He keeps himself to himself

On this grey winter's day, for these ten minutes, in the old farm-yard; I sense his imprint.

I see how he solves problems, how he sets up his work, his personal history. How each tool is a prop in the daily routines that unfold here. I admire his handiwork, his craft. 

And you won't have to teach him how to recycle or why. Every single rusty nail has a purpose. Every piece of rope and twine is waiting to be tied into position.

And all is in order, to hand, filed to perfection. A rook is feeding on the compost and the cattle are housed away in their steamy cafeteria. 

It is as if small and hidden parts of his life are on open display to all who pass, and yet he keeps himself to himself, remaining elusive. 






Also browse a very different 10 minutes spent in Bruxelles Nord

Where does creativity come from?

The highest goal one can achieve is amazement. ~ Goethe

My first design experiments involved selecting snails along a narrow garden path. Lining them up in rows, I would talk kindly and invite them to take part in games. I would be their big sister, telling them stories and giving them names like Germaine and Margaret. Blended with rose petals and pebbles, they would become part of spiralling collages and patterns.  

Snails were the closest thing I had to a proper pet until we got our dog Timmy. After Timmy was "sent to live on a farm" we got a tortoise which went to sleep for the winter and never woke up. But the snails were always there and Pooka Snails, the large ones with protruding horns, were always my favourite. 

I began a half day at school at three and a half. In the afternoons I would sit on the path, school bag on my back, practicing my letters and reciting to those snails. Here were the foundations of my dream life; finding a quiet space for an inner world, connecting with nature, spending time mulling over the mysteries.

When you are looking at the random play and explorations of a very young child you are peeking into her soul, her love of what comes naturally. For some it will be climbing trees, for others kicking a ball, for the quiet few it will be escaping into imaginary worlds and talking to snails. 

Tiny dewy rainbows

Today I'm re-posting these tiny dewy rainbows from 2012.

Would you like to join me in a moment of reflection? While we both take a slow deep breath?

And while we continue to breathe, here are some explorations of contemplative photography practice

And while I was breathing deeply I won Silver in the Blog Awards for photography Yay!!!!

There is human time and there is wild time

There is human time and there is wild time.......

Clarissa Linkola Estes

This morning it's wild time. A slow motion sunrise, where nature's spinners have draped everything in layers of lace. 

Barely present. Fragile and momentary. 

Later when the day fully arrives, dew drops are blow dried from the faces of leaves. Webs disappear into the foliage and this sleepy photographer is re-absorbed into the human world.

Back in human time I'm reading Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers by Leonard Koren.  

"Wabi-sabi (a Japanese philosophy) is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional."

I remember when I started this blog my tagline was "celebrating the ordinary and the everyday in a place where nothing much happens."  I must be a wabi-sabi photographer (of an Irish rural variety maybe?) as every page of this carefully crafted book feels like a comfortable old pair of slippers.......

So I am re-inspired to sink into the elusive and the mysterious. To believe again that beauty can be coaxed out of ugliness. That in the wild time and the human time there is always space for perfect imperfection. 

More about Contemplative Photography here

Wild honeysuckle is the thing

"If you don't love things in particular, you cannot love the world, because the world doesn't exist except in individual things"

Thomas Moore

The ditches are a jumble of briars, a tangle of weeds, a mess of curling browning leaves. They cascade onto the lane, in the subdued light of early autumn. 

A heady scent draws you into the middle of a phenomenon. The wild honeysuckle is budding, flowering and fruiting all at once. In the darkening days of autumn this climber is still in it's stride, an exotic reminder of life cycles. 

The young ones on the lane have returned to school, a trio of thrushes are practicing their skills at the top of a tree, the now enormous cattle are munching the EU grass.

And wild honeysuckle is the thing today; absorbing, beautiful, tender.

More life cycles of flowers here in the Petals Gallery

And if you have a minute, you can still vote for Foxglove Lane in the Blog Awards here 

Thank you! 

 

12 minutes in Bruxelles Nord

Up the wide stairs onto the platform of Bruxelles Nord Station. The clock said 7.43, the train would arrive and leave by 7.55.  

In the golden light filled space there were constant comings and goings. For twelve minutes I am pure presence. Absorbed in what I miss most about city living.

Straight lines, edgy shadows, bits and pieces of the lives of others. My last 12 minutes in the city of Bruxelles.


Visit the Gallery here to join in the full 12 minutes.



And then if you have another moment I would LOVE your vote in the Blog Awards for Best Photography Blog

It's OK not to feel OK : 10. 9. 15

Blue is never more blue than it is when paired with orange. And the orange is never bluer than when eaten on a cloud in the sky.  

Jarod Kintz

It started from the first view of the Montbretia filled hedgerows along the Dingle Peninsula, now orange is everywhere.....

Opposite colours on the colour wheel, orange and blue will always zing zestily together. Colour theory says that combining these complimentary colours creates maximum vibrance and impact. Think yellow and purple or red and green too.

Orange glows with warmth and fire. It's the colour of summer, sunsets, hope. The Cycle against Suicide Campaign have adopted orange as their colour for World Suicide Prevention Day. Their slogan "It's OK not to feel OK" is simple and brilliant.

Look out for their #LetsGoOrange projects this week, and embrace the orange and the blue......

And just before you go, I have been shortlisted for the Best Photography in the Blog Awards and I would love your vote in order to get to the final stage. You can vote here and THANK YOU dear friends!

Those dark elements : 4. 9. 2015

You are on your knees in a lavender patch, following the music of bees. In the distance a harvester is droning, and the evening sun highlights wings and petals.

You are obsessing about the need for a soft bed and a warm hearth as the autumn sets in; for a safe place to pause, for a warm welcome. And you can't imagine leaving all this, leaving your own home and setting out on foot, to walk for miles to who knows where?

And you can barely grasp how thousands of them are walking through fields full of lavender and don't have even a moment to watch every last flicker of this season's sunsets, or to photograph bees in the evening light.

And you find that "$50 will provide high thermal fleece blankets to help protect a family from the elements." And you can't help imagining those dark elements as the chill of a September breeze, rustles through the leaves.

Please donate to the urgent appeal for humanitarian relief in Syria here at the UN Refugee Agency  

In other news.....Foxglove Lane has been shortlisted for the Blog Awards 2015. Would love it if you could vote here It only takes a minute. Thank you!!

Grounded by light and shade : 24.8.15

These days I am using a fixed lens (no zooming) and resisting any kind of cropping or editing. This means that when capturing an image you have to be scrupulous about the composition. What you snap is what you get, an "in the moment" photo. 

It's good discipline for the eye, and does away with the need for post processing, photoshop and all the rest of it. 
On the other hand I'm also gathering too many photos at once and running out of space on every device, including my cluttered mind!! I came back from the last jaunt with 1,500 shots of Kerry, Dublin, Wicklow and Kilkenny. Overwhelming to sort, maybe one for the long dark evenings of the winter ahead. (Apologies for even mentioning it!) 

Home and hearth soothe the busy brain and bring us back down to earth. Detail, shadow and light will do that every time. The alchemy between eye, lens and light. 

What's all around you that soothes your busy brain? What small details would you capture from your own space? Try it today with your phone, camera, sketch pad or journal and find yourself instantly grounded! 

Browse today's featured gallery "Seek light" here