Lusitania Centenary Commemoration, Cobh

Young Irish seaman stands silently in front of the
Lusitania Memorial

At 2.12pm on 7th May 1915 the RMS Lusitana sank off the coast of Ireland, after being hit by a torpedo from a German submarine, with the loss of 1,198 lives. Many of the survivors were brought ashore to what was then called Queenstown.

On Thursday 7th May 2015 a special day of commemoration was held in the town - now called Cobh, with the Irish President, Michael D. Higgins attending a special Commemoration Ceremony, centered around the Lusitania Memorial, and remembering the tragic events of 100 years ago.

The morning began with a Commemoration Mass in St Colman's Cathedral, where the ladies of the Cobh Animation Team were on hand to welcome and guide the visitors into the cathedral. Many of those attending this special mass were relatives of those who were lost in the tragedy.

This was followed by the unveiling of glass headstones at the graves of the Lusitania victims.

Meanwhile, down on the promenade, preparations were under way for the start of the main commemoration ceremony.

Large crowds had gathered, and all opportunities were taken to find a vantage point, whilst awaiting the arrival of Irish President Michael D. Higgins.

Following the raising of the standard, the President walked the inspection of the Guard of Honour.

With this part of the ceremony concluded, the official party moved to the main stage on the promenade, where the President went on to make his speech

Speeches were also made by officials from both the Port of Cork and Cunard, followed by a hymn and at 2.12pm the time that the Lusitania was hit by the torpedo, the Cunard, Queen Victoria sounded her whistle. She was alongside at Cobh having brought around 100 relatives of Lusitania victims to this special commemoration event.

Following the minutes silence, attention was brought back to the Lusitania Memorial, where wreath laying took place.

During the wreath laying ceremony, the President clearly had to contain his emotions for a moment. With the main ceremony now over, it was time for meeting the press for interviews and chatting to the gathered crowd before being whisked away in his official car.

*******

The Lusitania Memorial in Cobh, stands as a reminder to all those who lost their lives in this tragedy, and what was also a pivotal point of the First World War. With the loss of American lives, it was said to be the deciding factor for America to join the war.


As an aside to this whole event, I was contacted by my very first school friend, after having seen a couple of these images which I had posted on social media. She told me that her great grandfather, who came from North Wales, had been one of the fortunate ones to survive the sinking of the Lusitania. Story has it that he had tired of his merchant seaman role as a fireman at sea with Cunard, and went to join the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, only to die four months later at the Battle of Loos on 25th September 1915.

West Cork Photography Weekends

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Fog - The Effects of...

Spring sunrise over a fog-shrouded Howth Head, Ireland

Well, it is a classic shot and one I never imagined I would be getting when I hit the fog on the M6 in north Staffordshire on Sunday night. You see, I was on my way back to the Holyhead-Dublin ferry, on route to West Cork for the start of my West Cork Photography Weekends spring season. However, my thoughts were, a foggy night = a wind-free night which also means a calm crossing. Even though my sea legs are improving a little after the numerous trips across the Irish sea, I still hope for a calm crossing, and thankfully I was in luck. An announcement for light seas was made and I bedded down...

But oh! Fog also means fog horns...all night!

I survived but with just minutes before the scheduled arrival time, the announcement came that due to the effects of the fog the trip up the Liffey would be rather slower than normal and docking would be half an hour later. Disaster! I was due to meet my photographer friend and fellow Photography Weekend tutor, Ray, in Howth for a dawn shoot, and dawn was progressing, unlike the last time we had met for a dawn shoot in Howth back in December 2013, when the dawn was later. That day, we enjoyed fantastic winter light and I was relieved to have just missed crossing the Irish Sea during one of the wildest storms of that winter.

