The Newlyweds:
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| HP5+ rated at 800, developed in HC-110 and printed on Ilford MG Classic paper. Enlarged quite a bit and bleached to lift the highlights a little. The guy in the background with a camera of some sorts (the cheek!) remains suitably suppressed. |
In the corner of the room at the wedding reception was a pop-up photo booth. I had no idea what was going on but I could see it was very popular and everyone looked like they were having a lot of fun, so I wandered over to see what it was about. The guy in charge of it had a load of fun props (signs, hats, funny glasses...) and the idea is that you and your mates dress up in front of the camera and get your photo taken...which is then printed out there and then and given to you (and a copy stuck into an album for the bride and groom). I think I had as much fun taking these shots as the guys and girls dressing up - it was a real hoot.
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| Photo booth at the wedding. OM4ti/28mm; HP5+ on MG Classic paper. |
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| The Diva Dolls, doing their thing. Phone snap of a quick print this morning. We're all extremely tired, 2 days after the big event and we still feel jet-lagged. Still, it was a fantastic day and we wouldn't change a thing. OM4ti with Vivitar 28mm. HP5+ on Ilford MG Classic paper. |
If you're not au fait with the old Welsh placenames they can be a little daunting. Google came up with 'klan goth luhn'. Another site suggested 'lan goth luhn'. The way I was told it the first syllable is more guttural than plain old 'lan' - imagine clearing your throat and you're half-way there. Anyway, however it's pronounced, Llangollen lies on the River Dee in North Wales and we stopped off there a weeks ago on our way to Oxford. Forty years ago when I was at Uni we would drive a minibus into Wales and go canoeing. I was, if you pardon the pun, well out of my depth as in winter time when there's a flood on the Dee - well, let's just say it's not for the faint-hearted. We had some International Canoeists at Bath Uni and they were out in the Grade 5 water having fun. I was just trying to survive, keeping close to the bank and hoping I made it home alive. I did - just, though. I remember capsizing a couple of times and on one of those occasions I did actually think my number was up. I was caught in a stopper wave after negotiating a weir which tossed me upside down. My spraydeck wasn't coming off and I was beginning to panic - it was one of those times where you think you are underwater for ages but in reality it was probably only a few seconds. After trying unsuccessfully to rip the thing off I remember thinking 'I have to get this spraydeck off or I'm a goner here' and I pulled on it with all the strength I could muster. It came off and I got myself out, head back above water. One of the more experienced guys towed me to the side and I was able to compose myself. I then had to paddle another hour or so downstream before reaching our pick-up point. I don't think I ever sat in a canoe again.
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| Llangollen, North Wales. A bit like Ireland the rain is never far away in North Wales, even in June. It's a beautiful part of the world, though. M6/28mm/HP5+/HC-110/Ilford MG Classic paper. |
Llangollen was busy the day we stopped in it. Too busy, too many tourists, ourselves included. We walked up and down, visited a couple of Charity Shops and bought a couple of gifts for folks back home. Given so many people around I was surprised to see a Fujica film camera (STX type) and two lenses (50mm and 135mm) for sale in one of the Charity Shops. The lenses were spotless but the camera wasn't working and it didn't seem like an easy repair - the winder was broken. The shutter release button worked in that it reset the winder but the mirror didn't flip up and the shutter wasn't opening. It had £8 on the ticket for the camera and the lenses. £8! It's rare to see a camera in a Charity Shop at a sensible price these days and I was certainly tempted, if only for the glass. But I seemed to recall that Fujica had a proprietary mount and I told myself I didn't need the distraction, so I walked on. Yes, I know. Idiot I am.
PS As I hurriedly post this on Monday morning there is a kind of organised chaos in the house. Today my stepson marries Clare and in a couple of hours we depart for the day's celebrations. Last night we hosted the Groom's party (the lads) and now all that's left to do is feed them and make sure they are suited and booted. I shall endeavour to take some shots as the day unfolds.
There were some impressively large and muscular animals on show at Ballymoney. This one was by no means the biggest but he was very well turned out:
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| "Come on, we're going to win this". M6ttl with 50mm Canon ltm. HP5 on Ilford Classic fibre paper. |
The shed in the background (and one or two others) were being used to prepare the animals for show. There was lots of back-brushing going on and, well, the inevitable cleaning up the bits that need cleaned up after toileting. Not for the faint-hearted but I guess needs must. When it was time, crisp white coats were donned and the animals led towards the showing rings. Being so close to the action with a camera was great but you need to keep your wits about you. A couple of times I had to shift pretty quickly to get out of the way of a couple of tons of prime beef heading my way. I doubt those fellows would even notice if they stood on your foot but I guarantee you would.
