Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Here is a slideshow of images I made in Ireland while traveling through Cashel, County Kerry, the Dingle Peninsula, and County Clare along Ireland's west coast. The trip was everything I hoped it would be and more. We only spent a day in Dublin, opting instead to spend our time exploring the windy country roads and hiking along the coast. It wasn't too hard to leave the tourists behind and fell like you were having a real experience. I'd go back in  a heartbeat.

All of the photos in this slideshow were taken with a plastic Holga camera. A Holga is made up almost entirely of plastic. It has two shutter speeds, one F stop, and leaks light like a sieve. Why would anyone want to use this camera? The Holga takes photographs that look like memories-- something in focus but a little fuzzy around the edges. When you are using a Holga, you're letting go of almost all control and opening up your photography to chance. You can never be quite sure what light is going to be recorded on the film. Each roll has a few surprises on it. It's great for landscape photography as well a photographing people. 

I bought mine here from the International Center of Photography. I like the one that allows you to shoot at 1/125 of a sec and also has a bulb setting for long exposures. More to come on the Holga.

Pat