Not so this time. A panic message from me on the boat rendered the reply in return
"Here in Howth shrouded in fog :-( Can just about see my hand in front of my face"

On first impressions, it looked as though I wasn't set to miss much on this Bank Holiday Monday morning, and yet it appeared fairly clear as I disembarked and drove towards Clontarf. Looking back along Tolka Quay, the tide was way out and stranding the little sailing boats along the pastel coloured horizon like a string of musical notes.

As I continued towards Bull Island, the sky began to colour up, and the reason for the lack of visibility just a couple of miles up the coast, was clear to see. A shroud of fog was wrapped around this peninsular, a home to many rich and famous over the years, with the top of Howth Head just popping out above the fog.

It was just too tempting - an impressive sunrise due to in part to the effects of the fog.
I just had to message
"Stopped for sun-up"
as I knew the moment wouldn't last. I captured the scene with the easiest camera to hand, my 'off duty' Olympus OM-D E-M10 and the the little 14-42mm pancake kit lens.

Even as I waited at the traffic lights on the empty roads in Sutton, the now heightening sun provided a spectacular introduction to the planned breakfast photo shoot. Unfortunately on arrival in Howth, the fog continued to hang around but I was delighted to have already bagged that classic sunrise shot back along the road. However, as any good photographer would, we were not going to miss an opportunity and turned our attentions to alternative subjects whilst we waited a little while longer for the fog to burn off.

Apart from making my once-tidy-no-wind-blown-hair-do into a frizzy mess, the moisture-laden foggy air had bejewelled the plants, grasses and spider webs that lined the paths up onto the head. It was no wonder that a certain someone was keen to put his smart new M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO lens to the test on his OM-D E-M5, and delighted in showing me the first enviable macro shots. (Psst! you had better keep an eye on that kit bag of yours now I have an Oly too!)

Happily, it wasn't long before the whole scene began to throw off the over-night cloak, and a trip back down to the quay revealed the calm waters in the harbour, another side-effect of the foggy night.

Just as it had been on our previous visit, the light was stunning but oh, so different, and that is why as photographers, we revisit places time and again for the different shots.

We had a similar reasoning with visits to Glendalough in September 2014 and January 2015 (but glad we didn't choose it on this Bank Holiday Monday - grid-locked according to reports I heard on the radio later!)

As the fog lifted, the reflections began to appear in the calm sea, effectively doubling the presence of Ireland's Eye. The town of Howth was beginning to wake up, and just as a pair of grey seals were having thoughts of where to get an easy meal, we too were thinking breakfast.

Brief as these photo shoots are, it is always good to meet up with a like-minded photographer. Where spending disproportionate amounts of time observing the world through a viewfinder is not seen as anything other than normal. Looking at the same shot but with different eyes is always refreshing. Being on our own agenda, and not being tied to a tour bus then crying as 'the shot' passes by (as happened on my recent trip to Iceland). Discussing the latest equipment, or finalising details for the up-coming Photography Weekends season - it is all part of a photographer's day at the office.




There may still be availability on a spring West Cork Photography Weekend - do ask!
Otherwise, I am now taking names of those who might be interested in an Autumn Photography Weekend - details to be finalised but provisional dates have been marked up for:
Sat 26 - Tue 29 Sept
Sat   3 - Tue   6 Oct
Sat 10 - Tue 13 Oct
Sat 17 - Tue 20 Oct

Maybe hope to see some of you on one of these!

Iceland - Landscapes

Icelandic horses on the plains to the east of Reykjavik

I'm not going to say much about this series of landscape images from my recent visit to Iceland, only I hope you enjoy them and maybe it will whet your appetite to visit this land of stunning contrasts too. Several of these shots were taken on the move in an attempt to capture the images I would have so loved to have spent a little more time setting up. This is part of the frustrations of being a photographer with someone else in charge of the driving - be it in a jeep or a 56 seater coach. So I guess this visit I have treated as the 'city bus tour' to get the taster of where I would like to return to, and next time I will ensure that I am more in control of the wheels that are getting me around.
I weep at all the stunning missed shots during the 4 days but I'm delighted I was able to capture some images to remind me of this amazing place.