After a hiatus for a couple of years the Ballymoney Agricultural Show returned last weekend and so I duly went along to see what was happening. Last time around I concentrated on the sheep - this year I stayed mostly in the cattle section. This older man seemed to be in some discomfort as he sat there more or less all morning while events unfolded around him:
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| It's all happening at the Ballymoney Show, 2022. HP5+ on the M6/28mm. |
This was the view from the back of the ferry as left Dublin Port en route to North Wales:
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| Leaving Dublin, 2022, on the fast ferry to Holyhead, North Wales. M6/28mm with yellow filter on HP5+. HC-110 on Ilford MG Classic paper. The sky got a little burn in, as you can probably tell. |
The faster of the two Irish Ferries ships takes just over 2 hours from Dublin to Holyhead and it really does motor on quite swiftly. Not that there is much to do on board except 'relax'. Well there are bars and places to eat (I would hesitate to call them restaurants) but we just sat down and closed our eyes for the duration. One of the 'meal deals' was offering a pizza and a pint for 20 Euros - not much of a deal to my eyes.
We did a few stops en route to Oxford - in fact, we stayed the night in North Wales as we were dropping Missy off in Betws-y-coed the following morning, for her week's Field Trip as part of her course. They had a grand time, apparently - trapping, identifying and releasing moths and doing various surveys of the plants that inhabit Snowdonia National Park. It's a beautiful area, if a little damp at times. Coming home for her a couple of days ago was a little challenging, though, on account of the chaos that most UK airports seem to be in these days. I don't understand why the Uni decided that the Field Trip would be best done the week of (a) half term, when all the school students were on holiday and (b) the Queen's Jubilee celebrations, when the rest of the country was on holiday as well. It was, as you can imagine, a perfect storm. Her flight back to Belfast from Birmingham was cancelled but fair play to Easyjet they were quick to organise a hotel for the night and a hot meal, so I can't fault them there. She was re-booked on an early flight the following morning and this is where it all fell apart. She got a little lost from the hotel to the airport and arrived, well, in decent time under normal circumstances but in not enough time this particular week. The place was chaos and Easyjet hadn't sorted out her check-in/boarding pass in advance, which meant joining a massive queue to get checked in followed by another massive queue to go through security...all at 7am. So she missed her flight and as a result got very upset. At this point (she told us later) she just wanted to curl up in a corner, call mummy and say 'Come get me'. Unfortunately that wasn't possible but Father dearest was able to re-book her on the next available flight (different carrier, late afternoon) and eventually, having spent all day sitting in the airport she made it home. Easyjet went from hero to zero overnight - they could have organised it better. When they re-booked her on the morning flight they should have offered online check-in, as they normally do - or even provided a fast-track solution for people who have had their flights cancelled and re-booked. I'm sure Missy wasn't the only one to miss that flight.
The madness is partly due to the fact that the airline companies laid off thousands of people during the early part of Covid, when almost no-one was able to fly. Now that things have opened up again, they don't have the staff and can't get them recruited and passed security clearance quickly enough. As a result, hundreds of flights are being cancelled. I read that the chaos is likely to continue for some time - maybe even into next year. Not good news for anyone hoping to get away. Well, getting away might be OK - it's the getting back which can be the problem. I'm staying put for now.
OK so the fact that The Liberties is right at the top of Ireland means you can expect more than your fair share of precipitation - that's a given. But occasionally the sun does break through and when it does we do like to avail of it and top up our Vitamin D levels. Of course we burn - we’re Irish. I'm not one for sitting in the sun but I still have a permanent farmer's tan in the summer months - head, neck and lower arms red, everywhere else white. So be it. But on a quick visit to Belfast's Botanic Gardens it was nice to see so many people outside on the grass, doing nothing in particular, just sitting enjoying the sun.
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| Botanic Gardens, Belfast, Spring 2022. OM4ti, 24mm Zuiko, HP5+, HC-110 on Ilford MG Classic fibre paper. I'd definitely be the one in the shade of the tree if I was in this shot instead of being behind the camera - which I find is usually the best place for me. |
That's what the sign says on this pub in Belfast, anyway. I will admit to enjoying the odd Guinness but I'm very rarely in a public house these days. And when I am, I'm usually aghast at the prices they charge, especially in a place like Belfast.
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| The pub is a dark red colour and much more inviting than it appears in this shot, in case you were wondering. OM4ti, 35mm Zuiko on HP5/HC-110/Ilford MG Classic fibre paper. |
We’re away on our travels this week. Missy has a room-full of ‘stuff’ that needed removed for the summer. The Uni can’t help. I guess with 20,000-odd students they just say ‘Nope. Clear your room in June. Come back in September’. There are companies who specialise in storing student gear but having looked into it we decided this time to drive over and do it ourselves. This time. We’ll take stock after we get home on Friday and think about options for next year.
One of the things that swayed our decision to drive it was it would give us the opportunity to call on my Uncle, who is now in his late eighties. As I write this (on my phone, in a hotel in Shrewsbury, England) we’ve not long left him. It’s been almost 10 years since I saw him last & it was great to spend the afternoon in his company. Really great. I gave him loads of family photographs & we chatted about old times and now times. That alone has made the trip worthwhile.
