George Munday Creative

Waterford Revealed

The county is colloquially known as “The Déise” and pronounced “day-shih” after an Irish Tribe called the Déisi, who were driven from counties Meath and Kildare area some time between the 4th and 8th centuries. They moved into the Waterford region, conquering and settling there – just like me some nine centuries later.

Following a lifetime in County Meath bringing up kids, and co-directing the Slidefile stock agency, the move to a house just metres from a clifftop overlooking the Celtic Sea was inspiring. Friendly and welcoming neighbours and an incredibly photogenic beach nearby, it was a completely accidental, but wonderful discovery.

It may be compact county, but it boasts two mountain ranges; the oldest city in Ireland; pretty fishing ports; a 19th Century mining legacy; prehistoric artifacts; ancient castles and charming villages. All in all, a wonderful heritage just waiting to be explored – and that’s what I did, revealing it a wider audience in my self published book.

And today’s image of the view from the Mahon Falls to the Celtic Sea, became the book cover…

You can read more about it if desired by clicking here, along with details of the redoubtable Dervla Murphy, and if the book takes your fancy, where to get a copy.

And to finish, the film-noir version of the county’s hinterland…

The Tour Barberousse

Or Redbeard’s Tower in English, stands above the coastal village of Gruissan in the Aude départment of France.

The tower is all that remains of a castle built at the end of the 10th century to observe the approaches to the harbour at Narbonne and to guard against seaborne invasions of the city by the Saracens. Built on a steep, rocky hill, the castle was enlarged in the 12th century by the Archbishops of Narbonne, Guillaume de Broa.

Fleur-de-lis

The Fleur-de-lis or Iris is considered a representation of wisdom, elegance and faith in life.

During the middle ages, the Iris became the emblem of the French monarchy when Louis VII adopted it as a symbol in the 12th century and the Fleur-de-lis became the accepted national symbol of the empire. As they also represent courage, victory and power the flower became the national flower of France.

Gateway

One of those locations in the campo, I frequently return to. The silhouetted gateway, solitary olive tree and distant mountains, all enhanced by the evening light just keeps on producing iconic interpretations of the Spanish countryside…

The Sea…

Waves and shafting sunbeams over the Celtic Sea as it fringes County Waterford.

It was while searching through some infrequently visited files, for today’s image, that I found two forgotten videos. Compiled some six years ago as creative exercises to learn the art of videos, the black and white images lend themselves to a film noir approach, nicely enhanced by an atmospheric soundtrack called “Ocean Tapping” by PC III.

So, a resurrected video on my resurrected blog ! It was fun to make and hopefully, still fun for others to watch…

The remaining video will be added soon and if you’ll excuse the blatant marketeering, there’s more full colour imagery in my book, “Waterford A County Revealed”, details via the tab.

El Tornillo

Just one of the many geological creations found in El Torcal de Antequera, a nature reserve in the Sierra del Torcal mountain range near the city of Antequera in Spain’s province of Málaga.

Neoclassical Colonnade

Nine of the sixteen fluted Corinthian columns fronting the Neoclassical St George’s Hall.

Standing opposite Lime Street railway station in the centre of Liverpool, England, the impressive hall was designed by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes, who oversaw its construction until he died of consumption in 1847. In 1851 another architect, Sir Robert Charles Cockerell, was asked to complete the interior decoration and the hall finally opened in 1854.

Running the Storm

One running man and two flying seagulls in Nerja

Silver Water Droplets

Low winter sunlight cutting through the trees pierces the water droplets over the fountain in the Millenium Park in Lismore in County Waterford, Ireland. The town is renowned for its early ecclesiastical history and the imposing Lismore Castle overlooking the town and the Blackwater valley.

Trompe l’oeil

Trompe l’oeil is French for ‘deceive the eye’; an artistic technique using realistic imagery to create an optical illusion in which the depicted objects appear to exist in three dimensions.

Pub Culture

Pub culture – or bar culture, it’s not the same everywhere …

The Celtic Sea

The gleaming Celtic Sea, part of the Atlantic Ocean located off of the southern coast of Ireland was named by an English marine biologist (no less) in 1921 during a meeting of fisheries experts. Nearby Celtic regions have their own names for it; in Irish it’s “An Mhuir Cheilteach”, in Welsh “Y Môr Celtaidd”, Cornish: An Mor Keltek and Breton: Ar Mor Keltiek.

Angel of the North

The Angel of the North, believed to be the largest sculpture of an angel in the world, reduces its solitary visitor to a Lilliputian scale.

The Prettiest Urinals – Ever!

Falling into the category of “Looscapes” or bathroom photography, these splendid floral creations are to be found in the gentleman’s toilet of a garden centre (where else!) in Ireland’s County Carlow.

Yellow Road

A twisty yellow farm road in the hinterland of Spain’s Andalusia. A disappearing track, the golden cornfields and slightly ominous skies, elements that reminded me of the painting, ‘Wheatfield with Crows’, by Vincent Van Gogh.

According to the Van Gogh Museum, “the painting (left) is often claimed to be his last work. The menacing sky, the crows and the dead-end path are said to refer to the approaching end of his life, but apparently it’s a myth, because he went on to make several other works after this one.

“Although Van Gogh wanted his wheatfields under stormy skies to express sadness and extreme loneliness,” some experts think he also wanted to show a healthy and fortifying countryside.

Balance of Nature

“On the old door creepers spring,
And a stillness reigns in the air unstirred by the beat of a wild bird’s wing.
Those who see believe the old house grieves with the grief of a sentient thing.”
Paraphrased from The Deserted Homestead By Edward Dyson