Killarney National Park: Part II

Click here for Part I.

Killarney National Park has a lot of the same great things I'm used to from national parks in the States -- picturesque lakes, majestic mountains and charismatic megafauna.  One other thing it has that I'm fairly certain none of our parks do is a castle -- Ross Castle, to be specific.

The castle comes into view across Lough Leane while you're still a fairly good distance away.  With this sort of view, it's easy to understand why someone would choose to build a castle here from both an aesthetic and defensive perspective.

I often like having foreground branches in a shot to provide some framing, but then I end up not caring for them later.  I think I just need to get more precise in how I place them in the image.

According to Wikipedia, Ross Castle was built in the late 15th century by local ruling clan the O'Donoghues Mor, and was amongst the last to surrender to Oliver Cromwell's Roundheads during the Irish Confederate Wars.

I'm glad that I was able to maintain good focus from the bottom to the top of this shot of all five stories of the main keep.

I'm learning that more contrast is important in black-and-white shots to provide drama and distinguish between elements when you can't do with with different colors.

It looks almost like this rowboat is racing to beat an approaching storm.  The clouds never dropped a really drenching rain, though.  And the boat seemed to just be providing a water tour to a couple of park visitors. 

On my return walk a jaunting car driver saw my cameras and alerted me to the presence of a red deer stag off the trail.  Sure enough, he was right where I'd been told.  Thanks, friendly jaunting car driver!

These ferns looked like bright green fireworks to me up close.  I like the general chaos with the hint of order provided by the central stalks.

The walk was just what I needed after spending so much time on the bus over the previous three days.  A great use of a free afternoon!

Killarney National Park: Part I

The best part of our drive around the Ring of Kerry being relatively quick? Having time once we got back for a walk in Killarney National Park. Our hotel was right on the park border, and just a 4.8-kilometer walk to Ross Castle. That's roughly three miles for you Yanks. ;)

The walking path bordered a beautiful green meadow which had a lovely mountain backdrop.  Kind of amazing that just 50 yards behind me or so was a heavily trafficked road.

The trail then went along the River Deenagh, with many folks out biking or walking, either by themselves or with their dogs.  I decided to go black-and-white with this shot to emphasize the contrast and texture of the rocks, water and foliage.

Jaunting cars passed over this bridge fairly regularly for folks who preferred riding to walking.  Despite what the blur implies, they don't really move particularly fast.

The park is home to the country's only herd of red deer, who have a very different set to their jaw than our mule deer and white-tailed deer.

It may look this doe spotted me and sounded the alarm.  They weren't really that perturbed by the presence of people, though.  That makes sense given how many of us they likely see every day.

I rarely even got a glance from the deer.  When I did, it was mild curiosity at the most.

I ended up preferring several shots from my walk in black-and-white, including this one of ivy and lichen living on a tree trunk. 

I do want to give a fair sense of just how green and lush the area was, though.  So here you have trees and undergrowth in all their vibrant green glory.

Gray clouds above and gray rocks leading to the waters of Lough Leane begged for black-and-white yet again.  The shot is much moodier this way, which I like.

Click here for Part II.