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§ December 30th, 2008
Just before I headed home for Christmas, Rachel and I wandered along to check out the Dublin Christmas Market in St Georges Dock. Unfortunately, we were there too early to indulge in the atmospheric hustle and bustle that I was hoping for so I was a little disappointed. There were some nice stalls however and, while we were there, we decided to pop into the CHQ building to take a look around. The building was originally used to store tobacco and later was the venue for the Crimean War banquet.
More through luck than anything else, I managed to grab this shot inside. Everything just seemed to fall into place at the right time - the woman walking, the sun shining through the rafters, the shadow looking almost like a reflection - this is probably one of my favourite recent shots!
§ December 30th, 2008
Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Being Christmas and all, I decided to keep my distance from the computer as much as possible and actually spend some time in the real world! That didn’t, however, stop me from taking lots of photos so I should have a fair few pics to throw up on here in the coming days.
But first, lets start off with these - my sister and I spent an amusing time playing with light trails and long exposures. We had a great time experimenting with the Christmas tree, outlining the tinsel and baubles, but in the end, the simple shots seemed to work the best!
§ December 17th, 2008
I leave for the UK this evening so I am far too busy with fiddly, last minute errands to actually sit down and write a review of I Am Kloot who played at Whelans earlier this week. I will endeavor to get something coherent up over the next couple of days. In the meantime, here are a couple of photos.
§ December 14th, 2008
The Trinity Public Theatre is the venue for all of Trinity’s graduation ceremonies and many of the exams. It also serves as the venue for choral concerts and other performances. Many people fail to realise how beautiful the building really is.
§ December 13th, 2008
This morning I was lucky enough to be invited along to a question and answer session with Sir David Attenborough in the Botany lecture theatre at Trinity College. Part of my reason for being there was to take photographs for the Botany department of the unveiling of a plaque for the opening of the new Centre for Biodiversity and Sustainable Development.
I spent most of the morning panicking as I knew that I would have mere seconds to capture the shots - even worse was that I had agreed with the Head of Botany that I would try and get away with using no flash! Its not normally a problem at gigs and other similar situations as I can run around for a few minutes in order to set up the shots - but today, I had to be ready as soon as he started to pull that curtain back! With this in mind, I arrived suitably early so that I could test out the light and position myself before the hoardes of people arrived.
Thankfully, I managed to get a few good shots. For large versions, please take a look at my Flickr page.
I really needn’t have worried because, even though everyone was categorically told NOT to take photos, of course everybody did! I sort of wish that I had been a little more pushy and taken more shots but, although I really did want to get some great shots for the Botany department, I also wanted to be respectful of Sir David and not bombard him with flashbulbs and shove a zoom lens into his face!
It was a really interesting session with the right mix of seriousness and wit. It was a great privilege to hear him speak and even more of an honour to be asked along to take photographs.
§ December 13th, 2008
David Attenborough was yesterday awarded with an honorary doctorate at Trinity College, Dublin.
Alongside cult writer Terry Pratchett, who was also at Trinity to receive an honorary doctorate, they were presented by Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, during the commencement ceremony for a number of Trinity’s recent PhD and Masters graduates.
§ December 12th, 2008
A few nights ago I had an urge for a korma. Not having any ready made sauces in the house, I decided that this was the ideal opportunity to give it a bash myself! Over the last few weeks I had stocked up on chopped almonds and coconut milk whenever I had remembered “oh yes, I wanted to have a go at making a curry” but I had never actually got around to putting the idea into practice.
So out came the spices - even though I had no clue what they all should be used for! I did spend a while trying to find some simple, understandable korma recipes but they all called for different spices and confused me no end!
After coming across a recipe that used only coconut milk and no cream or yogurt, I decided that I would throw caution to the wind and just give it a go.
I first threw in some chopped red onion and garlic followed by the tin of coconut milk. I then picked out the spices that seemed to be most used in each of the recipes I had seen. Using the tried and tested method of having a sniff, adding a pinch of this, a pinch of that and then tasting the mix, I added each of the spices along with some salt and a generous helping of the chopped almonds.
I added some baby corn and carrots and served it all up with some perfectly prepared rice (as detailed by Grannymar). I think it turned out pretty well for a first attempt, even if I do say so myself!
Unfortunately, I can’t exactly recall the amounts of each spice which I added, so until I have retested the recipe, I will hold off from sharing it with others!
§ December 10th, 2008
The third and final (for the time being) Christmas light photo!
This picture was taken in a small alley just off of Grafton Street.
Something slightly different next time….I promise!
§ December 10th, 2008
On Sunday night, after a lot of uhmming and ahhing, Rachel and I headed off to Whelans to catch the mega-talented Liam Finn.
I had managed to miss him play at the Sugar Club earlier in the year and really wanted to catch him when he was next in town. Being from the other side of the world though, I presumed my luck was out. However, it was completely by chance that I spotted a poster advertising his recent gig while we were in Temple Bar taking these shots!
So, after overcoming our lethargy and piling on the layers to battle the cold outside, we wandered up to Whelans where we were happily suprised to find it very busy. It seems he has rather a following here does Mr Finn, and it was really nice to find that he was ending his tour right here in Dublin.
I have to admit that the show was nothing like I was expecting - for one thing, I didn’t even know he could play the drums! I’d only seen him play guitar with his Dad on the odd occassion I’d seen Crowded House! For the opener Liam utilised triggers and loops to layer the sounds created by him and his solitary on stage companion, Eliza-Jane, to piece together a huge and fantastic song. Made famous by the likes of KT Tunstall’s Black Horse and the Cherry Tree and David Ford’s State of the Union (and if you haven’t seen the latter, you really HAVE to!), I presumed that the various effects were a gimmick just for that first song - Better to Be. Luckily, I was wrong! The rest of the gig continued apace, save for a few relatively subdued songs such as Gather to the Chapel, although even these were bashed out with a distinctly heavy rock edge!
I’m definately glad we made the effort to go - thats one more that I can now cross off of my “must see” list!
§ December 9th, 2008
More Dublin lights!!!
The second photo is of an antique jewellers on St Andrew Street.
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