Rainbow over the snowfields on the way to the Langjokull glacier

View from Þingvellir across Þingvallavatn

The Sólheimajökull glacier

The church at Þingvellir

The church at Vik

The stack rocks as seen from Vik

The sea stack and black basalt sand at Reynisfjara

And of course, everyone was asking "Did you see the aurora?"
Well, yes we did but...

On our third evening, following a period of snowfall, we went way out of Reykjavic up into the National Park. However, it wasn't far enough to be able to exclude the lights of the city, being reflected in the low cloud. Coupled with the fact we only had a 10-15 minute 'light show' it was a challenge to commit anything to the memory card. In fact, I only managed to capture three images that night which were worth giving a second look. Considering I had hired a lens specifically suitable for photographing the aurora, it made the (not so spectacular) image below rather a valuable shot!

We found out later, that the aurora kicked off a couple of hours after we had returned to the city, and was also spectacular the following evening when we opted for an early night in readiness for our flight back to the UK next morning.

Being a wildlife photographer too, I understand more than most that you can't just 'turn up and see' any natural happening such as this. It is all down to a series of conditions all aligning and then being in the right place at that time. So despite being a little disappointed with my first ever sighting of the aurora, I remain philosophical that this won't be the first and last, and as always, strive to improve image on image...but I do have a record shot. That will suffice for now, until I return to Iceland for a complete photography indulgence.

Anyone up for a visit to Iceland?!!

Solar Eclipse 20.3.15 - An Alternative View

Here is a view of today's solar eclipse in a way you definintely won't have seen in all those shots which have flooded the media today! Foget the images of a perfect white crescent on a black background, this is an image captured from above the clouds just at the end of totality.

We just happened to be booked onto a flight from Manchester to Rekjavik at 7.45 this morning and it dawned on us that we woud be passing through the region of totality at about 9.30, high above the Atlantic and close to the Faroe Islands.

We left on flight EZY1805 under the command of Captain, Daniel Marshall (based at Gatwick) and First Officer, James Hope (based at Manchester) Unfortunately we had experienced a little unexpected turbulence during the early part of the flight which wasn't very promising. Sadly, the eclipse was happening right behind us, but a cheer went up when the captain announced that special permission had been given for just us and also the Luton Easyjet flight, to circle twice over Faroe Islands region during totality. The sky began to go dark and a daytime sunset spread across the horizon. Unfortunately, the 2x window seats that we had requested for our party of 4 had been booked as 1x and our daughter (the birthday girl) wogged the window seat, leaving me to lean across as best I could whilst the plane continued two circuits (and not forgetting bumps!) in an attempt to give all passengers a glimpse of the eclipse. I could only anticipate when it might come into oblique view.

Of course, I was after the perfect white crescent on a black background - who wouldn't? But with a moving target, a moving platform and a limited view, I woud have to content myself with with whatever I could get...and I got something that probably few others would ever get.

As the sun emerged from the short-lived totality, the bright sunlight burst at the camera (I was of course being careful not to look through the viewfinder).

The refracted tiny image above the sunburst revealing the eclipse status.

I only managed to fire off a couple of bounced-around shots before it all disappeared from my line of sight again. Unsure what I may or may not have captured, it was only when reviewing my images, I realised I had indeed captured the eclipse - albeit an indirect image. This sunburst had created a tiny image or two of the sun, refracted within the twin-skin windows, and clearly showing the crescent status. Whilst it will win no prizes, I can truly say that this was taken from a unique location and viewed in a way I will never see the like of again.

A special birthday show for our daughter - Happy birthday E!

"EasyJet passengers flying to Iceland from the UK on Friday are set to be amongst a select group people anywhere in the world to have a front row seat of one the most spectacular natural phenomenon’s - a total solar eclipse."

https://twitter.com/easyJet/status/578979431433170944/photo/1

https://twitter.com/airlivenet/status/578864502990585856