Chillin' in Clare

A lazy evening in May Co. Clare. I have the good fortune to have a sister who lives in a most idyllic spot in Co. Clare. Orla and her family live in a very small town called Caher, 15kms outside Scariff and at present are renting a beautiful converted Coach House set on 300 acres of land. The main house is called Caher House and is used as a hostel and it goes to show the Celtic Tiger hit this area when the hostel has its own helicopter landing pad! The Coach House is set in a courtyard to the left of the main house, away from view, a well designed building from the 19th century so the inhabitants of the main house never had to see the ‘help’. I personally prefer the design and look of the Coach House, with its beautiful stonework and ambient feeling inside. The cobbled area in front leads to the stables where the horses rest after their leisurely day in the field, with the 2 small dogs who bark at every stranger but will happily sit and let you adorn them with affection.

This photo was taken within 10 minutes of arriving to Caher House. I’d driven down from Dublin and had planned to rest inside with a nice glass of wine and a good book. On arrival I met Shane, who takes care of all the animals, and he went to get some of the other dogs so I could take photos of them jumping in the lake (It was more a case of trying to make sure I didn’t go in the lake with them)! I took out the camera and tripod and walked the whole distance of 100m, from door to lake, and realised what a perfect evening it was for photos. There was barely a ripple in the surface of the water, the reflection of the facing hills being cast into the lake like a mirror reflects an image. The wispy clouds in the sky and the blueness are genuine, the only bit of photoshop to this image was a small liquify which adds to the viewer being pulled into the photo. To be quite honest, I never manipulate photos this way, I was having fun with the images I took and was actually trying to go for that fish eye look, not having brought a fish eye lens with me. The original image is a good landscape shot to begin with but isn’t it great to know you can have so much fun being creative with your images?