Another shot from Sunday’s photowalk. I peeked in to have a look at the Dublin on Ice set up in Smithfield and well, it’s no Rockefeller Center. Still the red, white and blue caught my eye.
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Author: Claire
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“Cheer Up Ireland” Photowalk
I’ve been suffering with Photo-Block, I go out with the camera and come back not having taken a single shot, I’m not sure where it came from but I’ve definitely been in a rut. That’s why an email that I got last week from Lauren from Simply Zesty really cheered me up. It was to invite me along to a Photowalk around Dublin with the theme “Cheer Up Ireland” which was being organised to promote Vodafone’s “Cheer Up Ireland” competition on Flickr (€3000 voucher prize so well worth entering!). I’ve not been on a Photowalk for ages and I always find that they’re a great way to shock me out of my comfort zone. We met up in town yesterday morning and we all agreed that having seen the brown slushy streets and grey skies it was going to be a challenge to find anything cheery to photograph. We set off for the Phoenix Park where it was still a Winter Wonderland and I started to wander away from the group to see what I could find. I spotted a family with some sleds and decided to follow and see where they were off to, I mean, what’s cheerier than a family having fun on sleds? Well, after a lot of walking I came through some trees and discovered a whole hill of people of all ages insanely throwing themselves down the slopes on everything from boogie boards wrapped in plastic bags to car bonnets. Perfect!
So, after about an hour of photographing all the fun I realised all the other Photobloggers had already moved on so I hoofed it over to Smithfield where I found them all on the Ferris Wheel:
After an impromptu snowball fight with the mischievous guy below we were all feeling a little bit cold and hungry so we headed back to the Odessa for a delicious lunch laid on by Vodafone. It was great to see all the familiar faces and I really enjoyed taking photos for the fun of it again so thanks to Simply Zesty and Vodafone, it was just what I needed!
Happy Christmas! I hope Santa brought you everything you asked for.
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Christmas At Clermont
Just a quick post to say that I will be taking part in my very first art fair showing some of my newborn photography at Christmas at Clermont in Rathnew this weekend.
It all kicks off tomorrow evening at 5pm in Clermont House and will be running all weekend with free admission and lots of local artisans and craftspeople showing and selling their wares. Might be a good place to do a bit of Christmas shopping. If you’re there please stop and say hi.
Claire and I have been friends since we were kids. My family moved from Ballinteer to Killiney when I was 11 years old and I wasn’t too happy about it at the time. I loved the new house (I had my own room at last) and the garden was amazing but I’d left all my friends behind not to mention starting a brand new school in 6th class just in time to finish primary school. Needless to say it was a huge opportunity for pre-teen angst! On our first day in the new house I was hanging out in the front garden, cautiously sniffing the place out when two girls my age, Claire and Mary wandered up the road and asked if I’d like to come and play. In that wonderful easy way that happens with kids I just slipped into the group and we remained friends throughout our teenage years. They introduced me to U2 and we’d spend hours listening to War and Unforgettable Fire in our bedrooms, I remember staying up to watch Self Aid and us all wishing we could be that girl that Bono brought up on stage. I was into Larry Mullin, Mary had dibs on Bono and Claire fancied Adam Clayton. Mary moved away at some point and I didn’t really keep in touch with her, although Claire did. She has always been brilliant at keeping in touch with everyone, she even came to visit me when I was living in Mexico and is the only person I have on this side of the world who knows first hand about my life over there.
We also have a coincidental connection. Way back when our grandparents were teenagers her great-uncle and my grandmother, Christy and May, lived in Dun Laoghaire and they were sweethearts (as they used to say). They wanted to get married in fact but, as the story goes, Claire’s great-grandmother didn’t approve of my grandmother, she being of a lower social standing, so the relationship was broken up and they both went on to marry other people.
[I knew this would happen :D. Edited to correct a couple of details that my family were on the phone to me about this afternoon. It was actually my great-grandmother who didn’t approve of Christy, not the other way around. Also, another little tidbit, many years later Christy’s family home was sold and turned into a nursing home and it was in this same nursing home that my grandmother spent her final days. Funny aul thing life!]
Well, though we’ve both travelled and lived abroad at different stages, we’re both married with kids and it’s been 25 years since we met, we’re still friends and we’re now living in the same town again. Oh, and she has two of the cutest funniest kids I know and I got to photograph them in Powerscourt for her recently. Have I mentioned how cute they are? Ciara’s voice would melt your heart, it’s like the chipmunks on helium, and Michael is a performer, he’s always singing and dancing and he has the moves.
