Dingle Town street scene

Between Tralee and Fenit

One imagines that there is a story behind this.

Happy sheep

Friends thought that I had altered this picture to make it look like the sheep was smiling. In actual fact, he really was that happy.

South of Downtown Tralee

In the Killarney forest

Dingle peninsula rainbow

Burren wall

I took shots like this every chance I could when no one was looking.

Valentia harbor

Dublin door

Castlegregory cottage

Road to nowhere

We're not sure that this was an authentic road created during the Famine relief works projects, but it will do. Eventually these projects were shut down because the men who needed the work the most were too sick to show up.

Face of An Gorta Mor

We stayed at the Jury's Hotel in Dublin directly across the street from this major memorial to the Famine. Several of the faces in particular stayed with me and I was fortunate to take close-ups.

Forest near Killarney

Coastline near Cloghane

Tralee Bay

Cahir Castle

This well-preserved castle near Cashel was used in the filming of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Dingle sheep in the mist

Workhouse ruin in Cahirciveen

This is considered to be one of the best preserved workhouses left in Ireland. Problem is that it is on Farmer Sullivan's private property. Thanks to intervention from the wonderful people at the Cahirciveen library, Farmer S. gave us permission to have a look, as long as we promised not to go inside. No problem.

Powerscourt

This estate south of Dublin has been used as the site for a number of motion pictures, most notably Barry Lyndon. We got there very early on an October morning, and had the gardens to ourselves mostly.

Famine Memorial in Dublin

Not mooooving

In a September 2005 visit, we'd rented a car and drove up the hill on a farm road in Castlegregory. After a minute of staring at this guy, I got out and took his picture. He finally moved.

The Burren

This land mass in County Clare used to be part of the ocean floor. In some cases farmers could systematically grind the rocks to create their own soil and start planing.

Valentia Island

This is at the Western end of the Ring of Kerry, giving one magnificent views of the Skelligs and Dingle Bay. We stopped to get the views to be found at the high point of the graveyard, and then stopped for lunch near the harbor.

Avoca

We went to this town on our second trip to Ireland. It was the setting for the excellent television series Ballykissangel, and it's not the sort of place you'd find by accident. Everyone who comes here because of the show poses in front of the pub which was, of course, the main location.

Leprechaun or not?

I'd first edited out the jogger in this picture of a Tolkienesque tree, then I had a lot more visits when I added the little person. This was taken on the long path from Ross Castle to Killarney Center.

Dingle Peninsula graveyard

This graveyard between Tralee and Camp was photographed in my first Quinnipiac University sponsored trip to Ireland. Not a happy place, but I consider this one of the most beautful pictures of Ireland that I've done, and I chose it to be the main image for Quinnipiac University's online collection of Famine materials at www.thegreathunger.org .

Green

Here is the essence of green I found in the Killarney Forest. Wish I could bottle this stuff.

Pastoral scene near Killarney

Here is a scene from the walk I took from Ross Castle back to downtown Killarney:

This may have been the most productive day of photography I've ever had.

Wishing I was in Ireland on this Spring day

Sometimes a picture just says it all. This picture happened while I was taking pictures of Tralee Bay just before sunset. My wife told me to turn around quick. This is probably the best rainbow shot I will ever get. The whole array of pictures from our three most recent trips can be found at www.pbase.com/terryballard/irelandall/