Over the past few years I’ve been busier with the kid, wedding photography, and portrait photography and haven’t gotten out to do what I love, outdoors photography. Now working on this blog all the time makes me miss doing that landscape work. The early morning light, the road-trips to new places, the feeling of joy it brings me - I miss it all.

I met my wife, Mary, in 2008 and this picture happened on our first trip to Ireland to meet her family. We went at Christmas time and her dad, Erik, met us at the Dublin airport. One of her four sisters, Erika, met us at the front door. She spent the morning sizing me up. I kept seeing her look at me out of the corner of my eye. We had a traditional Irish breakfast in their small Portmarnock kitchen with the tiny radio on a shelf next to the table with the local news playing. I ate bangers, eggs, and toast for the first time. Can I say how good it tasted?

Erik, originally from Cork, spoke in the accent of that part of Ireland. He didn’t speak too loudly and I swear to God Almighty I couldn’t understand 80% of what he said. I would just nod my head in agreement. Mary never knew this until a few years ago when I confessed. She laughed her ass off when I told her. It just sounded like he was mumbling to my Yankee ears.

Before this trip my landscape photography was shot entirely on Fuji Velvia. Velvia was the pinnacle of films for landscape photography. Mary made me upgrade to the Nikon D3 before going because she wanted to actually see the pictures on a computer. I agreed because film was getting too expensive to use and the digital cameras were finally both full frame and of good enough quality to make the switch. Speaking of full frame, I’m now experimenting with the Fuji XT-5 and its AP-C sensor for outdoors photography. It’s lightweight and the lenses with the 40mp sensors look just as sharp. A tiny little camera taking way less space in a suitcase or pack works every time for me.

Christmastime daylight in Ireland starts at about 8:30 and ends at about 3:45. So if you want to enjoy the day, start early and stay out as long as possible. Erik was a big walker, knew I liked walking, and invited us to go for a hike in Glendalough.

We woke up early, ate, and started driving with a friend of Erik to this place that took maybe 1:15 hours of driving to reach. Her dad was just as crazy a driver as any of the Irish natives. Speeding down narrow-ass roads swerving to avoid head-on collisions and staying out of the hedgerows and big ditches on both sides of the roads left me a little unnerved. He drove a tiny little white car speeding and slowing, dodging and weaving, bumping and bouncing the entire time with me squeezed into the front seat knees to nose hanging on for dear life but trying not to show it. I remember being happy and relieved to get to Glendalough and not really looking forward to driving back to Portmarnock at the end of our hike.

It was amazingly clear and cold for the entire walk. We walked up the Miners’ Road Walking Trail past Upper Lake and into the glaciated hills far above the ancient monastery at Glendalough. I’ll revisit the pictures and do another blog post about this walk. It ranks as one of my favorite hikes now and I’m really glad Erik brought us.

We finished the walk and ended up in the ancient monastery at the base. Everything was covered in early morning frost. The light was amazing. Even though I usually am not drawn to religious symbols, this cross on a grave with lichen covered Jesus and dark background was too cool to pass up.

We stayed for a little while until the crowd started showing up. On the walk out to the parking lot I turned around and saw this scene. The frosty grass, part of the ancient monastery and the early morning warm light beam shining over the treeless mountain. It became the picture of the day. And the hike

Erik passed away while walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain in the spring of 2010.

“People live, and then they die. And as long as they do both things properly, there’s nothing much to regret.” (Lee Child - through fictional character Jack Reacher)