All I got is 1 photo and a stick

April 10, 2022

I went out trekking last weekend.

I went and did the Cross Cooley Challenge. For those reading this and may not know what it is here is what it actually is:
The Cross Cooley Challenge is a charitable event which is on the 2nd of October to raise funds for the North Louth Hospice & Marie Goretti Foundation. It’s a 15 Km trek across the Cooleys, with fabulous views of Dundalk Bay and Carlingford Lough.

Now I know it is not Oct but it is a great trek to do and the views are class and it gets the body for long variable surfaces and from my research this is what I need to be doing for the camino.

The silence on the walk was amazing. Allowing me to not keep up with anyone and taking my own time. If I wanted to stop and enjoy the views, silence there was no pressure around.

So after the above photo was taken I left the camera in the bag as most of the walk from here is road walking. However surprisingly there was maybe 4 cars on the road when I was along it. Very surprising I have to say, but this added to the blissfulness of the whole thing. However when I was walking up Foye I seen something that I have not seen before. There was wild horses on the back of Foye. I spent about 10 mins watching the with the camera and I got 2 shots of them (well 2 that I am happy(ish) with) as it would have looked a lot better if they had their heads up. But they where hungry critters.

Now they are not portfolio shots but still it’s good to have. Not going to lie when I seen them I got very excited as I’ve only seen images before of them but never actually up close. However when I was coming off Foye and looking over at the Mourne Mountains there was a haze of a rainbow just in front of them and it was CLASS!!!!!!

So this is the the photo as I mentioned in the title:

View of the Mourne Mountains from Carlingford.

I haven’t even released the image on my socials yet. So you are getting a exclusive view for that image 😉

And as for the stick:

So thats it for this week. I hope you enjoyed it. As always I appreciate the comments.

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New Challenges

April 3, 2022

So now that the powerlifting nationals are done and I'm please to say that I got 2nd with a total of 517.5kg, I’m now looking forward to next one to getting better.

2nd Place at the AIPO National Championships

I am now prepping for the camino. I was out on Thursday shooting for a client and realised the difference in the fitness levels, also when walking under trees and brissells fall down the top.

But when I was out and it was silent few birds singing a small breeze and the sun hitting, gave a wonderful feeling. A sense of calm that I love. One thing I am coming to realise is that the top of a mountain or hill is not always the photo part.

So I've been doing a lot of solo hikes lately and I have to say I've been really enjoying them. Especially when you don’t have a time frame to complete it (well not a major one) and I've been stopping over small distances and just enjoying the sounds and landscape. Of course I'm taking the camera but I've been taking it the scene before I even think of shoot it. Now that's to say not every landscape is picture worthy some landscapes look amazing to the eye but when the picture is taken it can fall flat.

Until next week! Thanks for tuning in and keep exploring.

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Be Simple

March 27, 2022

Welcome back and good morning if you are reading this in the morning and if not hi! 👋🏻

So this week I have not been up-to much. As I mentioned last week I am at a powerlifting competition today, so I haven’t been up-to much this week want to make sure no injuries happened. Like no rolled ankles or anything like that.

So this week is going to be short and simple.

What I actually learned from the past couple of months of preparing for this is how to prep the mind. There has been highs and lows throughout. Dieting, training consistently 4-6 days a week. Days where I did not want to train and been tired, sore, cranky. But! I made it through it. However I actually realised that the mental discipline it gave me was great, especially now I am going to be getting ready to walk the camino so it is going to help me there. The fact that I have the mentality to get over the hard parts and keep pushing on, is the best benefit from this.

In other news.

Regarding my work. I have gotten out and shot around Slieve Donard Forest Park and those images will be released over the next couple of weeks on my socials as I want to work on them.

However with the news this week coming out that Instagram is now letting you select “following” and “Favourites” may put a slow down on people seeing my work as I hope people do put me in the “Favourite” category. But this has me ask this question. Does it now actually matter the following you have? If you have thousands of followers but if you are not in their “Favourites” now the companies will not get that reach anymore.

I seen this and thought how great the simple things can be. Something that we would walk over but as I did not have to rush I was able to slow down and think about my shots. It added a great feeling to it. The shot I called “Life” as it is the perfect representation for me. As the roots resemble the vascular system in our own bodies. I loved how simple but complexed it is.

Anyway there is going to be more imagery from this trip coming out and I look forward to showing them to you. They may not all be portfolio shots but that is what social media is for.

As always I love reading your comments, so feel free to comment your thoughts.

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