After a rather trying time with a composite work, I was advised by Richard to go out in the sunshine. So I did. All the way to Wicklow.
I didn’t have any real plan in mind but wound up as far south as Brittas Bay. I kept hearing about Brittas Bay but really and truly, all it is is a huge beach and today it didn’t do Beach for me. So after looking at it for about 5 minutes and idly wishing the wind turbines were a touch closer, I got back in the car and drove to Wicklow. Where I passed this.
According to my reading of the map, this is Wicklow Head Lighthouse. You can walk a good part of the way to it past some sheep (and little lambs – some of which were black and very cute but very running away) and some cattle. You might be able to get closer but I was playing chicken with the sun which was on its way down behind an inconveniently located Wicklow mountain. So I went for the lighthouse.
Anyone who knows me at all well knows that Philippe Plisson is probably my favourite photographer in the world and he is particularly well known for some superlative shots of the lighthouses in Brittany. There is also some really hot stuff by Jean Guichard but what both of them have in common is a lot of photographs of lighthouses. I like lighthouses. I like them a lot. There’s something lonely sentinel about them. This one is a bit like that. I’d like to have a go off it at dawn when the sun is arriving rather than when it’s disappearing, and also from a bit closer with a 10-20. But I like this; there’s something warm about it.
A little while later, after I’d played with a castle and some filters, I had a look at the harbour light and this is what I got.
I think there might have been one filter left on – it was getting dark enough to stretch the exposures without using the filters anyway.
I quite like both of them to be honest; they might be the nicest lighthouse shots I’ve done. While I was in the harbour area in Wicklow a man told me I should have been there 2 weeks ago, the sky was an amazing pink. Que faire?
Anyway, this is from my big day out today. I wound up in Wicklow with the objective of adding to the Abandoned Boats collection but that just didn’t happen because I was distracted with ruins and lighthouses.
Treasa, You appear to be an avid fan of lighthouses. Did you know that you can stay at the Wicklow Head Lighthouse? We are a charity that saves buildings of architectural importance and provides these properties with a viable future by letting each one out as self catering holiday homes. Wicklow Head Ligthouse is the only lighthouse to have accommodation based in the tower. Other self catering holiday lighthouse are available through our website, The Irish Landmark Trust’s http://www.irishlandmark.com, such as Loop Head Lightkeepers House, Co Clare, Blackhead Lightkeepers Houses, Co Antrim and Galley Head Lighkeepers Houses, Co Cork.