Éireann85: My Irish Image LairShop

I first visited Ireland (both the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland) while studying in Dublin during my third year in college in 1984-85. I did a certain amount of traveling while there, most notably to prehistoric and megalithic sites. I forgot to bring my 35mm. camera with me, alas, on an extensive class trip around Tara and Newgrange; vowing not to repeat this mistake, I made sure I packed it on every weekend trip thereafter, especially to sites of archaeological and cultural import. For years after that, though, my film photos of hillforts, dolmens, and the Giant's Causeway on the Antrim coast languished in photo albums; and I racked my brains trying to figure out a way to share them with others.

Éireann85 was the result of this quest, focussing on out-of-the-ordinary shots of Celtic and Neolithic sites, and geological landmarks (though I do have one fairly convincing shot of an Irish rainbow). It was 21 years later that I finally made my second visit to Ireland (March-April 2006), in which I tried to visit and photograph as many archaeological sites, and play fiddle in as many trad music sessions, as I could--especially those places I didn't get around to the first time. Both Éireann85 and our expanded LairShop, The Lair of Cards, include images from this more recent journey. I hope you enjoy these images and related products; and that you will feel inspired to pay a visit over there very soon...

The above photo, by the way, is a dolmen in the Carrowmore Neolithic Cemetery complex just a few miles outside of Sligo town, County Sligo. It was a dark and stormy day when I climbed into the farmer's field to shoot this noble structure (with the permission of the farmer, who, along with many of his neighbors, was out liming his field on said dark and stormy day). It was wet and windy as all get-out; but I still managed to get some pretty good pics, before fleeing to a roadside pub for a hot whiskey-and-lemon...

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UPDATE (THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2012): I've been quite busy with my premium lenses lately; but now that I know the Irish-language rendering of "Carrowmore" (An Cheathru Mhor), I'm planning an update of the County Sligo dolmen image above, with Celtic-font text of the Irish name! Stay tuned for the upload...