Tip of the day

The lion and the lamb

Fota Wildlife Park – the most amazing place in Ireland! It opened its gates in 1983, and since then it remains one of Ireland’s top ten visitor attractions, and a perfect place to spend a day for visitors of all ages. Most of the animals who inhabit the park are allowed to roam throughout more than 50 acres of grassland, with the exception of the cheetahs and other predators. Almost “The Lion and the Lamb” settings 🙂

King Julien XIII and his people together with many other animals are free ranging in the Park and mingle with the visitors. I just couldn’t help taking their portraits ( hundreds).

We were lucky to come across a whole Ring-tailed Lemur gang sitting in the tree. In the beginning I thought there were only two animals, but all of a sudden they started falling off the tree like ripe pears.

Six or seven Lemurs jumped from the tree, one after another, and run away. We met two of them again. They were perching within a stretched arm distance, pretending to ignore us. I didn’t see the others, but I knew that they were hiding somewhere near.

There is a pond surrounding the Monkey Island. All the water fowl are free ranging, but the edge of the pond is surprisingly clean.

Many animals In Fota Wildlife Park are allowed to roam free, while mixed with other species. A tiny barrier stops the human visitors from trespassing. Rothschild Giraffe is another beautiful species living in the Park together with Zebras and female Ostriches.

Foggy Irish countryside in background.

The Monkey Island is a home for monkeys, of course. In Fota Wildlife Park they have chosen the species that can be allowed to roam in a free range environment, and are not aggressive to each other.

This is an Agile Gibbon – an old one, and a mother with a baby.

This is a Howler monkey female.

Fota Wildlife Park is home to the Scarlet, Green winged and Blue & Gold Macaws. The birds roost high up in trees, and while the species have bred at Fota in the past, there haven’t been any young hatched in recent years.

Over 200 Cheetah cubs have been born in Fota since 1985. Fota also has Ireland’s only Cheetah Run. The device keeps the Cheetahs active, while maintaining their wild instincts. The food is suspended on a wire that travels 10 feet off the ground, at approximately 65km/h. Hundreds of spectators gather to watch the Cheetahs feeding at 3pm every day. Cheetahs and a few other species live in fenced enclosures.

The weather wasn’t good, it was raining. We thought we would have the island for ourselves. Well, we had to go around to find a parking spot. Always busy in Fota.

I share my birthday with Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. I am very proud of that – I loved his books before I found out when his birthday was. His most-read novella, The Little Prince, is translated into more than 250 languages, and selling two millions copies every year. I have a copy like this one.

There are two the most cited quotes in the novella: On ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux – “One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye.” And the other: Tu deviens responsable pour toujours de ce que tu as apprivoisé – “You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.” I thought about both of them in Fota, watching young children reverently feed the waterfowl. For them, this trip was looked forward to with a great deal of excitement, discussions and research. New names were learned, new discoveries made, but the greatest of all the experiences they got here is that change in heart that can become a prelude to many other beautiful experiences.

Thank you for visiting Fota Island with me!

Photography tip of the day: When taking photographs of animals definitely change your focus to a “Single point” and focus on the eye, otherwise your camera will automatically focus on the point closest to the lens – which is animal’s nose.

Have a great weekend!

Cork City Gaol: inside prison walls

I had many plans for the Halloween blog edition, but none of them worked out because of the rainy weather. So I figured that it would be better if I moved under a roof for my photo shoots, and a prison roof would do just fine.

Cork City Gaol housed prisoners for almost a century and was closed in 1924. This is an image of a cell. Like to try? You may get inside and close the door to experience what life might have been like for a prisoner in the Gaol. An Irish writer Frank O’Connor was one of those who served time in the Gaol for their part in the Irish Civil War, and he later wrote that the cots and blankets were crawling with lice.

There is a cell with some original graffiti left by prisoners who served time here in the 1920’s. I took a picture of that wall and when I came home and started processing it, something extraordinary happened: the ghosts of the prisoners and staff revealed themselves in my images…

This is Mary Sullivan. She looks like a bloodthirsty murderer, but in fact she is a seamstress and in 1865 she received a seven year sentence following her eighth conviction for the theft of cloth. She is just after being deloused according to prison regulations, and ready to see the Governor John Barry Murphy.

This is Thomas Raile. He was convicted of stealing some books. Serving his time in a solitary confinement, he got an opportunity to contemplate his wrongdoings and has turned to religion for guidance. Rev. Nelligan is counselling him, but it won’t help much: on release from prison Thomas won’t be able to get good references and his life will speedily go down the drain.

