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Day 3
I’m not a huge New Year’s Resolution maker. As a teenager, I used to make a big deal out of each new year. I’d write a reflective entry about the prior year, and document my hopes and predictions for the coming year. I’d also make a long list of vague resolutions. And I would forget about them all by the next week.
I’ve found that I’m better with implementing small new actions in my life. For instance, when I was in high school, I kept a journal where I wrote about where I saw divinity each day. This journal was inspired by Matthew 25: seeing divinity in the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned. The journal was centered on the idea that every human is valuable, and that even the tiniest creations are worth noticing. I wrote in this journal every single day for about three years – remarkably more sustainable and meaningful to me than any New Year’s Resolution ever has been.
In the same spirit of adding a small practice to my daily life, I’ve decided to do 365 days of photography in 2011. I have noticed in the past that I become much more conscious of and connected to my surroundings when I carry my camera. What does the light look like in this place, and at this time of day? What details surround me? Where are there surprising patterns? Who else is sharing this space with me? How can I capture these many things? With all of my traveling during the past couple years, I’ve had the opportunity to take lots of pictures of some truly incredible sights. But I want my photography to be an artistic outlet, not just snapshots. I want to get better with the technical aspects of photography, and more creative and gutsy with my subjects.
So, 2011: 365 will hopefully push my photography to new levels. And, I suspect, it will give me the chance to reflect more consistently on the places and faces in my daily life.
Currently, I’m just hosting the project on my Flickr account (do visit!). I may at some point bring the project to this blog, or maybe not. And, I’m sure there will be more than an occassional dud published. But that’s ok! I’m excited to see where this project leads me in the new year.
In addition to reading and relaxing post-thesis submission, I’ve been messing around a bit more with my photos and flickr account. I just revisited this recent photo, from our quick trip to the Art Deco District in Miami Beach, and I’m sort of in love with the colors. Enjoy!
the Leslie Hotel, Miami Beach
I awoke this morning to an email from the people at Andrew Sullivan – a photo I took in Donegal and submitted was the View from Your Window yesterday! Check it out. 🙂
We visited the gorgeous Ross Strand beach while driving the Ring of Kerry with my dad and uncle. I love the red in the sand and mountains and the blue sea and sky! It was a gorgeous day.
Two weeks ago, Jon and I were in Bray, just south of Dublin, for our friend Laura’s birthday celebration. It rained like crazy while we took the commuter train down to Bray, and we waited out the last couple minutes of the storm in the train station. As soon as the rain let up, the sun started shining through the clouds, and Jon and I knew we were in rainbow territory. It only took a minute to find one forming in the sky, in the direction of the beach. We rushed towards it, hoping to enjoy it before it disappeared.
This was the biggest, brightest rainbow I’ve ever had the chance to see. We spent the next 15 minutes admiring, snapping photos, and walking along the beach.
The reflection in the puddles was pretty cool.
A stunning look at the Irish sea looking north towards Dublin, and then south towards Bray Head.
More cool reflections.
And shot of us together before the rainbow vanished.
No pot of gold – the rainbow was treasure enough!
We just returned from a spectacular weekend up in Co. Donegal with our friends Laura and Avril. Avril was gracious enough to invite the three of us up to her family’s home in Ballybofey for a night and then to the family’s vacation cottage in the wee village of Kilcar for the next two nights.
We were treated to some home cooking from Avril’s lovely mom and enjoyed beautiful weather in Ballybofey. We took a nice long walk around the family land with Avril’s adorable dog Millie, and simply enjoyed being outside and not thinking about assignments for a couple hours.
Me, Avril, and Jon enjoying some wine after our walk around Ballybofey.
On Saturday, we headed to tiny Kilcar, a tiny village situated right on the Atlantic ocean and in the shadow of a beautiful mountain, Slieve League. Our host and chauffeur, Avril’s dad John, asked us to help with a chore as soon as we arrived: moving his flock of sheep from one field to another. Of course, we said yes. I was very hopeful that I’d get the chance to grab a sheep and snuggle up with it. If I only knew what was coming my way…
yes, you are seeing that right... me and a precious little lamb.
While moving the sheep, two young lambs were moving a little slowly and got scooped up by John. He passed them off to the four of us for a couple of minutes of cuddling. Turns out the twin lambs were born just THREE HOURS earlier! Needless to say, I was in absolute heaven. Dream = come true.
