King Billy

Back in July my local town of Coleraine hosted the regional '12th of July' parades.  Always a good opportunity for a photograph - see here and here for ones from previous years.   This shot shows one of the Banners which depict various scenes from Orange culture and history.  Images of King William III, William of Orange, or just plain King Billy are plentiful and here we have a typical scene of the man himself crossing the River Boyne on his white charger as his men inflicted defeat on the Catholic King James II back in 1690 or so:

FP4+ on Foma 313 paper. 

Above yer man we see the name of this particular Orange Lodge, Tullintrain Purple Star LOL 1969 and a quick search reveals this hails from Claudy, a small village some way away.  The LOL stands for Loyal Orange Lodge and 1969 is simply a unique number within the organisation and as far as I know nothing to do with the year 1969.  I have no idea of the significance of 'Purple Star' in the name.

Each year the bands from the area parade through the chosen town and then head towards 'The Field', where there are various speeches from Orange leaders and usually a few clergy as well.  The walkers/marchers/banner carriers and musicians get a well earned rest and no doubt a few sandwiches and lemonade before heading back through town and then home.  

It's not just Northern Ireland where these events take place - some in Donegal, others in Scotland then also, as far as I know, in Canada and Australia.  Everywhere there were settlers from these parts, I guess.

Up close and personal

Yup, that's a big beast of a Charolais bull coming right at you/me, at the Limavady Agricultural Show, of course:

On the 'Blad, 60mm, FP4+ on Foma 313 paper

At the Show they parade these particular animals around a 'ring' - which basically means a made-up portion of a field and there was naught separating yours truly from this magnificent beast except a bit of rope and a Hasselblad.  The camera, mind you, might have been a lot more use than the rope had Hardy come to Hardy should Dennis - or whatever they called him - decided to carry straight on rather than turn to his right as the script suggested.

Charolais are beautiful animals.  Muscular, with a lovely coat.  This one wasn't that big in the grand scale of things - some are really enormous.  The stockmen (and women) are brave souls that can handle them, as the weight ratio of bull-to-human means its a no-contest should things go awry.  I think you need to be born into this game - I was trusting that the handler knew what he was about and thankfully he did.

Bellarena Accordion Band

Going by the size of the village of Bellarena, near Limavady, I'd hazard a guess that most of the inhabitants are members of the Accordion Band - seen here in full flow at the Annual Twelfth of July Parade in Coleraine town centre earlier this year:

FP4+ on the 'Blad, Foma 313 paper.  It was a tad sunny&contrasty, that day. 
Makes a change in these parts, mind you.

That's our lovely Italianate Town Hall in the background, with the cenotaph in front.  Most bands slowed to a respectful pace as they passed, with usually just a single drum beat before striking up again as they turned the corner into the Main Street.

Serenity

When I printed this shot from the Limavady Agricultural Show back in July I was disappointed to see the girl in the foreground has her eyes closed.  But it kind of grew on me - she looks very calm in the midst of all the chaos.  Perhaps she is channelling her serenity through her sheep.

Regular readers will of course recognise the Valais Blacknose variety of sheep
FP4+, on Foma 313 paper

Boys and their sheep

Still at the Show, albeit it the Limavady Agricultural Show this time:

Brothers, possibly
'Blad, 60mm; FP4+ on Foma 313

I had high hopes for this shot as the boys were very happy for me to point the camera in their direction.  I like their stance, very grounded and with a tight hold on the sheep.  Clearly they knew that at any moment the sheep are likely to make a run for it.

It was only when I printed it I saw it - the black line running up from bottom of the print.  What the heck?  I checked the negative and yup, it was there too.  And on the shot I took of them moments before they posed for me, but not on any others.  I'm guessing it's the shadow of a post or pole of some sort.  What a shame, as otherwise this shot could have been a contender for the wall.

Jesus Saves (Ford)

In and around The Liberties farming and church go hand-in-hand.  It's a traditional way of life, I guess, where the community is close-knit and friends & neighbours can be relied upon to help each other out.  This stand caught my eye in the Ballymoney Show and I reckoned it warranted wasting a frame on:

It took a couple of attempts to get this half-decent,
with a fair bit of burning in of the balloon at the front.

The old Ford tractor with the double wheels was done up a treat and I guess it was a good hook to convince passers-by to stop a while. It worked for me!

Getting ready for the showing

Our local agricultural shows are just that - places to show your livestock, equipment, or produce.  It's a huge day out for the farming community and they take it very seriously.  I saw cows getting blow-dried and back combed and sheep getting their faces whitened with talc, or blackened with something else.  Hooves were being scrubbed.  Sometimes sheep were manhandled into a holding contraption which kept them still long enough to be brushed and cleaned.  They did complain about it - loudly.  But I think sheep complain about a lot of things, from what I could see.  They just want to be out eating grass, I guess - it's not their idea of fun being carted to an unfamiliar place and have strangers poke, prod and take photographs of you without so much as being asked. 

Hasselblad/60mm; FP4+ on Foma 313 paper

If your only experience of sheep is seeing them as fluffy cute wee things which run around a field then it's a shock to see how difficult it is to work with them.  For their size, they are incredibly strong animals and they take a lot of encouragement to do anything - a firm grasp of the horns (for those that have them) is required, or a tight grip around their neck.  Of course often they wriggle free and make a bolt for freedom in which case everyone and anyone around lends a hand to get them under control again.  Working with livestock ain't for the faint hearted, that's for sure.  I had to be careful picking my way through the pens and watching out for - well, everything.