Showing posts with label ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ireland. Show all posts
Monday, February 06, 2012
A Trip to Ireland and a New Camera
For Christmas I wanted to get Brian something really special. We knew our time in London was coming to an end and we would soon be off on a new adventure. When I thought about what to get him I wanted to make sure it was something that he would remember for a long time - kind of a "last hurrah" if you will. The idea of taking him back to Ireland came to me after dinner one night with some friends. Brian had mentioned to our friends that his favorite place in the world was this small town on the West coast of Ireland that we had visited a couple of years ago.
His eyes lit up and he was so excited just talking about the place, I knew we had to go back one more time before we left London for good. So on a random, grey weekend in January we were off to Ireland for our last trip before the big move.
We flew into Shannon and drove a couple of hours North and West to Connemare. This rugged part of Ireland appeals to Brians adventurous side. There are the Twelve Bens mountain range and endless country walks that you can take around this spectacular piece of the country. The landscape is so rugged - mountains and rocks and crashing waves of the Atlantic as far as the eye can see. His favorite part of Connemare though is a small hotel called Ballynahinch Castle.
The castle sits on 450 acres of stunning property made up of woods, lakes and rivers. You can shoot game, go fly fishing or take one of the many walks around the property or of the surrounding area. There is a pub and a fine dining restaurant on site, neither of which disappoint. We gladly called this place home for two nights.
The next morning Brian was off on an all day hike to see how many of the Twelve Bens him and his guide could get through. As luck had it the weather was actually pretty decent all day, they didn't get caught in the rain at all and it was even sunny for a bit (quite a rarity during an Irish winter). While they were out I decided to take a walk around the property. It was a good opportunity to get some fresh air and use my Christmas present - a new camera.
Ballynahinch has three walking trails along the property, ranging from 1-3km. They are easily walkable and wind through the woods, along the rivers and lakes and all meet back at the main house. I decided to walk the newest trail - the Railway Loop. It took me about an hour which included numerous stops along the way to take some photos.
As I mentioned, Brian got me a new camera for Christmas. And man, is it an amazing camera. My new Leica is unlike any camera that I have ever used before. First and foremost because this camera is completely manual. It is not a regular DSLR camera. There are no auto modes - I can't set it to landscape or portrait or macro. I can't even set it to a full auto mode. The closest I can get to automatic setting is I can set the ISO to auto and I can set the shutter speed to Aperture priority (did I lose you?).
Basically what all of this means is that you have to control nearly every part of this camera in order to take a photo - including the manual focus. Which makes this camera a big challenge.
Ever since I took that photography class last year I have been pushing myself to grow as a photographer. I look at how far I have come in a year and am pretty proud of all that I have learned and the improvements I can see in my photography. I know that I still have a lot more to learn and many, many hours of practice ahead of me, but for the most part I am encouraged to move forward. When I am shooting landscapes or travel photography I am pretty comfortable using my DSLR on fully manual mode. I like adjusting the ISO, aperture and shutter speed to get the perfect photo. I usually use my camera on auto-focus, only moving it to manual when the lens isn't reading my mind and can't focus on what I want (which is not very often).
When I am taking photos of people, street scenes and children I tend to put my camera in aperture priority (meaning that I set the aperture and the camera selects the correct shutter speed to get a "perfectly" exposed photo) and always use the auto-focus. I do this because I am not entirely confident that I will be able to set all three at the same time and still get the shot that I want - I'm just not that fast yet on my camera. But since aperture priority doesn't always give me that result that I want I am forced to move my camera into full manual mode for at least half of the time, to make sure my photos are correctly exposed.
But thats with my DSLR. On my Leica I don't have the leisure of being lazy - of slipping back into those comfort zones. Sure, I can set the ISO to auto but that is really the least of my worries. Aperture priority helps a little as at least I don't have to worry about the shutter speed as much - but again, same with the DSLR - when it's in aperture priority the camera is in control, and what it thinks is properly exposed is not necessarily what I think is properly exposed. So most times I end up having to take it off and moving the shutter speed into manual as well.
Perhaps the biggest thing that I have struggled with so far is the manual focus. I haven't had to use a manual focus since I first began shooting with my Dad's old Pentax SLR in high school. If you are shooting something with a clean line it makes focusing pretty easy. But if you get in the middle of a forest with a million tree branches and leaves and layers - it can make focusing on the right thing a challenge.
So I took my new camera out for a walk and really took my time playing with all the settings and taking as many photos as I could. Most of them turned out bad. A few turned out good. But the most important thing I took away from that afternoon was that I was learning something. I was being challenged in a way I haven't been in a while. It felt good to experiment and use my brain and try to figure out this thing. Sure, it was frustrating, and will probably continue to be until I get to know the camera inside and out. But it was fun. And at the end of the day, when I had a chance to review the photos beside a roaring fire in our hotel - even through all the out of focus and over/under exposed images - I still felt proud of what I had captured. I can't wait to use this camera more and more and really unlock its - and my - true potential.
All of these photos have been minimally altered in post-processing. I tried not to change any of them so that you could see exactly what the photos looked like coming out of the camera. There were a few though that I had to reduce the shadows and brighten up a little. But for the most part though, what you see here is what I saw through the lens.