This young woman is Mary Ann Twohig, a 16 year old mother. She was heavily pregnant when she stole a cloth cap and some kitchen utensils with an intention to pawn them and get some money. Due to the pregnancy she was sentenced to only two months, without hard labor.

This is Dr. Beamish. A warder is walking him to the cell where he is going to attend a sick prisoner. Overworked and underpaid, Dr. Beamish has spent many years carrying his medical bag from cell to cell and fighting all sorts of infections and injuries.

Two off-duty warders are playing cards. In this room lives a warder and his whole family.

This is a model of the Gaol. The wings are currently in derelict condition and closed to public. You might be interested to know what is that small building at the back. Well, there were always prisoners and prisoners. The small building is the Debtor’s Gaol. Some well off people fail to pay their debts and are sent to prison, but not to the main Gaol. They settle with their own furniture and clothes in the Debtor’s Gaol, and even have their food delivered to them.

There is a lot more to see, but to be honest, the wax figures give me the creeps… And it doesn’t matter either they are of the prisoners of the Gaol, or any other person…

And here is an appropriate piece of music – Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues!

Happy Halloween to all!

Cork City Gaol.

Photography tip of the day: Do a research before you buy a camera or any photography equipment, including the batteries you are going to use for your Speedlite. Everything.

Have a great Halloween weekend!

WORKSPACE BLOG HOP

The Half Eaten Mind and his human Vijay invited me to participate in the Workspace Blog Hop. It means, I have to reveal something about myself and the place I am blogging from. Thank you, Vijay!

I moved to Waterford city just a month ago, so my working space has not yet achieved a stable and respectable look. My books are still packed, and some of my stuff is sitting in my friends’ garage. I haven’ t yet decided either I stay here another couple of years, or keep moving.

I have a one-bedroom apartment and work in the living room. This is the table I work at: I prefer my working place being ergonomic rather than comfy. Two windows – on my left and on my right- provide enough light during the day.

A HP laptop, two external hard drives and a handful of USB memory cards – it is all I use for writing, editing, storing and carrying around my files. Plus a printer and a scanner.

This is a fragment of a surface, random. All the surfaces in this room look similar 🙂 Except my table. The table is bare: I have pushed things off the table with my elbows enough to learn the lesson.

So, this is pretty much everything about my working space.

I don’t have any pets – it is enough to ask my friends to take care of my cacti plants when I am away. I have 17 cacti plants.

I would love to have a pet though. Any critter.

My new contract forbids me to keep “any living creature” in this apartment. Yes, it is a quote.

I live in the medieval center of Waterford city, next to the oldest buildings. One day I will make a separate blog about Waterford, but for now I just want to report that it was a great sunny morning here, and I walked through the city center for my “cardio with a camera” and took this picture.

And this one too: it is a shop across from where I live, and it is reflection of my car in the window.

Sure I am moving around for my photography rather than stay at home. Sometimes I am lucky enough to get an assistant for the test-shoots.

Now you have an idea about my blogging space and the world around it. I might also add that this is mostly a pedestrian zone, clean and quiet. Most of the noise is coming from the Cathedral when they are ringing their bell:)

I have to pick up some of you to join the Workspace Blog Hop. It is not as you are forced to write all these things about yourself, but I give you this opportunity 🙂

http://indahs.com/ Indah

http://believeinadream.com/ Kellyann

http://whenwomeninspire.com/ Christy

http://aquileana.wordpress.com/ Amalia

http://studiocandelabra.com/ Linda Sue

http://oncemorewithforeboding.com/ Tony Single

A wonderful blogger The Crafty Lady in the Combat boots nominated me for a One Lovely Blog Award. I am always humbled to receive awards from people who are so good at what they are doing. Thank you so much, for your kindness!

There is about the nomination:

The One Lovely Blog Award nominations are chosen by fellow bloggers for those newer and up-and-coming bloggers. The goal is to help give recognition and also to help the new blogger to reach more viewers. It also recognizes blogs that are considered to be “lovely” by the fellow blogger who choose them. This award recognizes bloggers who share their story or thoughts in a beautiful manner to connect with their viewers and followers. In order to “accept” the award

Thank the person who nominated you for the award.
Add the One Lovely Blog logo to your post.
Share 7 facts/or things about yourself.
Nominate 7 bloggers you admire and inform nominees by commenting on their blog.

Here are seven facts about me – they are truly the facts 🙂

1. My favorite people are my daughter and two grand daughters and my son in law; 2. I love many other people; 3. I read every night even if it is one page; 3. I love music and play the piano when I have a chance; 4. I love my Micra; 5. I love earthly colors; 6. I love nature and creatures; 7. I despise fake individuals and stay away from them.

