Macro Monday... Old Boat House...

24 January 2011

Macro Monday at Lisa's Chaos...  is the old boat house at Crawfordsburn...  It was a grey January day and at 11am the light was dull... but I wanted to try to find some richness of colour...

Closer to it is more obvious how much graffiti has been painted onto the rusting door.

The door is gradually rusting away... but so much vivid colour...

I was interested by how thin the metal has become with the constant erosion of weather, sea and salt...

I loved the old rusted bolt.  Loved how the splashes of weathered blue paint contrast with the rust colours.

The uprights that the door is fastened to are also showing signs of wear and tear as the layers peel away.

Only the rusted bolt is holding the layers of rusted metal together...

The edge of the door is amazing...

Such rich colours... and texture...

contrast wonderfully with the brick work and shadows deeper inside the boat house.

SOOC Sunday... Harmony...

23 January 2011

Straight out of the Camera Sunday at Murrieta 365 

This week I have taken photographs of the beautiful and elegant Statue at the corner of Queen's Bridge...

By walking along the bridge a bit I was able to get a lovely view of her...  Harmony is a sculpture by Andy Scott and stands 19.5 m high.  She is made of stainless steel and stands on a cast bronze globe.

This image was taken with the sun behind Harmony...

Of course, Harmony, has a number of nicknames... the best known being... Nuala with the Hula...

She stands in Thanksgiving Square, Belfast...

She has beautiful elegant lines...

Even her hands are truly beautiful...

The camera is able to pick out the details far above me in a way that was difficult to see by looking up at her

A Belfast City Council plaque describes the thinking behind the sculpture...

"This female figure represents various allegorical themes associated with hope and aspiration, peace and reconcilliation and is derived from images from Classical and Celtic mythology.  Her position on the globe signifies a unified approach to life on this earth.  It encompasses oneness, while celebrating the diversity of culture that exists in our global village.

The aim of the sculpture is to bring people together and to change hearts and minds, to make bridges across the divides in our community.  To work towards a peaceful, happy existence for everyone on this planet by respect of each other, their cultural heritages and all our aspirations.

This symbol creates a tangible first statement of our long term objective in bringing people together to foster a happy and fulfilling life for all and a sense of gratefulness for all that life has given us."

Although I think she is a beautiful structure...  this is a lot to expect from a piece of public art...

Watery Wednesday... Blue Boat...

19 January 2011

My photographs for Watery Wednesday  this week are also taken at the Lagan River.

I liked the little turquoise blue boat tethered to a small wooden pier... the entrance behind the walk way is where the river Farset joins the Lagan... the Farset flows below High Street in Belfast through a large tunnel. 

 I loved the reflection of the short step ladder at the end of the pier.

Adore the shades of blue.  This photograph was taken from the barrier at Donegall Quay.

This image was taken from the foot bridge at Lagan Weir

I found the colour of the boat (I suppose it is more of a small dinghy) very pleasing against the depth of blue of the River Lagan. 

Macro Monday... Stunning Stump...

17 January 2011

For Macro Monday at Lisa's Chaos this week I have chosen a few photographs that I took while out for a walk on Cavehill... For this walk Neil and I had headed off through the trees...

Before us just off the path was a beautiful tree stump that was covered in bracket fungi...

I don't know which type of bracket fungi it is but it is very attractive growing close together in shelf like clumps...

Some of the fungi was cleaner whiter looking...

others were turning golden or had a coating of green algae on the top.

It was a large tree that had been cut down... can't remember what type of tree it was...

but there are quite a lot of horse chestnut trees around this area...

and many beech trees but the bark of the beech tree is smoother and more silvery in tone...

green algae and moss around some of the bracket fungi...

the bark has a wonderful deep brown scaley textural quality...

SOOC Sunday... Albert Clock...

16 January 2011

For my Straight out of the Camera Sunday I have chosen to use photographs that I took of some of the sculptural details on the Albert Clock in Belfast...

None of the photographs have been altered in any way other than some cropping...

I love the lions... they are so stately...

Pigeons don't show the stately lion much respect as his crown makes a useful perch...

Fabulous worksmanship...

I loved the reflection in the glass of the nearby building...

Prince Albert...

Stands on a plinth supported by angels...

There are a number of angels among the sculptures on the clock tower...

The bell tower at the top is very ornate...  The sky is very vivid blue in some of the photographs... It was sunny but I didn't use any type of filters... The photographs were all taken using the Nikon D3000 DSLR camera and either the 18-55mm kit lense or the 55-200mm zoom lense.

The gargoyles look like really cute hounds...

I am very fond of the gargoyles...

Very ornate...

Netting wire to prevent pigeons from roosting in the belfry...

A view of the clock face from a little further away...

Albert Memorial Clock...

15 January 2011

I have chosen to show the overall image of the Albert Clock today, the day before SOOC Sunday because this picture is not straight out of the camera...

There has been a considerable amount of restoration work completed on the clock in recent years.  The craftsmen involved did an amazing job...

I cropped it and then I lightened it a bit so that the detail of the clock could be seen a better as the lower half of the structure was in too much shade...

I know the clock looks a bit slanted but the clock does actually lean... by approx 1.5 m.  This has been stabilised as part of the restoration works... 

There is a lovely view of the Cavehill, the cliffs, Napoleons Nose and Belfast Castle when you look down the street from the front of the Albert Clock...

When I was young the area around the Albert Clock had a bit of a dodgey reputation...

Custom House...

14 January 2011

When I was doing the post yesterday...

I thought it would be nice to follow on with a few photos of Custom House...

I think it is a truly beautiful building and this photograph taken from the middle of the bridge over the weir shows big fish in a little more context to his surroundings...

I am not sure what the technical term for this part of a building is...

But I do love the elements in it...  a lion, a unicorn, ancient Greek gods and fish...  The odd texture is actually fine net wire to prevent pigeons from roosting...

The main entrance to Custom House... from Custom House Square...