About a 10
minute drive past the Giant's Causeway lies the now-famous harbour at Ballintoy. Wikipedia tells me that the name derives from the Irish
Baile an Tuaigh, or Northern Townland - which figures since we're more or less at the nothernmost tip of Country Antrim. If you're a Game of Thrones fan, you might recognise the area since they did some filming here - as well as at numerous other spots along the North Coast. I'm not a GoT person, by the way - I watched about 10 minutes of it once and that was enough for me. I know that probably puts my in the minority, since the whole GoT thing is now big business. You can take coach tours from Belfast which go all around the various locations - and lots of people do. I heard once of a coach pulling up at Ballintoy Harbour (it would have to have been a smallish coach to navigate the winding road down to it, but that's another story) and a couple of dozen GoT fans emerging in full fancy dress battle armour, charging down to the beach and having a good old mock fight, oblivious to the wedding ceremony taking place on another part of the beach. Well, to be fair, it would certainly make for an unforgettable wedding...
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| Ballintoy, looking towards Giant's Causeway, 2019. On Adox MCC paper. |
I was actually there one evening last week with our little Photographic Club. We were supposed to be doing an outdoor model shoot with OCF (off-camera flash, apparently - I know nothing about flash photography, btw) but the models pulled out at the last minute. I don't blame them - it was pretty chilly. Anyway, since we were all locked and loaded (with film, in my case) a few of us went on out anyway and I was very glad I did. Mind you, I think I was the only one that was happy, since the rest of them were after a good sunset and were disappointed. I wasn't disappointed, for I was after some decent light and some good clouds and well - you can see for yourselves what it was like.
My whole family is into GoT, except me. Too much sex and violence. Bleh.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a lovely image.
Thanks Jim. What's that saying, 'I can't stand all that sex and violence on the TV, I get enough of that at home'...:)
DeleteThat reminds me of a Monty Python sketch where an interviewer asks, "What do you think about all the sex on television these days?" Graham Chapman, dressed as a prudish, middle-aged lady, answers, "I've had enough of this permissive society." Terry Jones then answers the question dressed as a filthy pervert in a raincoat. "I haven't had enough of the permissive society."
ReplyDeleteI like Game of Thrones, but I would hate to live in a place where it was filmed. The Japanese and Chinese flock to Korea in droves to visit places that appear in Korean dramas (basically soap operas). Some neighbourhoods in Seoul are sick and tired of domeestic and foreign tourists hanging around their houses all the time.
I once visited an historical drama set just after I got married. The show was set in the 9th century so I was curious to see the buildings and props, thinking it would be something like an outdoor museum. Everything looked great on camera, but up close it's just a bunch of plywood nailed together and painted over. Disappointing.
Your sunrays and clouds are much more interesting than a sunset. Are you going to scan it and show it to us here?
I don't know anything about flash photography, either. When I need flash to make a photo of family or friends inside I attach the flash, set the camera to P mode, and hope for the best. Sometimes I remember rear-sync flash. When I digital cameras I usually just turn up the ISO and avoid the problem altogether.
I loved Monty Python when I was young - the highlight of the week's TV, that was. And those surreal animations by Terry Gilliam were something else.
DeleteThankfully GoT is coming to an end, I hear. But to be fair, it's been very good for Northern Ireland, putting it on the map, so to speak for something other than 'The Troubles'.
OK, OK... I'll be the one to put my hands down and tell you I've watched every single episode of the GoT thing. Why, I hear you ask! Well, I'm not sure exactly why other than the fact that I think there was something there worth throwing away a bunch of hours I could otherwise use somewhere even darker...
ReplyDeleteI started to watch it around christmas time, and as was pointed out above I'm rather happy it's all over now.
Enough about that and over to the absolutely lovely print and the crave for beautiful sunsets. I'm done with beautiful sunsets... there I said it. I've done them (of course) and are now finished with the subject all together.
I love beautiful light though, like rendered in the print shown above :)
Haha well watching GoT is not a crime, Roy - yet! :) I know lots of people are quite obsessed by the whole thing, so it must have something going for it. To be honest I didn't give it enough time but then again with Missy in the house from the little bit I did see I think waiting a few years before re-visiting it might not be a bad idea anyway...
DeleteFor some reason I'm always behind the times with my viewing. The Sopranos we only watched a couple of years ago - about 10 years after it came out.
Sunsets are, yes, sunsets and you and I are probably both spoilt since we live where we live and get amazing sunsets a lot of the time. Of course they don't come out very well in B&W, as you know so I don't go chasing them either. I got lucky in Ballintoy, though.