Laura and a little lamb. Note the umbilical cord!
Jon, me, lamb. Ecstatic.
After much nuzzling and squealing, we returned the lambs to their (understandably upset) mama.
While the lambs were definitely the highlight of our first day in Kilcar, we still had lots to do to finish out the day: Laura tried her hand at driving a tractor, we took a 2 hour walk and hung out on the seashore with the tide coming in, and devoured a lovely stew. Then it was out to experience Kilcar’s nightlife at the John Joe pub. We knew we’d be noticed as outsiders, but weren’t expecting to hear someone utter “Who are THEY?” approximately four seconds after we walked in the door. We enjoyed a couple pints and headed home to get some rest for day of fun number three.
Day 3: Climbing the great Slieve League mountain. They’re known as the highest sea cliffs in Europe (although it seems that title is contested), and we started the hike around lunchtime. It was a gorgeous day and a perfect hike. We took our time, taking lots of photos of the incredible cliffs and the sapphire blue sea, and stopping to enjoy the view whenever we felt like resting a bit. Afterwards, we headed back to the house, exhausted but happy.
County Donegal has officially won my heart.
Spring is finally making its way to Galway! This photo was taken over a month ago, on a randomly gorgeous day. Since then, we’ve had a lot of rain, some snow, a couple rounds of hail, and generally chilly temperatures. But it’s getting better now – buds on trees, flowers blooming, temperatures rising…
To welcome spring in, we’ve planted a little herb garden in planter boxes on our back porch. I’m terrible with gardens, so we’ll see if we can keep everything alive! Photos to come.
A little over a week ago, 10 of the Mitchells and I boarded flights headed to Brussels. We were going with the intent of learning more about the many, many workings of the European Union. We were graciously hosted by the Irish Permanent Representation to the EU, the group of people representing Ireland in all parts of the European Union.
During our official tour of the EU, we got to sit in on the proceedings of the European Parliament, enjoy a lunch with the US Ambassador to the EU, learn about the many different committees and groups that make up the EU machine, and get to know some lovely Irish people in the civil service in Brussels. The European Union gets a bit of a bad reputation for its unwieldy nature, and it’s hard to disagree with that in some ways. The decision making process is long and complicated – but that’s part of the point. The EU system is designed to ensure that decisions are made with a high level of buy-in from all member states. It also tries to walk the oh-so-fine line between bringing Europe together around shared interests and becoming the United States of Europe. It was great to learn about all of this from a closer perspective – and now I will understand so much more when reading the news about what’s happening in the EU.
After the EU portion of the trip was over, we had a couple days of free time to enjoy Belgium on our own. A small group of us took a train to the neighboring city of Bruges, which is a huge tourist destination. We wandered the cobblestone streets, watching boats cruise down the canals and tourists wander in and out of souvenir shops. It was a lovely, sunny day and we celebrated that fact by eating outside and meandering in the sun; no big to-do list for us. That night, we explored a bit more of “real” Brussels (the non-EU part), and got to see the beautiful Grand Place all lit up at night.
On Sunday, there was more wandering around – a farmers market, checking out some of the cool Art Nouveau architecture around town, eating fresh bread.
We took the tram out to see the Tervuren Africa Museum, which was a museum created by King Leopold to create interest and support for his “project” in the Congo, around the turn of the century. Of course, King Leopold’s Congo project was essentially to force the Congolese people to work as slaves, with Leopold taking the profit from the vast amount of rubber and ivory exported out of the country. All done without Leopold so much as stepping foot on the African continent. (I highly recommend the book King Leopold’s Ghost for the story on the Belgian Congo.) For this reason, the Tervuren museum is really interesting, as they have maintained the exhibits as they were originally designed. We only had one short hour in the museum before we had to rush off to the airport – but I was really glad I got to visit.
All in all, a productive trip! Made better with lots of Belgian chocolate, Belgian beer, frites, and the company of the Mitchell crew!
The fabulous Dunluce Castle, which we visited on a trip to Northern Ireland a couple weekends ago, was built in the 1200s and was inhabited until 1690.
As they say: location, location, location.
charming adolescent swan
I love birds, but I’ve never been much of a bird photographer – they’re pretty hard to capture. I had a bit of luck the other day, and managed to get these two photos of some of my winged friends.
a flurry of wings as seagulls, ducks, and swans are fed by a local Galway resident.
Treading Softly 