The Dublin City Marathon

I happened to be in town the other day when the Dublin City Marathon was on. I had been feeling pretty grumpy but it’s really hard to stay in a bad mood when people are crowding the streets cheering on strangers running the last leg of a 27 mile race. Crowds of people taking positive action (like cheering or running or building) make my heart feel funny, kind of like the way groups of people singing in unison make me cry. I think it’s probably an affliction of the overly emotional or something. While I don’t think I would ever run a marathon (the task seems unsurmountable for me and my knees) it completely baffles me that people can and do…like my friend Cathal, he trained himself and ran it, completing the staggering milage in 4 hours and 20 minutes! What a champ! 

 See that yellow line on the photo? Does anyone know what that is? Something weird happened to the second half of this roll of Portra 400 and I don’t know if it was my camera, my shooting or the lab processing or scanning? Any fellow film pals experience anything similar?

(Don’t forget to sign up to my Christmas Post Swap)

Moving Out/Moving Home

Last night Richard and I moved back home after nearly a month of housesitting for my cousin and her new husband. To say we were sad to leave is an understatement. What didn’t help matters were (in no particular order) being locked out, lashing rain, very heavy bags of shopping, Richard’s car battery AND phone battery both dying at the same time, not having enough money in my bank account, counting coins in Dunnes AND a pizza dropped on the floor (destroying it!) when I was at my hungriest. It was laughable. Well today anyway, last night…not so funny.
I will definitely look back on this time, the first time we lived together properly, fondly. Living amongst the red brick buildings, leafy streets and old but beautiful shop signs of Dublin was a joy. I heard a woman say to her friend that they were visiting her friends in ‘the burbs’ the following day and realised that that‘s where I live now. That’s where I have always lived. Given the chance I would definitely jump to live somewhere more central again. There’s always something going on in town and you never have far to go.
Thanks Katie & Ado for having us be your pretend ‘tenants’ for a month. We enjoyed (almost ;) every minute of it! xo 

Dublin/2

It’s late, I know. But I never promised anything. Did I?

This is the Liberty Markets building. It breaks my heart to see something so beautiful going to waste and literally falling and crumbling while people just walk on by. It could be such an incredible place. Maybe some day it will?

Dublin/3

This building is the shizz. It’s here and I walk past it almost every day.

See all the other Dublin, a love letter posts here.

Dublin/1

I’ve been thinking about doing a series for ages and starting a new module in photography this week has encouraged me to just get on with it. So here it is, week one of Dublin, a love letter. Sometimes I will write words and sometimes I won’t. This church is on Thomas Street where I go to college and it’s stunning, like scarily stunning, I haven’t been in it yet but if the inside is as amazing as the outside (and I’ve heard it is!) then I’d say it’s pretty breathtaking. The second image is of a dude I saw cleaning windows on the tiny houses I walk through en route to college (random side note—they have boot scrapers at the doors which is not something you see every day). The third picture was taken near Patrick’s Cathedral, I love that the roofs of the buildings are copper—the green really stands out against the red brick.

So, the plan is that every week (although I’m not making any promises) I’m going to post new pictures under the theme of Dublin, a love letter.