27/01/19 - Ardee RFC vs North Meath RFC

I took a ramble down to Ardee RFC to shoot their match against North Meath RFC. It was a hard fought match but despite some absolute brilliant pieces of play the visitors took the spoils on the day.

25/01/19 - Newcastle Classic Car Show

We took a spin up to the Slieve Donard Hotel for the Newcastle Indoor Classic Car Show that is on from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th. There wasn't a space inch of space in the ballroom, it was filled with a fantastic display of some very high quality classic & vintage vehicles. There was everything from one of Joey Dunlop's NS250 race bikes to the likes of a fantastic yellow, yes I said yellow !, Massey Ferguson 35 which was parked beside a gorgeous Ferguson 20. 

24/01/19 - William Dunlop images

Its only a few months since William lost his life in that tragic accident and we are now on the cusp of another season of thrilling and hopefully safe racing. 
Michael's announcement today that he will compete in 2019 with the Tyco BMW team spurred me to upload these images.

Click on the Fallen Heroes link at the top of the blog if you would like to see some of the other tribute posts that I've posted.

Taken at Walderstown in 2008 when Michael gave William a lift back to the pits after his bike broke down

23/01/19 - 1987 Phoenix Park Races

A few shots from 1 of my first attempts at motorsport photography, in fact I'd only got the camera a few months beforehand was still getting to grips with it. The Phoenix Park races afforded us the opportunity to see the racing up close.
Apologies for the poor colour quality, the negatives have degraded a lot over time.

The late Enda Nolan . RIP

21/01/19 - The Fisher King

1990 Circuit Of Ireland Rally

The years don't be long passing by but it's hard to believe that it's 18 years since the accident that claimed the lives of Bertie, Mark and Emma Fisher.
There is no doubting the immense legacy that Bertie left behind in the rallying world with some fantastic displays of driving across the stages of Ireland and beyond.
His firm, Fisher Engineering was involved in some of the largest building projects in Ireland , building large parts of the  Intel plants, the Dundrum Town Centre, National Convention Centre, the 3Arena, whilst they also built the Waterfront Hall and Victoria Square in Belfast.
I was very lucky to be involved in photographing rallies during the late 80s and early 90s.
Here are some of my favourite shots of Bertie & Rory Kennedy.

Click on the Fallen Heroes link at the top of the blog if you would like to see some of the other tribute posts that I've posted.

1992 Lurgan Park Rally

19/01/19 - Fly me to the Moon - more starlings

I took another trip over to Nobber to witness the amazing spectacle of the starling murmurations. It really is an incredible sight. I realised that I had very few photos from last weekend's trip because of shooting the video clips.
I also was hoping to get a few shots of the (almost) full moon, as we are going to have too much cloud cover to see the eclipse overnight.
I ventured a little closer this time but took shelter under a tree so as not to disturb them and also to protect me from any droppings....

19/01/19 - Cruise for Alfie

It was great see such a huge turnout for the event that was held at the McDonald's car park in Newry in aid of Alfie. Alfie is 6 years old and was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy when he was 4. It's a muscular degeneration disease that's caused by his body not producing enough Dystrophin to keep his muscles intact. He seems to be a right motor head alright and was seen getting a spin around the car park in a wide variety of cars.

The organisers of the event , NI Cruise Scene, announced this morning that over £2,500 was raised on the night so fair play to everyone who was involved.

Alfie was in high spirits when he attended the event.

19/01/19 Rambling with the Bambino

I had to go out with the bambino to shoot some photos of the castle for a college project for her. I hadn't been out rambling in a while, so I decided to grab a few shots that were on my list while I was out.

Now we know where Doc Brown & Marty McFly go to get a new flux capacitor for the De Lorean...

19/01/19 - Vincent Farrelly's Garage in Ardee

I can't explain why but I don't think I've ever photographed the old fuel pumps at the late Vincent Farrelly's garage before. I wonder when was fuel last filled at this little landmark.
I remember Maurice Welsh ( Walsh? ) used to have a bicycle repair shop in garage in bygone days. And I wonder when did he close down the workshop too.

13/01/19 - Starling murmurations in Nobber

I took another trip over to check out this spectacle and it definitely wasn't a wasted journey.
I spent the time shooting some video clips and have made a poor attempt at merging them together.
It looked as if the show wan't going to be as spectacular this evening as there were only relatively small flocks of birds flying around. They were staying further away than previous evenings as well.
Then just as the last light shone across the county Meath hillside, 2 large groups flew in and put on an amazing display. It definitely is a fantastic spectacle. I hope that Paddy Byrne doesn't hear this or he might recognise the music.

12/01/18 - Starling Murmuration in Nobber

I took a spin over to Nobber to witness a piece of nature's magic. A gigantic flock of starlings have been performing a magical display each evening at dusk.

It really is an amazing spectacle to watch the birds split swoop and dive through the air.

Neither the photos or video do this justice, you need to see it

Click here to see the video - Starling video

06/01/19 - Cars And Coffee North East

That was a very long month since the last meetup at DKIT and there is no doubt that it was worth every minute of the wait for this event. 
It probably was one of the largest turnouts for the event, but it was great to see such quality. The exotica generated plenty of attention as expected but there was also plenty of stunning machines of a more standard nature around the place. 
My only thought when we were driving away today, how are they going to beat that turnout?

Click on the Cars And Coffee NE button at the top to see some similar posts, or click on this link Ardee Snapper - Cars And Coffee NE