Now the nominations:) Thank you for your wonderful blogs!

1. http://postcardpieces.wordpress.com/

2. http://dorisbolliger.wordpress.com/category/blog-posts/

3. http://prolificdaydreamer.wordpress.com/

4. http://littlechomper.com/

5. http://cynthiasreyes.com/

Photography tip of the day: When you store your files the names of your folders matter a lot. Start with a year followed by a month; then write a key word/words so that you know what is there in that particular folder. Don’t make huge folders; divide them in parts: 2014-05-30 Moab – Devils Garden-Part I

Have a great weekend!

Our times of triumph

When I was very young, I used to read a lot. Some episodes impressed me so much that I replayed them in a real life. As we all know, life and fiction are not the same, so I used to get in trouble on many occasions.

In that particular book, two teenagers, a boy and a girl, had climbed onto the roof, and lying on their back, watching the passing clouds dreamed about the future. The scene looked so appealing that I immediately jumped to action.

Next to my Grandma’s cowshed there was a small annex used for storing a week supply of hay bales; adjacent to it, under the same roof was a chicken coop. My plan was to climb a stonewall, then get up on the annex roof and from there climb on the cowshed roof, high enough to set up the scene as desired.

And I got there, laid out a blanket I brought with me, and sat staring into the sky. My future did not send me any hints. The roof was hard and rough, but I lied down hoping it might help, as per book. Still, my mind was blank. The clouds just passed by, I had spotted a few animal-like shapes, but it was clear that there was no excitement in it, my back hurt and I was getting bored and annoyed. I think it was the day when I learned something about a good literature and a fake literature. On my way down, the roof caved in and I fell in the hay – lucky me. My Grandma was so happy that I didn’t kill myself that she baked a plate of biscuits for me, and we decided to keep the story in secret, for our mutual good.

Later, in my bed, I was dreaming about the future. In my dreams I was a famous artist, and all the children books were illustrated by me. One scene followed another, all in beautiful, rich colors; people and animals did look like people and animals; there were sun spells, fresh breeze, pouring rain and flowing water, and it was all real. I made it live; I was that magician.

Very often we learn the life’s lessons in a hard way. Very often we get slapped in the face, and our efforts don’t impress anybody. But there are the times when we feel like all the spotlights are turned on us, and all the praises and admiration in the world are expressed for us, and these are our moments of triumph even if no one else knows that.

Pictures of my Grandparents and me. In the last image (1914) my Grandma is the one who is standing. The baby is my Great Granddad’s daughter from his second marriage. I named my daughter after her.

Photography tip of the day: For Nikon users starting out 🙂

http://photographylife.com/which-nikon-prime-lens-to-buy-first

www.inesemjphotography Have a great day!

I left my heart in Barcelona

A painter in this photograph is Pablo Picasso. During his Blue period he divided his time between Paris and Barcelona. Picasso museum Museu Picasso in Barcelona is a must-see: there is no other place with such a vast collection of his art, especially his early works.

Picasso didn’t like Gaudí. Strange, because his art was definitely influenced by Gaudí‘s organic geometry. I think that he was just jealous.

Almost everything in Barcelona is “Gaudí“, anyway.

Can you imagine any other place where an architect like Gaudí would get a job in the end of the 19th century? It is why I love Barcelona, for that spirit!

I visited Barcelona shortly before The Prisoner of Heaven English edition was published in 2012 – a book by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, another of my favorite Barcelonians. His books are magic and intelligent, and they are about Barcelona, of course :). If you somehow missed them, The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series will win your heart (The Angel’s Game, The Shadow of the Wind, The Prisoner of Heaven).

Speaking of magic. The Magic Fountain of Montjuïc was constructed in 1929. The light and music performances take place on Fridays and Saturdays every half an hour between 7:00 and 8:30pm ( October to April), and Thursday through Sunday every half an hour between 9:00 and 11:00pm (May to September).

Here is a video from YouTube for you to enjoy 🙂 Watch to the end – it is getting more and more dramatic . 🙂

Some images from Gothic Quarter.

I walked this street to get to the Park Güell.

Plaça de Catalunya.

Vallcarca.

Don’t know what that means – either good or bad 🙂

Street performers across from Hard Rock Cafe.

Last, but not the least, Palau de la Musica Catalana. No photography permitted inside.

Hope you plan a visit to Barcelona. 🙂 Thank you for your comments on my previous post!

Photography tip of the day: Keep your equipment clean. Here is an advice how to clean your camera sensor. If you are afraid of doing it yourself, ask in the shop and they will know. Sensor and lenses have to be cleaned regularly.

http://youtu.be/pesZUj78S6s

Have a great weekend!