The Cliffs of Moher

  I think there are four movies that define my cinema education as a child: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,  Cool Runnings, Dunstin Checks In, and The Princess Bride.  Oh, how I loved the Princess Bride.  As a teenager, I once found two friends as passionate as I and we quoted the entire movie from beginning to end.  Pathetic?  Maybe.  But really satisfying.  And it was fun.  So when I found out that the actual "Cliffs of Insanity" were in Ireland, I did a little giggly dance of excited.  "Really???  Are you sure?  I get to see them?" :)  And for those of you who have never seen the movie, that is your homework for this weekend.

They are taking a boat across the ocean after kidnapping the princess and discover someone following them.  Worried they'll be discovered, this is the conversation that follows:

  INIGO

             Look! He's right on top of us. I
             wonder if he is using the same
             wind we are using.

 VIZZINI

             Whoever he is, he's too late --
             (pointing ahead of them)
             -- see?
            The Cliffs of Insanity.

 VIZZINI

 Hurry up. Move the thing! Um ...

             that other thing. Move it!

             We're safe -- only FEZZIK is
             strong enough to go up our way --
             he'll have to sail around for
             hours 'til he finds a harbor.

And this is what they were talking about! I'm told it looks much more dramatic if you take a boat out on the water, but we didn't have time for that this time.  Next time, definitely.

It was VERY windy.  A little nerve-racking to be honest, the wind threw off my balance a couple times, and that's not exactly the best idea when walking next to a cliff...

 

Ok, this is funny!  This sign was at the end of the pathway, well, the end of the first pathway.  I got to the end, and there was this sign, a small rock wall, and something else about Danger or Do Not Enter, didn't seem important at the time.  It seemed that 75% of the people who walked there just hopped the wall and continued on the next path.  The next path had the best views anyway.  So, mob mentality got to me and I joined the masses. But I lived to tell about it, so in the end, that's the important thing.

At one point, I'm walking along the edge of the cliff and I turn to my right and see a cool rock formation.  Then I turn to my left... and see a field with cows.  I have no idea why someone had a field of cows at the top of the cliff, but I found it very entertaining.

 

Laurie trying to get as far over the edge as possible without taking the strap off his neck... pretty sure red flashing lights and warning sirens would go off if you did that and held the camera over the side...

And my view down from that same spot:

 

Well, what an experience!  That's Ireland, folks.  In all its glory and beauty.  Hope to be back soon.

Ireland - a sight to see

Travel for me is 98% about the people and culture.  But every once in a while I come across a breath-taking view, an unbelievable sight, something that looks like it belongs in a painting or a movie... and then I love to stop and sit, reflect on the beauty in the world, and try to show that the best way I know how - photography.

Annie and I took a bus tour from Galway to see the Cliffs of Moher (if you've seen The Princess Bride, these cliffs were featured as The Cliffs of Insanity) and today I want to post the views from the trip to and from the cliffs.  Tomorrow I'll post the cliffs themselves.

This is what I imagined of Ireland, why just staying in the city for the whole trip simply isn't good enough.  And our journey begins:

 

It was cold and rainy.  And WINDY.  Very windy.  Most of us fell over at one point unless we properly braced ourselves against the wind.  Now, when I travel, I often have trouble getting photos of myself and whoever I'm traveling with because I don't want to just hand my camera to a stranger walking by - "Here's a camera worth several thousand dollars.  You can try to take a photo of us or you can walk away with it while we pose here and let you get away.  And by the way, you know how to get this thing in focus, right?"  Ok, so that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. So I try to keep my eyes open for competent camera users I'd trust.  Sign number one - I saw this kid with a Nikon camera.  3 points in his favor :)  Sign number two - posture when he took pictures.  He actually created a tripod for himself and held still and all that.

Sign number three - his equipment was entry level (D5100 and a kit lens) but his composition and the photos I saw were phenomenal.  Showed me he knew how to use it, not just have it. And when I finally decided to trust him was when he stood in the middle of the road because that was the only place to get the angle he wanted.  Sound like anyone else y'all know??? ;)  I fully support risking your life for the perfect shot.  Anyway, handed him my camera so Annie and I could be in a photo together with the beautiful countryside behind us.  It was cold and rainy and extremely windy, so everyone else had gotten back on the bus and was watched us from my right.  Laurie struggling a little bit figuring out how to get the photo in focus with my d800, but I was so impressed that he recognized the difference and wanted to try again! Ended up with some of my favorite photos from the trip.  Annie and I are laughing because the wind is knocking us off balance and trying to steal her hat.

There are a couple other photos I liked from this trip, but my wi-fi is struggling, so I'm going to leave it at this for now and come back later to add a few more.  It's interesting going to McDonald's more than ever before in my life - in Europe, that's one of the best places for internet connection, but I still find it difficult to want to spend that much time there.  Oh well!  Enjoy the photos, and watch for the cliffs tomorrow.

Lindy Hop

  There is a sense of community among swing dancers across the world.  We are all like family in a way.  I can travel anywhere in the world and be part of the club with instant friends.  These people are fun.  Interesting, adventurous, stylish, friendly, and everyone feels passionately about the emotions in the music.  That's what we share.  When that perfect song is playing, it's almost impossible to stay in your chair.  Everyone dances with everyone, and you don't have to know each other.  Here are the photos from day 2 of the Galway Lindyfest 2012.

 

Chris and Hazel (above right and below) were two of my favorite people from Ireland.  Hazel is an amazing dancer and actually an instructor for circus. Very talented girl!  And Chris was one of the first people Annie and I met in Dublin. If you look really closely, you can see that his bow tie is actually made out of wooden dice.  So classy, I love it :)

WIth this kind of dance, the choreography isn't planned out ahead of time, you don't even need to "learn the moves."  Everything is about connection.  When the lead moves this direction, the follow can feel it, so she moves as well.  In this way, I've found that the dancers are like two more musicians added into the music.  They can add embellishments or keep things simple, but they are contributing something to the feeling and style of the song.  It's difficult to find the right words to describe this feeling accurately, but it's the number one reason I love dance.  10 talented dancers at the same skill level will each have a completely different dance to the same song.

Below is Annie dancing with another of my favorite Irishmen, named Oisin. He is a professional traditional Irish musician and only got into swing dance about 6 months ago.  But he's doing so well and was a pleasure to be around.  It's funny though, because technically I know English but several times I had no idea what these people were saying because of their Irish accents!  Oisin joked that they should have streaming subtitled for us Americans.  I'll definitely have to look into that next time I come back!  I found myself smiling and laughing and nodding often... and having no clue what I was responding too.  Oh well.

I pulled out my camera to get a shot of the room and didn't realize that all the humidity and body heat from the dancing had fogged up my lens.  I'm thinkin' maybe I should charge extra for the not-quite-intentional-but-pretty-cool-anyway effect it created for the photo below!

Thank you dancers and friends from Ireland for making me feel welcome.  Check out the galleries of photos and feel free to purchase prints or right click and download for facebook here:

May 11 Galway Lindyfest

May 12 Galway Lindyfest

Happy People

 

Sitting in a McDonald's in Dublin, watching the sky go from sunny, to cloudy, to rainy, to dark, to sunny, to rainy... etc.  I have one more day in Ireland, then headed to London in the morning! I don't have tons of time, but I just wanted to say how much I love happy people.  I've had the chance to meet up with swing dancers several times this week, and there are people who are amazing dancers, and there are people who are beginners. The people I enjoy the most though, fit into both categories - they are the people who love the music and have fun.

As a photographer, there is nothing better.  Real emotion.  Real people.  Loving life.  And I'm so grateful for this community of swing dancers also.  I was introduced to the Lindy hop scene during high school in Austin, TX, but really got into it with the swing club at BYU about 6 years ago.  I was dancing 15+ hours a week in Utah, but also took weekends to travel to other cities for Lindy Exchanges, where a city would host a weekend of dancing with workshops and classes and people traveling in.  It was a thrill to meet the people, have such an intense training of the technique, and usually some good live music also.  As luck would have it, Annie and I ended up in Galway on the same weekend as one of these events, the Galway Lindyfest 2012.  There were amazing dancers, lots of events, and everyone was so accepting.  We have something in common which makes us all like family.  I feel so grateful for all these awesome people we got to meet, the great dances, and a new experience.

  

These are the photos from day 1 of the event, my favorites are from day 2, so check back tomorrow for more fun and style!  People got a little more dressed up for the next dance also, it was fun to see all the outfits.

The End of Dublin (part 1)

Not really the end of Dublin, just the end of my days in Dublin on this trip.  Much less dramatic than it sounds.  I'm sitting on a bus right now on my way to Galway, it's about 11am here, 4am Utah time.  Rain is pounding on the windows, I feel like I should be in an old fashioned car driving along these picturesque roads.  The atmosphere around just makes me smile.

Luckily they have internet on the bus, so I can finish uploading photos from yesterday and write some of my thoughts about it.  It really was a perfect day.  I forgot to sleep that night due to jet lag and uploading photos, so around 6am I finally gave up on the idea and went to walk around the city.  Now, there are a couple things you should know for the stories today to have significance.

#1 - I have the world's worst internal compass.  Seriously, I'm terrible with directions.  I don't know how I lived before GPS.

#2 - I love to meet new people.

#3 - Traveling for me is about the adventure, not the sites.

So, back to my day.  Annie decided to go on a tour bus and see the Giant's Causeway.  I opted to stay in Dublin and explore.  I had three goals - first, to get to know my way around the city.  I did this by hours and hours of walking.  Getting lost on purpose.  Occasionally asking for directions, and when all else fails, run into an internet cafe and look up the address for my hostel. I wish I could say this last one was a hypothetical situation, but unfortunately it was not.  I had spent 5 hours walking around the city and I knew where Temple Bar was, where the castle was, where the mall was, but I had no clue where my hostel was.  And after 30 hours of no sleep I needed to find it.  Quickly.  I am pleased to report, however, that I now know the city of Dublin pretty well.  Just in time to leave :)  I'll have to repeat the same process in Galway next.  Then London and Madrid... oh let's face it.  I will have to work hard for the rest of my life to try and figure out where I am and how to get where I want to go.  But as long as I keep perspective and remember that I can enjoy the journey, not just the destination, I'm ok with that.  Right now, I'm just riding the bus, but the hills and villages and clouds - it's beautiful.

When I was a teenager, I used to climb out my window at night after everyone went to sleep and just sit on the roof alone.  I would write music, poems, stories, letters or just sit and feel the wind, the heat, or the rain, whatever the weather was at the time.  (Mom, I realized I'm not sure if you knew I did this... if you're reading this, well, we can just look back and laugh now, right?  Hope you didn't have to replace too many of the shingles on the roof up there :D)  I always felt the most at peace just sitting there, quiet, thoughtful, alone, artistic juices flowing.  And I would dream about sitting at a cafe in Paris for a day doing the same thing.  Something so perfect about Europe in my mind, I don't know why.  But yesterday I figured it out.  I didn't have a pen and paper, but I had my camera instead.  And I sat there outside the cafe on a brick road, rain lightly falling, the air brisk, and no one around.  It was early in the morning, so it was quiet.  I haven't felt that peaceful and inspired in years.  Breakfast was freshly squeezed orange juice and a gourmet ham and cheese crescent.

This was where I sat:

This was my view to the right:

And to the left:

And some more photos from my walk around the city during the day:

 

 

 

I walked around for about 5 hours (my calves are killing me!), explored, observed, got wet, smiled, watched people, took photos, and loved every minute of it.  Then I went back for an afternoon nap or whatever you call "the sleep for a few hours during the day that replaced the sleep I didn't get the night before."

I have many more stories I'd like to share, but I think I'm going to save them for another day.  As a preview to the next chapter, I woke up from my nap in time for food and music.  Lots of music.

And now I'm signing off.  Cheers!

A Rainy Day and a Walk Down Memory Lane

  What an incredible day. I have so many stories! But I'm about to run out and find dinner and traditional Irish music, so the stories will have to wait. Just this photo today and the emotion behind it.

I love the rain. I've always loved the sound, the smell, and singing in it! This was the first time I really noticed how beautiful the streets are when they get wet. This was taken in Temple Bar area before most people woke up. When I look back at this photo, the only way to describe my emotion is to close my eyes and take a deep breath. There are not words. It's just beautiful.

There's a song I like to sing when it rains - "In His Eyes" from the musical Jekyll and Hyde. I don't remember when I first heard this song - some time when I was a teenager I suppose, but I often cry when I sing it, it is so emotional and rain representing that is perfect.

"I sit and watch the rain And see my tears run down the windowpane I sit and watch the sky And I can hear it breathe a sigh...

I think of him, how we were And when I think of him Then I remember... remember...

In his eyes, I can see Where my heart longs to be. In his eyes I see a gentle glow. And that's where I'll be safe I know

Safe in his arms, close to his heart... But I don't know quite where to start By looking in his eyes Will I see beyond tomorrow? By looking in his eyes, Will I see beyond the sorrow That I feel?

Will his eyes reveal to me Promises or lies? But he can't conceal from me The love in his eyes!

I know their every look, His eyes! They're like an open book, His eyes! But most of all the look That hypnotized me!