Monday, December 05, 2011
Winter Warming Drink - Irish Coffee
I don't know about you, but around these parts winter has landed. Sure, we will have the odd day here and there where it gets up to 50*F (for ten minutes at 2pm in the afternoon, if the sun is out). But mostly the temperatures are hovering in the single digits (Celsius that is) during the morning and evening commutes, and the wind has reared its ugly head knocking those temps even further down.
What better way to warm up from the cold than a classic winter warmer. Some of my favorites include hot cider, mulled wine and even classic hot chocolate (with as many marshmallows as I can fit in that glass). But for today, I thought I would kick it up a notch and share a boozy winter warmer - Irish Coffee.
I have had my fair share of Irish Coffees (some better than others), but the best one that I have ever had was in the mother land herself - Ireland - at the Jameson Distillery. Last February when we went to Dublin for Brians birthday the girls ordered hot chocolate with Jameson and the boys ordered Irish Coffees. Lets just say the boys won big time.
The taste of Jameson is front and center but manages not to be overpowering. And this is coming from a girl who does NOT like Jameson at all. Like, not even a little bit. But this, this was pure heaven. The rich, bitter coffee was perfectly balanced by the spicy Jameson and topped with thick layer of cream.
We were recently back in Dublin and made another trip to the distillery to share the joy of Jameson Irish Coffee with our friends who were in town. Although I had to sit this round out (that's twice now that I haven't had my own mug of this amazing drink!) I managed to steal a drink from Brians mug. I'm sure this baby will have a taste for Irish Coffee when he/she grows up ;)
Jameson Distillery Irish Coffee
This drinks works best if you have a glass Irish Coffee mug, but if you don't have those hanging about then feel free to use another favorite mug or heat proof glass (for the best results use a glass so you can see the pretty layers). These measurements are straight from the distillery but can be adjusted to suit your taste!
2 oz Jameson Irish Whiskey
2 tsp brown sugar
Fresh brewed strong black coffee
Heavy whipping cream
- In a warm mug add 2 tsp brown sugar (one heaping teaspoon will be fine, no need to measure exactly). Add a measure (2 ounces) of Jameson Irish Whisky and stir briefly to melt the sugar. Fill the mug 3/4 of the way full with hot, black coffee.
- Carefully pour a thick layer of heavy whipping cream on top of the coffee. You will have to pour this slowly to make sure that the coffee and the cream don't mix together. To get the best tasting Irish Coffee the coffee and whisky mixture should pass through the cream layer on the way into your belly - so don't even think about taking a spoon and mixing everything together!
Drink and watch the cold melt away!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Around the World Christmas Tree
The first "big" trip that Brian and I took together while dating was to St. Croix in the Caribbean for a little winter sun. We had been dating for six or seven months and although it wasn't our first weekend away with each other, it was the first trip that required a plane ride. It was exciting and a little nerve-wracking. Happily, the trip went off without a hitch (apart from that one time when we were driving down the wrong side of the road - who knew they drove on the left hand side in St. Croix??).
While we were there we bought the funniest Christmas ornament to commemorate the trip, somehow we knew we would be spending lots of Christmas' together.
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| St. Croix, 2007 |
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Brians Birthday Weekend
Immediately upon arrival we headed to the Guinness factory. Ok fine, we checked in to the hotel first, but Brian was literally tapping his foot with one hand on the door ready to go. If you'll remember Brian also went to Dublin on his birthday last year - yes folks this seems to becoming a tradition.
The Guinness factory was actually really cool. Its a self guided tour so you can take as little or much time as you like learning all about Guinness, they give you a free taste (or 6) of Guinness and a full pint in the sky bar is included in the ticket! And they have the biggest gift store ever, which explains why Brian came home with an armful of Guinness goodies last year.
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| barley for the beer |
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| thats a lot of barley! |
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| water to make the beer |
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| getting our free sample |
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| more free samples... |
After we were done with the tour we headed up to the Brewery Bar for some grub. As you would guess a lot of the items on the menu are made with Guinness, which I have learned is pretty genius. Take for example my Beef and Guinness stew...
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| you can see Brians stew in the back! |
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| umm ridiculous |
After a couple more hours up at the sky bar (with amazing views of the city of Dublin, except not when we were there because obviously it was grey and rainy) we decided it was time to move on. To another pub.
The next morning we had a delicious breakfast at Queen of Tarts, which Brians brothers girlfriend recommended to us as she still dreams about their chocolate pear tart (which I took back to London with me and now I also have said dreams). We only had a little time left before our flight so obviously we booked it to the Jameson distillery. We didn't actually have enough time to take the tour, but we managed to indulge in some Jameson hot chocolate and irish coffee before it was time to head out.
And then we were at the airport.
And that is where I discovered the best.place.ever.
I think it was called something like Chocolate World (I made that up, I don't remember what it was called, as clearly I was too distracted by what my eyes were seeing to pay attention to the name). And it had cupcakes, treats and champagne on a conveyor belt for you to pick and chose as you wish.
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| ummm, seriously?? |
Wha-wha-whaaatttt??
And on that note,
The End
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