A Visit to the Temple

 It's been a couple of years (or more) since I made the trek to 'The Temple' but it rarely fails to disappoint and last Thursday was no exception.  We got lucky with the weather - it stayed dry and even managed a decent sky for HP5+ to capture.  Whatever you might think of 'The Earl Bishop' Lord Frederick Hervey back in the late 18th Century, you can't argue the man didn't have vision (and of course the moolah to turn his dreams into reality). Modelled on the Temple of Vesta in Rome, Mussenden Temple was built right on the cliff edge, in honour of his niece.  It was conceived as a library and apparently had a fire permanently lit in the basement which helped maintain a relatively moisture-free environment for the books - not an easy thing to achieve in this part of the world, particularly given the location.

Looking West, Mussenden Temple on a blowy day in March 2021.  Via the M6, 28mm lens, HP5+ on Ilford MG Classic fibre paper.  A deserted Downhill Beach just below, leading to Magilligan Strand and over to the hills of Donegal in the background.

From the other side it looked like this:

Looking East, past Castlerock towards Portstewart Strand and then to the headlands of Portrush and Benbane (Causeway territory).

I'm not a landscape photographer, as you can probably tell - although it's easy to see why so many photographers from this part of the world are.  I didn't really enjoy making these prints - the shots are too 'chocolate-boxy' for me...too much focus on the 'What' rather than the 'Why'.  Plus I was tired yesterday morning when I went into the darkroom (too much garden work outside on Saturday) and then I had to pre-flash the paper to get the sky looking half decent and the whole thing became a bit of a chore, which is not the object of the exercise.  I shall try to do better next time...