything.

I have also got my hands on an old MF Zenza Bronica and I really like shooting with it 🙂

Poolbeg chimneys from Clontarf. Zenza Bronica SQ-A

Poolbeg chimneys from Clontarf 2. Zenza Bronica SQ-A

Dublin bay. Zenza Bronica SQ-A

Dublin bay, Bull Island. Zenza Bronica SQ-A

Men’s shelter, Bull Island. Zenza Bronica SQ-A

Wooden bridge at dawn, Bull Island. Zenza Bronica SQ-A

St. Patrick’s cathedral. Zenza Bronica SQ-A

Bell tower, Trinity college. Zenza Bronica SQ-A

Three girls, O’Connell street. Zenza Bronica SQ-A

Ha’penny bridge. Zenza Bronica SQ-A

Besides, I love the square format 😀

Oh boy… Do I miss the mountains

December 31, 2016December 31, 2016iz4vve Leave a comment

I’m back!! BACK!! After a whole year, I’m finally back on a mountain!

Yeah, I know there are “mountains” in Ireland, but it’s definitely not the same. I mean, today I managed to hike to the Pratignano lake (Lago di Pratignano) in the province of Modena. It’s at 1,307m above sea level: not particularly high up… But it’s still more than 200m higher than Ireland’s highest mountain!!

And the weather… well, it’s absolutely impossible to compare 🙂

The valley below

The horizon

Looking back towards home

The guide

To the top

Sky and sun

The ascent

Who said you can’t shoot into the sun?

It didn’t feel like December at all!

On the ridge

Along the lake

Blue and ice

Clear skies

In the valley

Cold and wet

The way back

Layers

Berry

DAT SKY

Lone tree

Briscola (the dog’s name)

Near the lake

Frames

The guide (2)

The guide (3)

Just keep walking

Great day and hike. Tip of the hat to our wonderful guides!

Monte Cimone (Mount Cimone, 2165m)

Oh, and a very happy new year 🙂

A sleepless night

December 18, 2016iz4vve Leave a comment

What can you do when you wake up at 3 am and you’re hopelessly wide awake?

Realizing that getting any sleep was hopeless, I headed out into the night to get some night pics of Dublin. It was, obviously, raining …

Four Courts

Ha’penny bridge

First opening

All in all, I can think of worse ways of starting a day. I got to the office at 6.30, but at least I got this:

Love Dublin

The West

November 23, 2016November 23, 2016iz4vve Leave a comment

Memories of a quick trip to Connemara…

Killary Fjord

Round’em up

Round’em up 2

You can leave now…

Kylemore Abbey

…and Galway…

Westward Ho! – Travelling light

October 24, 2016iz4vve Leave a comment

When your folks decide to visit you, you don’t really have a say in what happens when they are with you…

Three days in the west of Ireland, so I was – obviously – expecting rain, lots of it and I didn’t want to expose a lot of photographic equipment to the elements. That’s why I decided to travel as light as possible, but I didn’t want to sacrifice too much quality either.

Enter Fujifilm…

To be honest, I got tired of lugging around over 3 Kg of camera+lenses and I will probably sell most of my heavy stuff soon. For this trip I went fully mirrorless: Fujifilm X-Pro1 + 18mm f/2 and the magnificent Fujifilm x100T…

Clonmacnoise

Shannon river

Clonmacnoise

On the road: Athlone

Peace

If this isn’t Ireland, I don’t know what is…

I admit I was a bit anxious at first, being used to the IQ of my Canon 5DMkII, but after seeing the results, I don’t think I’ll ever consider my D-SLR for another trip…

Some of the results follow: Ceide fields, Downpatrick head, Sligo and strandhill. I think I might be selling my canon gear soon 🙂

Old church

Near Sligo airport

Low flight

Prohibition

Surfing

Playing golf in Sligo

Downpatrick head

Ceide Fields

Risky

Surf

And I have to admit the ocean was beautiful to admire:

Vastness of the ocean

A castle and a pint of Smithwick’s

October 3, 2016iz4vve Leave a comment

Autumn has officially started: sunny and cold (cold for me, at least).

A great day to travel and to go see new places. This week: Kilkenny. Ok, it’s not really a new pllace for me: but it’s been so long!

No trip to Kilkenny can ignore the castle:

Kilkenny castle

Built between 1195 and 1213, the castle is an iconic view of the town of Kilkenny. It was recently renovated and it’s a very popular attraction for tourists.

It’s a very well kept and organized attraction and it’s possible to have a self-guided tour of the castle and grounds: