Spraoi

Spraoi 2019

Spraoi 2019 hit the streets. Most of people are merry, but not the Morbid family. Business is dead! People are too fit and healthy, they are not dying any more! Family is struggling.

The son is starving!

The last chance would be to open a pop up funeral shop and offer a funeral demo with the slogan “Buy now, die later”.

A school teacher Lisa got the privilege to demonstrate her best ‘dying face’. I think it is very impressive, and Lisa has secured a discount funeral with the Morbid & Sons for the future.

As always, I am amused by the reaction of those in the audience. The younger generation looks a little bit scared, and some are openly bored. What would they care of the discounted funerals, anyway 🙂

But the Morbid family look very hopeful. Teacher Lisa returns to the world of living with the promise of future ‘perks’, and another show – and a new customer – is just 15 minutes away.

With the Waterford Crystal House in background, The Tamarros marching band from Italy look very appropriate flashing their disco ball baton.

Old tunes and old jokes are fun and get a lot of applause.

Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to watch the Roaring Clubsters show from Berlin because of the huge crowd, but I caught a glimpse of the spectators, and, as always, watching the different reactions was very entertaining.

Now, this is something new. A Russian Baba Yaga is roaming the streets in her automated mortar, and her little cottage, Izbushka, is trailing behind on its chicken legs. A tag on the cottage states that it is for sale, but don’t believe what you see. Baba Yaga wants to look legal while hunting for children to cook them for dinner. The pack of salt tied to the mortar speaks volumes…

Be aware, little children.

Checking for lice nits 🙂 She wants her food organic 🙂

Smart children escaped being cooked. Baba Yaga keeps trying.

We wouldn’t wish her luck, would we?

Charming show and a great music – the Los Rabinovich brothers from Mallorca! Musical clowns who don’t utter a word, but unite the hearts.

Even the rain didn’t stop the brave travelers. They are determined to stay in this city for the Bank holiday weekend and see what comes out of it.

There sits the Always Drinking marching band from Barcelona, very sober and focused: the show is about to start in a minute. The Spraoi brochure states that their name refers to the “Mediterranian way of life – socializing in the streets, hanging out with friends in the squares, having some beers and tapas”. Sounds much better than “sitting alone, staring at computer screen” to me.

Always Drinking productions is a company of musician, artists, clowns, jugglers – name it. The guys in yellow were the stars of the festival.

Mila von Chobiak, the actor, kept his finger on the pulse of the crowd.

The show was seamless and very professional – they instantly grabbed their audience’s attention and held it to the end of the show.

It didn’t take long to make them all dance.

The band even auditioned a new conductor!

When the 30 minutes long show was over, the band played another extra 15 minutes! Brilliant band, I hope to watch their show again next year. They are so attuned to the spirit of the festival, because it is what Spraoi is about – to have fun together!

Thank you for visiting Waterford 🙂

Here are more links to some of my previous posts about Spraoi: 2015, 2017, 2018.

www.inesemjphotography Have a great weekend!

It has been five wonderful years

I don’t know where all these years have gone, but they have been wondrous. 233 posts, at least 2000 photographs… Happy Blogoversary to me! 🙂

2014

The beginning was shocking. I got the WAMP and wrote a bunch of articles related to the family photography since this blog was meant to be a portfolio. I launched the blog in February, but to my horror, it got a close attention from various adult websites, and I had to delete all my articles and children photographs.

My Blogger Friends, I would quit right there if it wasn’t for your support.

I started from scratch in March.

Please, click on the photos and it will open the pages.

I wrote about myself, shared my memories and adventures. I also wrote about my friends. That year I started my annual Saltee Islands series.

I went to many street festivals, like the Durrow Scarecrow festival.

I also started Pat Gibbons and his Foxes series.

It was a great year, I blogged twice a week.

2015

I started getting more feedback. It was wonderful. People asked questions, commissioned photographs. That year I wrote about Clonmel photographer William Despard Hemphill, and what a rewarding surprise it was to get this email:

Just a quick Thank you for your excellent blog on Clonmel and William Hemphill. I am his great great grandson and my dad has all his books and helped produce the book about his pics. His mum lived in Oakville, Dr Hemphill’s house in Clonmel and I went there once before it was demolished and the supermarket car park built. When I left school (1976) I cycled round the area taking pictures also based on Dr Hemphills…

…Thanks again for the blog. I’ll be showing it to my dad (93 on Tuesday) and he will be thrilled. Born in Carick-On-Suir he has incredible recall of the area, and your pics will bring them back again.

R… E…

That year I also wrote about my travels, and as always, about birds and animals.

I didn’t forget to visit Pat and his foxes.

I did some street photography. This is Cian Finn.

He sings about life, and I wholeheartedly agree with him.

I also started Waterford Walls series that summer. In October I went to Donegal to attend Elena Shumilova’s first international workshop, and the trip resulted in four blog posts.

2016

That year I started Anne Valley series and wrote three blog posts. Since then I regularly visit the trail.

I started Clonegam series.

I wrote about myself, and shared my opinions 🙂

I met two journeymen, and after a month, got a feedback from a fellow blogger on their further travels in Ireland.

2017

I started Comeragh and Knockmealdown, Greenway, Mount Congreve and Curraghmore House series.

The blog posts about Pat and his foxes were the most popular. Many websites around the world translated the story into different languages, and some of them actually asked permission. There were also some who removed my logo 🙂 It doesn’t matter to me, because the sole purpose of my blog was to spread a word. I was so delighted when my friend told me that Bored Panda website used my pictures along with the story from the Irish Examiner :). Anyway, I am happy that Pat and his foxes are getting so much attention.

I continued with the street festivals-related posts: Waterford Walls, Harvest Festival, St Patrick’s Parade, Spraoi.

2018

I didn’t blog much last year.

I started, and will continue Follow The Vikings series, and Kerry series.

Puffins and foxes surely took all the limelight, as always 🙂 Amazing Poet Rummager Rose Perez wrote a charming haiku inspired by the tiny puffin

Wings

I have wings to fly

They never are really used

‘Til I see your smile

Another lovely feedback was received last year in response to my post The Last Butler of Curraghmore.

… I am Basil Croeser’s daughter, living in Montreal, Canada. My brother… sent the link to your blog post entitled The Last Butler of Curraghmore and I just wanted to thank you so much for your lovely words and photos.

…They were really chuffed and surprised and I think it made their week!…

Thanks again and best regards,

K…

What you won’t find in my blog:

– ANY sort of radicalism and also lies, defamation, hate, envy

What I want to ask:

– Please, link your Gravatar picture to your current page so that every blogger could easily visit your blog ♥

– Use Calendar and Archives widgets so that your visitors could access your earlier blog posts. You deserve to be heard.

I don’t know how long I will blog, but I think that all my efforts throughout these five years were worth it 🙂

Thank you so much for all the inspiration and support! ♥

With love

www.inesemjphotography.com

Spraoi 2018 – Scotch is back!

For those who don’t know yet, Spraoi is a free street festival taking place every August bank holiday weekend in Waterford, Ireland. I have written a good few posts about Spraoi, some of them can be found on this page. Spraoi is back once again, and so is Scotch!

Last August I featured the Dutch party band Scotch in one of my Spraoi related blog posts. An established favorite in Waterford, the band is celebrating their 15th anniversary this year. Way to go, Scotch!

This is Tim. He wasn’t with the band in Waterford last year.

Sam and Nathan,

Wouter and Sjoerd,

and Juno ( cute pout, man 🙂 )

I didn’t get a decent picture of Jochem that time, but bear with me.

Hi Wouter! Glad to see you and the guys. How does it feel to be on the Waterford soil again?

We really enjoyed to be back at Spraoi! It’s starting to feel a bit like home 🙂

How was your year since the last Spraoi? Any news?

The last year we’ve been mostly on the road. Have been touring every other month to a total of 12 different countries: The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, France, Czech Republic, Croatia, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland.

It is a very impressive list. Delighted for you and for those who were lucky to hear you perform. Sad that Sam won’t be touring Europe with the band any more. Why this decision? Do you have another violinist lined up?

Sam decided there’s no room in his life to play in a band. It’s too demanding to run a family, have a day job and tour all over Europe. It has been harsh but in the last months we’ve found our way to deal with it. There will be a new violinist, and starting next week we will be performing a new show. Looking forward to that!

So do I and all your fans. Thank you!

So, the rest of this post is dedicated to Sam who has been with the band from its first day.

For his solo number, Sam left the stage and mingled with the crowd. It didn’t take him long to make everybody dance 🙂

The band had another two gigs scheduled for the weekend, and I came over to Kazbar to take some pictures in a more relaxed atmosphere.

It is where I had a chance to take a proper picture of Jochem sporting a platinum mane. You can rock any style, Jochem 🙂

More pictures of Sam ( ah it is so so sad)

With his fans, one more time.

There was that sad beautiful stranger who had been standing there and showing no interest in the gig whatsoever.

But who can resist Wouter’s charm? I am sure she smiled back 🙂

Grand finale!

The audience was so large that I decided to take a picture of the part of it that was reflected in the roof mirror.

Thank you Scotch!

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/scotchtheband/

Website: http://www.scotchtheband.com/

Booking info:

Scotch
booking@scotchtheband.com
t+31 6 12 42 70 77

Some more from Spraoi in my blog in November.

www.inesemjphotography.com Have a great weekend!

SPRAOI – Source to Sea

As always, the three-days long festival culminates in a spectacular creative parade Sunday night. Every parade has a theme. Source To Sea is the theme for this year’s 25th anniversary Parade. It is all about River Suir.

I have written about River Suir on many occasions, and I know I will write again :).

River Suir is 185 km ( 115 mi) long with the average flow rate of 76.9 cubic metres per second – and we love every drop of it! River Suir begins on the slopes of Devil’s Bit Mountain in County Tipperary and flows south to Waterford Harbour where she enters the Atlantic Ocean.

River Suir flows past many castles, and she has witnessed many bloody battles.

Snaking through the countryside, River Suir grows in size and beauty. She is a home to many creatures, real and mystical, and her secrets are well kept, some of them hidden in the thick of her islands.

Here is everything you need to know about River Suir – animals, fowl, fairies and humans living here since the world began.

It is literally raining on our parade, but the rain is not going to bring our spirit down.

Heron is one of my Suir favorites. These birds are perfect for slow shutter speed shots since they can stay motionless for hours. This one has caught a rainbow trout and now is trying to swallow it whole.

Some walking exercises after a great lunch.

They have a heron here too. No fish eating demonstrations though.

They even have an otter! I don’t have any picture of a live otter…

Many floats represent fishing.

And of course there is a fish. A gigantic Rainbow trout.

This mechanical swan looks very real.

An army of dragonflies and their Queen.

And of course nothing of this would have happened without 200 artists and volunteers.

The Parade ended at a quarter to 11 pm concluded with firework finale which I never take pictures of. Fireworks are for watching.

Thank you for visiting SPRAOI and River Suir!

Have a wonderful weekend!

SPRAOI – 25 years in the streets

SPRAOI 2017

Two years ago I wrote about Musical Nun Ruth antics, last year I was impressed with The Morbid and Sons undertakers street theatre. This summer SPRAOI presented a whole constellation of street performers who demonstrated many talents and successfully had the audience in stitches.

Niamh McGrath and Keith Singleton, the Oh Dears, gave me a tea bag so that I could enjoy a cuppa after all that hard work taking pictures. They were asked for an autograph and no wonder – many people are familiar with the duo and their comedy Looking Deadly.

SPRAOI 2017

Mr. Culbuto, a human tumble toy, was rolling around O’Connel street waiting for someone to play with him. Two nuns (real nuns!) happened to walk by and one of them agreed to hold his hand.

SPRAOI

Naturally, Mr. Culbuto started falling face down.

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The nun was terrified. The audience were amused.

SPRAOI

Mr. Culbuto’s delivery man said it was OK 🙂

SPRAOI

“Ireland’s most lovable idiots”, brothers Seamus and Sean, are always amazing. I watched this show in Clonmel last year, but didn’t mind to watch it again.

Lords of Strut

The Lords of Strut Cormac Mohally and Cian Kinsella launched their first gig in 2008. Since then they have traveled around the worlds and even become Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalists. They charmed the judges with all that lycra, neon and sparkles, no doubt on that, but also with their dazzling acrobatics and contortion.

As always, Sean gets stuck in contortion ring, but with the help of Seamus he will eventually squeeze his body through.

Lords of Strut

Stellar acrobatic performance on the ladder.

Lords of Strut

“Happy reunion” with the long lost “daddy” Sean found in the audience. It is my favorite part of the show 🙂 As you can see, some spectators laugh to tears.

Lords of Strut

Between the shows, SPRAOI visitors are having a great time this weekend with all the nice weather.

The performers are moving to a different location. Most of them have 2-3 shows every day.

SPRAOI

The Silent Brass Band from The Netherlands marching by.

SPRAOI 2017

True fans gathered around the Georges Court stage.

I see a familiar face. Morbid and Sons undertaker !

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Yet I am told that it is a new comedy show directed by Nicholas Kavanagh – The Foolhardy Three. Lots of music, dance and slapstick, as expected from a good old vaudeville.

SPRAOI

Gareth Jones & Matt Barnard are absolutely brilliant. The Variety Spectacular is a truly spectacular show, a comedy classic full of song, dance, and charm. I loved the use of volunteers – my favorite part of any act 🙂

SPRAOI 2017