Ireland 2024

I keep promising myself that one day I’ll visit Ireland with my “real” camera gear. The problem is that I’m an all-or-nothing person when it comes to photography. If I’m making photographs, I need to concentrate on that alone. If I’m a tourist, I just can’t be bothered carrying the gear I need to do the kind of work that I want to do. It also isn’t fair to the people I’m with if I’m stopping to take pictures or running off somewhere when I see something interesting. But…I still have my iPhone in-hand and I’m always looking for visual interest in the world around me. Here are some of my photographs from our July 2024 trip to Ireland.

Sheep in County Kerry, Republic of Ireland.
Along the Ring of Kerry, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland.
Sunset in County Tyrone, NI.
The green pastures of County Galway, Republic of Ireland.
Helen and Noel's Pasture, Country Armagh, NI.
Devenish Island Monastary. Located in Lough Erne, County Fermanagh, NI.
Devenish Island Monastary tower. Located in Lough Erne, County Fermanagh, NI.New List Item
Devenish Island Monastary. Located in Lough Erne, County Fermanagh, NI.

Sights, Buildings, and Other Stuff

This is a random collection of images of things that I found interesting.

The waterfront in Galway, Republic of Ireland.

The waterfront in Galway, Republic of Ireland.

A street in Kinvara, County Galway, Republic of Ireland. We bought ice cream cones in the grey building - an Asian restaurant run by a Chinese family and staffed by a very nice young woman from Kinvara.

Street in Enniskillen, County Fermanah, Northern Ireland.

Our hotel in Balbriggan, Republic of Ireland. Balbriggan is 15 minutes north of the Dublin Airport so we stayed there on the last day of our trip.

We found a wonderful bookstore in Waterford.

I love Irish signs - they hold nothing back.

The the view in front of our hotel in Balbriggan, Republic of Ireland.

An important conversation at the Omagh Show, a few minutes before the fashion show began. It was a rainy day so I ducked into the “fashion” tent to find a chair to wait out the rain.

A street in Kinvara, County Galway, Republic of Ireland.

A sign in the restaurant/pub/lobby of our hotel in Kinvara, County Galway, Republic of Ireland. I thought it was a cool sign - heaven forbid people can’t get their Guinness! Let’s just say that Guinness has pretty solid market penetration in Ireland.

A colourful street scene in Killorgan, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland.

This one fits under “Other Stuff”. My cousin Raymond gave me a tour of the welding shop where he works. I was impressed with this weld, completed by my other cousin Robert, known as “Bob” in the welding world.

This is my Uncle Harry in his Ford 4200. There are at least two other much more modern tractors on the yard, but Harry still choses the 4200, a gem from the mid 60s. Harry has a beautiful farm. The barns are built around a central courtyard.

The Willis nursery.

Cows

Northern Ireland, where we spend most of our time when visiting Ireland, is a land of cows. My cousin Helen and her husband Noel run a dairy and we love spending time with them. My Uncle Harry and Aunt Hazel raise beef cattle on a beautiful hillside farm. Visiting Harry always begins with farm tour in his 4x4, which is put to good use on steep hillsides and muddy trails. As we descended a very steep hillside Harry asked, “So Kerry, is your will up-to-date then?” We had a good laugh, but I was wondering when he last had his brakes serviced!

Uncle Harry’s pasture with storm clouds over the Republic of Ireland in the distance.

Uncle Harry’s pasture, with a view into the Republic of Ireland.

Daniel’s Champion

My cousin Daniel Willis (15) is working with his dad to improve the quality of their dairy herd. He has started showing cattle in local shows. This sequence shows him preparing for the Omagh Show, in which he placed first in his class and second overall.