West coast, Ireland

Exploring the west coast of Ireland — August 2014. 

“My heart is quite calm right now. I will go back.” — James Joyce

(All photographs above were taken with a Hasselblad 503cw and a Carl Zeiss Planar T* 2.8/80 lens on Kodak Portra 400. Film was processed and scanned at Richard Photo Lab in California.)

Where is the pause button?

My oldest daughter is going into 10th grade. School starts next week in our town.

Over the summer her AP world history teacher assigned over 300 pages of reading and a lengthy writing assignment. Her english and biology teacher also assigned summer reading. She has a test during the first week at school. 

My other daughter who is 12 had summer work and so did my 8 year old son.

I was an active kid growing up. But I also had free time. I could attend school, play sports and have time to teach myself guitar and play in an awful cover punk band. I hung out with my friends and spent time hacking away on my BMX bike or finding new wheels for my skateboard.

It felt like I had all the time in the world.

It’s fairly obvious my kids are all smarter than me. They certainly get better grades than I did and have a better work ethic. They are also better athletes. Mostly I’m proud they are kind and love each other (even if they want to kill each other and me from time to time). 

But I feel like there is tendency to push these kids well beyond what’s necessary and they are racing against the clock.

I need to figure out ways to hit the pause button. Or at least find it. 

“You want to meet some folks for dinner you never met before in person on our vacation? Okay”

That was Lauren’s response when I suggested meeting Johnny and Rebecca Patience during our trip to Ireland.

I first came upon Johnny and Rebecca through their blogs (his/hers) when I was researching medium format film photography. It was clear they were both exceedingly talented but also kind with their time helping other photographers. I started following them on twitter (his/hers) and they followed me back and we started to connect.

When we met for dinner at a restaurant in Cork a few weeks ago it was like sitting down with old friends. There was so much familiarity & it was so great to exchange stories, laughs and dreams.

I’m grateful that my new friends Johnny and Rebecca are as kind in person as they are online.

I took this quick snap that wasn’t very good by any technical measure which is slightly embarrassing given the company — but a warm reminder of a wonderful evening.

ps: oh and by the way today is Rebecca’s birthday. Happy birthday Rebecca! 

Rabias, Spain

Rabias, Spain. August 2014.

One of my favorite memories from our trip was this super chill day where just hung out at the beach. Lauren spotted it on a map and we took a chance and drove over. I think there were less than 20people on the beach that day.

(All photographs above were taken with a Hasselblad 503cw and a Carl Zeiss Planar T* 2.8/80 lens on Kodak Portra 400. Film was processed and scanned at Richard Photo Lab in California.)

Galway, Ireland

Cong & Galway, Ireland. August 2014.

We spent the last few days visiting & exploring County Galway and County Mayo. One of the best meals we had during our stay in Ireland was definitely at Kai Cafe & Restaurant which is located in Galway’s West End. The food, scene, location, artisan beers and owners David and Jessica are wonderful.

Today we are driving back to Dublin for one night and then will make our return for Boston.

Our summer getaway is coming to an end.