An old gentleman and his birds

I was going through my photo library today and I found these shots I made in Galway last year october, but never posted them anywhere. We only stopped there for an hour or so and spent most of the time at the beach, where my daughter were collecting pebbles and shells. Galway and its bay is usually full with tourists, but there were not too many that day, it was rainy, windy and cold, we even had to take shelter in a nearby church from a small storm. But when the sky cleared up again I found an old gentleman surrounded by birds and swans. I took the opportunity and made a few shots of him while he was feeding the birds and we also had a little chat after. So here are a few shots of him and some other images around the bay.
All photos were taken with the Fuji X-Pro1 and the 35mm f1.4 lens.

Long Exposure Photography with the Fuji X-Pro 1

Check out the results of my first dive into Long Exposure Photography. All photos were taken at the HSQ Building Dublin with my little friend, the Fuji X-Pro 1 using the 18mm f2.0 lens and processed in Lightroom.

Coffee harvesting

2 weeks ago we visited our friends  Edita and Mindo to have a little chat and check out their coffe tree. It's not common to see a 2m tall 8 years old coffee tree in an irish home. Most of the cherries were ripe and ready to harvest. We started to pick the cherries by hand and we ended up having a handful of deep red ripe coffee cherries. Straight there we squeezed the cherries out and two green beans appeared in our palms which we washed and let it fermented in water. Since then the coffee beans are drying and soon they will be ready to be roasted. I'll keep you updated.

All images were made with the Fuji X-Pro 1 and the 35mm 1.4 lens using off camera flash.

Traditional Hungarian Easter Celebration

Late March, early April, Easter... The beginning of spring, clear sky, cool breeze, flowers are blossoming. That's what we had in mind when we planned our short trip back to Hungary. But it was cold, wet and dark, like we have never left Ireland. 

But we were surrounded by our lovely family, grandma and mothers try to feed us every minute, we were asked to give them a food wish list for every day while we were there. Fathers, uncles, various male members of the family were giving us taste of their latest homemade pálinka (hungarian alcoholic drink made from fruits, quite often over 50% strong). What not to like, already forgot about the weather.

We haven't been home around this time of the year for ages and we were really excited to witness the amazing traditional Easter celebration in the Sóstó Village Museum Nyíregyháza. Members of the Nyírség Dance Ensemble put on a great dance show, all men and women were wearing traditional folk costumes.

As part of this old folk custom, men pour buckets of water all over the women. It associated with the cleaning, healing and fertility effect of water. Men recite a "sprinkling poem" and they receive eggs for exchange and maybe a kiss too. These days nobody practices these customs anymore but thanks to the Nyírség Dance Group and the amazing Heritage Village Museum you could fly a couple of hundreds years back in time and be part of an unforgettable Hungarian Easter.

All images were taken with the Fuji X-Pro1, using the 18mm f2.0 and the 35mm f1.4 lenses and processed in Lightroom.