Ireland

[David Hall]

I will be in Ireland in two weeks. Never been there, always wanted to go. I will be flying to Dublin for five days (well, 4 and a half after catching up with time zones) and will be free to spend maybe a day or day and a half out of the city.

Two questions:

1) I enjoy photographing people, urban scenes, and landscapes. I'm not great at archtecture but old, wise buildings can be pretty cool. Where are my best bets to find these things?

2) Thinking of taking the LF camera or a P67. Given the amount of time I will be there and the fact that I have never been there before, should I lean toward one or the other?

3) BONUS QUESTION for Extra Credit: Do people drive on the 'wrong' side of the road in Ireland?


Thanks for whatever you can offer.

PS Les...I will have a very fancy pants Dublin restraunt at my disposal if you ever happen to find yourself over there....

dgh

 

[Les McLean]

David,

It's just possible that I may be only 45 minutes from Dublin in two weeks. I have to visit a client in Drogheda but it depends on my going into hospital for an exploratory op on my ear. At present I have no appointment date but I'm told it will be soon so I'll try to get things moving so that I could meet up with you. I'll keep you posted on your private email address.

Given that you will have only a short time you will not be able to see the best of Ireland's landscape, that's on the west coast, too far away for a one day trip. The Mountains of Mourne are within hit distance of Dublin, about 2 hours toward Northern Ireland. They can be very dramatic and moody if you get the right weather conditions, rain and mist. There is some good old archetecture in Dublin but I'm not too sure where, I'll speak to some Irish photography friends to get some info for you.

The people of Ireland, Northern or The Republic are friendly and always willing to be photographed.

My coice of camera would be medium format and 35mm, given the time you have LF is too slow and cumbersome IMO.

People do drive on the WRONG side and be warned they are crazy in the south and the roads can be poor especially the smaller ones away from Dublin.

If I can make it and you want to do some serious people photography and you are willing to travel a couple of hours I'd be happy to take you to Belfast and one or two places on the way. It would be a long day but quite interesting.