Fall in Ireland

Last time I wrote about our trip to Switzerland and the Fall season there. Of course, it is Fall in Ireland too! It's getting cold, but we have had some nice sunny days here. So I thought we would go out and try to capture some Fall colors around here; who needs New England.

I asked around at work and a colleague recommended the Hell Fire Club on top of Montpelier Hill just South of Dublin. It is a nice spot with a very interesting and weird history, and a great view of Dublin. The sun kept coming and going; not very many useful pictures. There were also a ton of people up there on the three-day weekend Monday we were there. I need to go back. Maybe on a full-moon night, or when there is snow. Dublin usually doesn't get snow, but that hill is just tall enough to get a light covering once in a while.
(Edit: I just spent some more time in the comment section of this site. It seems it is a very popular place to visit by day AND night; by the living and maybe others. I bet it was busy Halloween night ;-)

One of the difficulties of getting good pictures now is that even when the sun is out, by 3:30 it starts to disappear. I tried again. This time closer, in Phoenix Park, which is just a little over a mile from our house. Again, the sun came and went, but I got the tree above when it was fully lit. Incidentally, the hill behind it is where the Hell Fire Club is (more or less).

Phoenix Park is home to a large herd of deer. They are not tame enough to let you touch them, but they are pretty used to people. By now the sun was setting, again, so I tried to stalk them and get a group picture in front of the setting sun.

Getting there, but not good enough.

Better. More light on the grass and the orange of the sunset is beginning to show through the trees.

Far from perfect, but much closer to what I had hopped to achieve. Although I complain a lot about the weather here, the sunsets, when you can see them, are often very beautiful. That evening I was maybe not in the best position after chasing those deer, but this is not bad for simply aiming your camera West and shoot over the trees.

Next week it is off to New York to visit Watson and then to Denver for Supercomputing. The weather is promising to be no better than here in Ireland, but it will still be fun and interesting to immerse myself in high-end geekishness.