So-I'm off to County Cork Ireland

Does anyone have any ideas on what/where I might be shooting next week while my wife is installing software at her client? I'm allowing myself 2 maybe 3 overnight trips and I'll be railing and busing it- city boy that I am.
So far my shortlist includes Blarney Castle, Dublin and maybe Belfast
Also-any recommendations on places to buy photo paper for my pinhole would be appreciated.
Grazie
Victor

Jersey Vic said:

Also-any recommendations on places to buy photo paper for my pinhole would be appreciated.
Victor

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Email Paddy Barker in http://www.barkerphotographic.com and let him know what you need in advance.

Have a look at http://www.gilesnorman.com to get an idea what to expect scenery wise.

Have fun.

Take a trip to Baltimore, County Cork-nice little town with a harbor, also an island (with ferry service) right offshore. I recommend Cormack McCarthy's pub for drink and music.

You are close enough to take a day trip to the Ring of Kerry (along with every tourist and tour bus in Ireland), or you can drive the Beara peninsula-a more picturesque trip in my opinion and much less crowded.

You can also day trip to Dingle, preferably by the Connor Pass if the day is nice (avoid it if the weather is fowl)-beautiful place.

By all means, go to Cobh (pronounced "Cove"), which is right next to Cork. I would also suggest that you rent a car and just go driving up the west coast. You're not that far from "Ring around Kerry" and the Dingle Peninsula, you can go from Galway up the coast through Connemara and just basically hug the coast, stopping whenever you want to photograph the gazillions of gorgeous views and interesting things you will see. There are great cemeteries, monastery and church ruins, cute little towns, farm views, the Burren and neolithinc ruins, and from Galway you can even take the ferry out to the Aran Islands and have a great day or two of hiking and shooting. Two weeks in Cork? I cannot think of a much better way to spend two weeks out of your life!

Have a great trip and enjoy Ireland -- it's a wonderful place!

mmcclellan said:

By all means, go to Cobh (pronounced "Cove"), which is right next to Cork. I would also suggest that you rent a car and just go driving up the west coast. You're not that far from "Ring around Kerry" and the Dingle Peninsula, you can go from Galway up the coast through Connemara and just basically hug the coast, stopping whenever you want to photograph the gazillions of gorgeous views and interesting things you will see. There are great cemeteries, monastery and church ruins, cute little towns, farm views, the Burren and neolithinc ruins, and from Galway you can even take the ferry out to the Aran Islands and have a great day or two of hiking and shooting. Two weeks in Cork? I cannot think of a much better way to spend two weeks out of your life!

Have a great trip and enjoy Ireland -- it's a wonderful place!

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I think it's a 2 day trip that's planned.

Two or three overnight trips, as Victor described, would allow for most of that to be done. In any case, pick and choose! )

mmcclellan said:

By all means, go to Cobh (pronounced "Cove"), which is right next to Cork. I would also suggest that you rent a car and just go driving up the west coast. You're not that far from "Ring around Kerry" and the Dingle Peninsula, you can go from Galway up the coast through Connemara and just basically hug the coast, stopping whenever you want to photograph the gazillions of gorgeous views and interesting things you will see. There are great cemeteries, monastery and church ruins, cute little towns, farm views, the Burren and neolithinc ruins, and from Galway you can even take the ferry out to the Aran Islands and have a great day or two of hiking and shooting. Two weeks in Cork? I cannot think of a much better way to spend two weeks out of your life!

Have a great trip and enjoy Ireland -- it's a wonderful place!

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Dave Miller said:

I think it's a 2 day trip that's planned.

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Thought the same thing Dave, but with a description like that, makes me want to go for a couple of weeks......

It does sort of surprise me when people visit Europe and assume you can get around easily on public transport. You won't see the best Ireland has to offer the photographer from a train or bus- unless you want to photograph railway stations. I really enjoy photographing in Ireland, but I have to say that the best of it is the countryside, the coast (especially) and then perhaps the smaller communities. I don't find anything special at all about Belfast and Cork - which are a long way apart - whilst Dublin is no more than OK as European cities go. What you're doing is a bit like travelling to Colorado staying in Denver with short trips to Colorado Springs and Boulder- pleasant enough but not the best the area has to offer.

But if you hire a car from Cork you can drive over to the Beara peninsula ( too much coach tourism on the Ring of Kerry); or to the coast around Dingle; or just as far as the Killarney Lakes and McGillycuddy's Reeks. You'll be free to wait for sunset or get up for dawn and to find your own Ireland rather than rely on tourist itineraries.

hi there

if you can get to kerry, try to find cormac's chapel. there are 2 of'em, a new one ( 1200s?) and an early one ( 4-500 years earlier). there is a belltower ( isn't there always ) and the earlier of the 2 churches has a beautifully ornate sarcophagus and a hypocaust heating system ( roman style central heating).

good luck!

-john

photomc said:

Thought the same thing Dave, but with a description like that, makes me want to go for a couple of weeks......

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Three weeks would be even better!
If a car is available then (there was a url link here which no longer exists) is only an hour out of Dublin.

Thinking about it; make that four weeks.

Wow-what a treasure trove of information. This is the reason I come to this site with my questions and dilemnas. Thank you all for your excellent and quick responses.
To clarify-I am flexible in terms of when I need to return back to Cork so a 2 to 3 day journey is feasible, as is a couple of 2 day 'overnighters'. As someone who has lived most of my life in an older urban area, I find the layers of history, culture, and architecture of such places fascinating. I'll take a rainy afternoon in a Paris museum or a sunny sunday at THE Milan football stadium over a day on a coast anytime although I really do love the coast and the mountains when I do get to them.
I actually like crowds and undergrounds and wide boulevards with giant newstands and food carts and beautiful grand train stations. The car rental idea is a very good one that I will certainly look into but I've had marvelous experiences meeting people on the rails and have seen things from bus windows I would have missed if I needed to watch the road.
Cheers!
Victor