If I'm wise, I will walk away, And gladly... But, sadly, I'm not wise, It's hard to talk away The mem'ries that you prize!

Love is worth forgiving for! Now I realize - Everything worth living for Is there, in his eyes!"

I remember singing this song with my childhood friend Katherine Morriss, we'd just sit at the piano and sing Broadway tunes for hours, it was a perfect sentimental day, what a walk down memory lane!

Dublin - Part II

The first thing I noticed as I was riding the bus from the airport to downtown Dublin was all the colorful doors.  It was like the little monopoly houses - every door was a vivid color, and they alternated between 7 or 8 colors.  It made me smile to see that.  About a block down from where we've been staying is this very pink door.  The unique part about this one though, is that there is also a very pink bicycle on the porch.  And it looks like the bike is melting.  I can't quite figure this one out, other than to guess that no one intends to ride the bike, it's just for show :)  Still looks cool!

Here's me, shooting on the street.  I love that Annie also knows photography so I can ask her to get a few shots of me, proof that I was there!

The keyboard and drummer from the band last night

And my favorite shot of this bridge.  It is such a modern looking bridge, very unique architecture, and I loved the reflection in the water.

One more day in Dublin, then to Galway we go!!

Dublin, Ireland

I have seen seagulls before, but this little guy was like a cartoon.  He followed me around for a few minutes, clearly trying to get a start on his model career.  Annie was sad we forget to have him sign a model release but I said I'd use it anyway, I prefer not carrying bird poop around, thanks :)

Turns out Ireland in May is rainy (which I knew and came prepared with - my awesome REI raincoat) and cold.  Much colder than I expected.  But that's all part of the adventure, right?  Shouldn't have packed my winter clothes away quite this early!  

Everytime I do a photoshoot like this, I seem to find one obsession. One thing I can't take enough photos of, it's just perfect - from every angle, every lighting situation... Well, today it was my boat.  The adorable little blue tug boat.  Ok, I have no idea if it was a tug boat, but that sounds better for my story.  Just soo... cute!

We finished the evening stopping in to a couple pubs with live music.  I don't drink alcohol, so I got a great seafood chowder at the first place and awkwardly ordered CocaCola at the next pubs.  That's not usually weird for me when I'm going for the music, but something about being in Ireland and not drinking just made me feel out of place...  The people were so friendly though.  The last pub we went to had a very talented blues-y group and we sat with the groupies.  I met the wife of the drummer, the girlfriend of the singer, and several other friends.  And everyone just wanted to sit and chat and most of them were musicians too.  I got a quick lesson and a chance to play a bodhran, a traditional Irish drum, held sideways and played with one hand.  Loved the energy and the passion they all had in life.  One guy, Fred, was telling me why the English don't like the Irish. It's because the Irish are crazy, no one knows exactly what they are going to do next...  And I think he might be right, but that's why I've loved the culture!  Always something new.

Passport and Travel

  I've yet to import photos from Ireland, but I found internet access so I thought I'd drop in and share a couple stories.

First, the plane.  WOW.  This experience was different than I planned.  I intended on getting to my seat, eating the food (hopefully decent, but didn't have high expectations), then sleeping for 5 or 6 hours, getting to Ireland and be full of energy and life.  Instead I found an entertainment system.  I sat at my seat and saw movies and tv shows and everything in the screen on the seat right in front of me.  Sooooo... I was irresponsible and didn't sleep.  And I'm starting to see the consequences.  But when we arrived in Dublin, I bought a couple bags of salt and vinegar chips (or "crisps" I should say as "chips" in Europe usually mean French fries), rode a bus into town, and started walking.  I am amazed at how much history and interesting architecture there is.  And since Annie and I were in such an exciting new place, we had a lovely breakfast at a little shop... called McDonalds.  Pathetic, I know.  But my egg mcmuffin was delicious and we were entertained by a cute old Irish man for over an hour - he was an ex-cop, now a tour guide, and absolutely obsessed with American history.  Specifically, the Irish influence on our country.  I feel educated.  Or something like that.

My thought about having a passport and traveling though - speaking with this Irish man, he commented on how America is like several different countries all right there.  Some Europeans can't grasp the idea of Americans going throughout their lives without ever owning a passport.  But it's pretty simple - we don't really need it in order to find variety. Then again, I haven't seen anything like Ireland in my life.  So I'm glad for this chance.

That's all for now!  Ireland is beautiful, and I'm excited for some photography this week.  Check in tomorrow for photos.