fotos4web: April 2005

Believe in Vampires ?

Just the other day I was wandering around in a country churchyard (on my own of course ...) when I heard this noise - a sort of metallic scratching noise that seemed to come from below me.
I looked around but there was no-one there but me... except that a few feet away was a set of steps leading down to a crypt .... and the scratching noise was coming from there. I had to go and look of course - and I just wonder why that crypt has steel doors an inch thick and why the padlock is quite so big and heavy on the door.

I did the photos of the new Sheela-na-gig I'd discovered there (someone was obviously regularly visiting her as there were fresh rubbings from the groinal area and fresh flowers beside her.

I've got this funny scratch on my leg now ...... must be a coincidence. Isn't it ?

What a Beautiful Morning !

Lovely Sunshine and everything's all crisp and Spring's in full session ....
We have a market today in Kenmare and it's really rather like a French provincial market (not surprising as some of the stallholders ARE French !)

Oh ... I see the Sidhe needs a top-up ... I'll tell you about her tomorrow .

A family of starlings has just hatched a brood in the house eaves Hmmm

Have a happy day - don't let others pull you down.

Where's the Thousand Euro ?

I only wanted to photograph the lemurs .... but it didn't quite work out like that.
Just after I went into the wildlife park people started asking me if I was the Fugitive !
(now as far as I know I don't look like a Hollywood hero ...)
They were looking for the fugitive from a local radio station giving away 1000 Euro ... and they announced that he'd be at the park yesterday ... so I got challenged all day which was a bit tedious - especially by the schoolkids...

I found the lemurs - with BABY lemurs ! They were really cute - and so tiny (and really quick !) Tried out my very old 300mm lens and was surprised at just how much sharper it is than the brand new autofocus zoom lens from Nikon. The only problem is of course that it only works on manual settings . Still I was quite pleased with those and some cheetah head shots. (I'll put some up a bit later).

They wouldn't miss *one* lemur would they ... guess they would - is that a new form of shoplifting ? How big an animal could you smuggle out ? a giraffe might be a bit big ...

Have you seen a Ghost ?

I'm currently photographing haunted castles,abbeys,hotels,villages etc for a book on Irish Ghosts (to be followed by a similar book on Britain).
If you've seen or know of a ghost in Ireland or Britain please either comment in this blog or email me at : keith@fotos4web.com Thanks

Lemur

Sheela-na-Gig

You show me yours and I'll show you mine ! R18

She's a Sheela-na-Gig.

In ancient times in Ireland and England they were carved and set up above the entrance to Castles and Churches (mostly because no-one else could afford them)

Let's see - how can I put this gently - oh OK She's flashing her ladies bits at you !

Traditionally the Sheela-na-Gig was a Wise Woman in the town/village who would produce/provide protective amulets,spells etc as protection against intruders,vikings,tax collectors etc who'd try to rob you. If the bundle of hers/stones/chickengizzards in a rag didn't work the it was also her job to stan over a fire (nude from the waist down) on one leg assimilating the energy from the fire into her genitals. She then dashed outside and gave the intruder a flash of her naughty bits and this would allegedly terrify the intruder into running away .
(I don't think I'd be too worried but that's another story)
Well to cut a long story short, it rains a lot in Ireland and it's pretty cold and miserable in the Winter so someone cam up with the great idea of stone figures doing the sheela-na-gig thing that could be cemented over the door and everyone was happy ever after ! So off I troll to photograph one of these laaaadies (statue not real lady - I don't think they do that any more except in Temple Bar Dublin on a Saturday night .. oh yes and in Newcastle too)
I eventually find the village and the castle - no sheela-na gigh - back to car , read erudite guidebook and discover it's 40 ft up a sheer wall near the top ... back to car for long lens. Now I've recently turned over to digital photography and it's fun. So when I pressed the button and the camera went click I though it had taken a phot - wrong - it took nothing !
Tried again half a dozen times,changed batteries - still nothing. Then I pointed it at a gorse bus and got a lovely picture. Back to Sheela - nope ! Gorse bush -lovely - Sheela - nada. So I started wandering off down the hill in despain and from behingd me I HEARD a smile ! I looked up and I swear the Sheela na gig was smiling. So like a ninny I started to reason with the statue and explained that I knew she was only protecting the castle but that when I say I'm TAKING a photo I'm actually MAKING an image of her and she'll be famous. After a good bit of this buttering up my camera started working again and I have some lovely pix of a really quite cute Sheela-na-gig.
And I don't have any other explanation ... truly !

A Seriously Weird Day ...

My lovely neighbour Sabine said there was a haunted village not far away ..
So I tried to find it - for days and days and days (apparently when you're on your own you hear the voices of long-dead kids playing - and I thought that would be a GREAT photo-essay for a couple of magazines)

Eventually I asked Douglas and he suggested a possible location about 60 miles further on Hmmmm - so off I pottered on a lovely sunny day down a narrow road that turned into a narrower lane with high walls - and then a cliff face on one side and a 100 ft drop on the seaward side until there at last (8miles from the main road) was a little huddle of .. shiny fresh painted cottages - on I went and got out of thcar (Mistake no 1) - everyone in their gardens instantly got up - ran into their houses and iI heard them bolting their doors ...
Except for one poor lady who buried her head in her hands,ran into an open garage and huddled in a corner muttering...
OK folks we're not in Kansas any more - so faced with the whole village(all 5 houses) with their faces pressed against the window panes, I dived back into the car and started to turn round - only to discover the I had to reverse into the sobbing ladies garden (who started yelling) to turn round .... gently drifted off down the road knowing EXACTLY how the policman felt in The Wicker Man.
Got to the end of the lane and met a van coming the other way (well I wasn't going to reverse 8 miles back to the village was I ?)
Feeling relieved I drove to the Copper Mines and was badly cut up by an English car doing about 70 mph - I followed to tell him off - but he'd just disappeared in a cul de sac !
I did find the haunted village - but it up a very narrow lane and yesterday that was knee deep in mud so I'll have another go next week !
(Some people never learn do they ?)