Blog Of Good Cheer

I Shot a Goldfinch Last Weekend!

If last weekend was a colour it was grey! It may have been various shades of grey going from light to dark, but no matter how you looked at it, it was grey.

But if you were lucky there was colour to be found.

I took this photograph of a goldfinch on a headstone in the graveyard of St. Mary’s (Church of Ireland) in Dungarvan.

It was last Saturday afternoon and I was in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford for the first time in about six or seven years.

I was glad to be back.

Having just arrived, I went for a walk around the town, reacquainting myself with streets, squares and landmarks I was familiar with when I used to visit regularly.

The weather last weekend was pretty dismal down in Waterford and Saturday was no exception. The Waterford landscape seemed to lose its colour as wave after wave of misty grey drizzle swept in off the sea. It was as if Wimbledon grounds men had used a grey cover to protect Waterford from the sun.

But the shock of black and yellow wings and the scarlet red face of the goldfinch as it landed on the headstone was wonderful to see. It stood out more than it would on a typical summer’s day. It didn’t have blue skies or summer sun to compete with.

I haven’t seen too many goldfinches. They’re common enough around Ireland but I’ve seen them rarely. It’s rarer still for me to have a camera with me when they appear. So this was a special moment. The bird landed and kindly waited just long enough for me to get my camera out of its bag, point and take the photo. Then it took off.

Seeing the goldfinch stand out so dramatically against all of the greys around it (the grey stone of the graveyard, the rain-filled grey clouds and the grey misting sea of Dungarvan Bay) made me think that no matter how bad the weather gets there will still be something exciting and colourful to do or see.

And sure enough despite the weather we had a great time in and around Dungarvan, Co. Waterford for the next couple of days.

Fingal Postcard Series: Baldoyle

Back in February I was at the book launch of Fingal Through Old Picture Postcards, researched, compiled and written by Jacinta Judge, the senior librarian in charge of Fingal Local Studies.

The launch was at the Fingal Local Studies Department, Clonmel House, Swords and walking around the display room it became clear that the book contains only a sample of a large postcard collection of the Fingal area dating from the early twentieth century.

I bought a copy of the book and it planted a seed of an idea. It was to try and recreate the images depicted in the postcards by taking photographs of the locations as they are now. The postcards show Fingal in a time when it was less built up and it would be interesting to be able to see the comparison between then and now.

The first thing I needed was permission to use the postcard images, so I contacted Jacinta Judge and she kindly agreed to allow me to scan and use them for my posts.

So now all I have to do is take the photographs.

I’ve started with Baldoyle and I’ve already learned that it isn’t going to be easy.

Here is Baldoyle (and Sutton) as shown in a postcard in Jacinta’s book.

(The image is courtesy of the Fingal Local Studies Collection.)

The view is from above the houses and you can see clearly across to Howth Head.

To have a chance of reproducing that shot I’d need a very tall ladder or a small crane. Neither were available on the day!

So I’m going to show you three pictures, the scanned postcard, a photo looking from the Coast Road to Main Street Baldoyle and a photo looking at Howth from the promenade at Baldoyle.

Although the area has built up the church at Baldoyle is still a prominent feature and the views across to Howth, Ireland’s Eye and Lambay are wonderful.

I intend continuing the series slowly and irregularly over time, and although I won’t be able to photograph every scene in Jacinta’s book (some landmarks don’t exist anymore) I’ll try to get most of them.

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Near the Samuel Beckett Bridge, Dublin

Near Connolly Station, I realised that although I’d seen the new Samuel Beckett Bridge from a distance, I hadn’t crossed it, nor had I looked at it up close.

The bridge is easily recognisable, looking like a harp on its side; a national icon. I like that; it makes sense that a landmark should be easily picked out from the crowd.

For a long time the most significant landmarks along the Liffey were probably Liberty Hall, the Custom House, the Ha’penny Bridge, the Four Courts, Heuston Station and the Guinness Brewery.

Then along came the Spire (2002-2003) and the Seán O’Casey Bridge (2005). I didn’t warm to the Spire, or the Monument of Light as it is officially called, when it arrived first but it’s growing on me. I know it’s more than a stone’s throw from the Liffey but you have to try hard to miss seeing it as you walk along the quays.

I like the Seán O’Casey Bridge. Why not have another pedestrian bridge across the river? I used it today going from Custom House Quay to Merrion Square via Lombard Street East and as I looked along the Liffey towards the sea I saw cormorants below the bridge. I thought cormorants only liked rocky coasts, I guess not.

But it was the Samuel Becket Bridge that had my attention today. Opened for traffic in December 2009 it joins Sir John Rogerson’s Quay on the south side to North Wall Quay in the Docklands area. It may not be open a year but it has fast become one of my favourite Dublin City landmarks.

I took a few photos and tried to get that strange mixture of rain clouds and clear skies to play their part in the images. I really like how they turned out and I think black and white makes sense.

Right beside the bridge a market with a French twist was opening up. There was plenty of food on offer and it was really hard to resist the wonderful aromas from the huge pans of paella.

The bridge itself was my main interest. A cable-stayed bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava who also designed the James Joyce Bridge near Blackhall Place. No matter what angle I looked at it I couldn’t help feeling that it was a thing of beauty.

Facing upstream through a hole in its body you can clearly see Liberty Hall, the Custom House and the Spire as if this new upstart is showing respect to its older brothers.

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I Shot a Goldfinch Last Weekend!

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