Here you can check out my adventures with my cameras, either with my Canon 77D, Canon M10 or DJI Mavic Air. In Shots no.XX you can see pictures from places that I went to visit and there is some information about those places. In the Solo Shots you can see random pictures that I captured in a moment when I was lucky enough to have a camera with me.
Photos and video produced at Ticknock Forest, Dublin, Ireland in December 2019 withLumix G9 with Leica lens 12-60mm, Canon 77D with Canon lens 50mm f/1.8 and DJI Mavic Air.
A new place that I discovered in Dublin, Ticknock Forest at the Dublin Mountains. I heard about this place maybe 6 months ago but never had a chance to go there. This time, my motivation was to do the Tchikita Christmas Video. Basically is the video at the start of this post. If you follow me on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/vitor_mc_oliveira/) you probably saw my Tchikita videos where I dance that music in a place with a nice view (https://www.instagram.com/p/B11l2G2A1Uu/, https://www.instagram.com/p/B0gjQ1rgt8h/).
It was a very cold day in December, late afternoon, the sun was nearly setting down so it was the perfect time to shoot the video. My idea was to shoot only the video but the landscape surrounding me was so, so, so beautiful that I had to take a few photos. Thank God because that gave me the motivation to create some content for the blog.
Ticknock is located in the Dublin Mountains, has good access with carpark if you are driving and the area is also served by the Dublin Bus 44B. Only about a half-hour from Dublin City Centre. Ticknock offers 10km of mountain and forest walks with an amazing view over Dublin City, Dublin Bay, Bray Head and the Wicklow Mountains. The park has mountain bike trails and a shop where you can also rent your bike and equipment with a little coffee shop! There are several marked trails and when you are tired you can stop for a picnic! This visit was very quick but was enough to make me plan the next visit! I will do the Fairy Castle Loop trail and I promise many photos!
See you in 2020 with many more adventures!
Have a happy Christmas and a wonderful 2020!
P.S.: Thank you to Marta who was a crucial help to produce the video!
Shot no.41 (Canon EOS 77D with diferent lenses and DJI Mavic Air)
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Photos taken at the Hellfire Club, Mountpelier Hill, Co. Dublin, Ireland in October 2018.
Definetely one of the posts that gave me more pleasure to create and that is to do with the experience of hiking in such a beautiful place! Like I used to say, I was blessed with the weather on my second and third visit. Yes, because the first visit was a few days after the blizzard (March 2018) that covered the whole country under a deep layer of snow as you can see in the 4th picture.
The other pictures and the video were made on a beautiful autumn morning!
Now, let's talk about this place! The first time I heard about this place, it was in a vlog of a portuguese blogger called Wuant. He came to Dublin to watch a concert and decided to do this tour at night to the Hellfire Club, which is believed to be haunted. So, since that day I wanted to visit this place.
After some Google investigation, I discovered that the Hellfire Club was built in the 18th century by William Connolly where it was a stone age tomb which he destroyed during the construction of this building as a hunting lodge. So, people believe that that fact is te reason the place is cursed. After Connolly's death the place was sold and turned into a Hellfire Club. Literally, a club for rich gentlemen to meet and have some amoral behavior together with alcohol, luxury and occult practices with demoniac demonstrations. There are several tales about spirits, the devil and poltergeists but there is nothing better than to book a night tour to the Hellfire Club and witness that by yourself!
I haven't been there at night but I was there completely by myself inside the building and didn't hear a thing.
The building is horrendous, extremely ugly but has a unique location, in a mountain that is 383m in height, southwest of Dublin with an astonoshing view over Dublin and Dublin Bay. But not only the view from the top of the hill is beautiful, the walk towards the top is absolutely breath taking, see for yourself in the short video that I made.
If you liked the photos and video on this post, stay tuned because in a few days I will release a video from the top of the hill and you will understand totally why this place deserves a visit! So please, don't forget to subscribe my YouTube Channel! ;)
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Fotos tiradas no Hellfire Club, Mountpelier Hill, Co. Dublin, Irlanda, em Outubro de 2018.
Definitivamente, um dos posts que me deu mais prazer criar e tudo por causa da experiência que é de fazer uma caminhada tão bela pelo meio da natureza! Como eu costumo dizer, eu fui abençoado com o tempo na minha segunda e terceira visita. Sim, porque a primeira visita foi alguns dias depois da nevasca/nevão (Março de 2018) que cobriu todo o país sob uma camada profunda de neve, como você pode ver na quarta foto.
As outras fotos e o vídeo foram feitos em uma bela manhã de Outono!
Agora vamos falar sobre esse lugar! A primeira vez que ouvi falar deste lugar, foi num vlog de um blogger português chamado Wuant. Ele veio a Dublin para assistir a um concerto e decidiu fazer essa tour nocturna no Hellfire Club, que se acredita ser assombrado. Então, desde aquele dia eu queria visitar este lugar.
Depois de uma investigação no Google, descobri que o Hellfire Club foi construído no século 18 por William Connolly, onde era uma tumba da Idade da Pedra que ele destruiu durante a construção deste edifício como um abrigo de caça. As pessoas acreditam que esse facto fez com que o lugar fosse amaldiçoado. Após a morte de Connolly, o local foi vendido e transformado em um Hellfire Club. Literalmente, um clube para cavalheiros ricos conviverem e ter comportamentos amorais em conjunto com álcool, luxúria e práticas ocultas com demonstrações demoníacas. Há vários contos sobre espíritos, o diabo e poltergeists mas não há nada melhor que você fazer uma excursão nocturna e testemunhar isso pessoalmente!
Eu nunca estive lá de noite, mas eu já lá estive completamente sozinho dentro do edifício e não ouvi nada.
O edifício é horrendo, extremamente feio, mas tem uma localização única, em uma montanha com 383m de altura, a sudoeste de Dublin, com uma vista surpreendente sobre Dublin e a sua baía. Mas não apenas a vista do topo da colina é linda, a caminhada em direcção ao topo é absolutamente de tirar o fôlego, veja você mesmo no pequeno vídeo que eu fiz.
Se você gostou das fotos e do vídeo deste post, fique ligado pois daqui a alguns dias eu vou lançar um vídeo do topo da colina e você vai entender porquê esse lugar merece uma visita! Então, por favor, não se esqueça de se inscrever no meu canal do YouTube! ;)
Footage captured with DJI Mavic Air and GoPro Hero 4 Silver in Killiney Hill, Co. Dublin.
After the first video in Slane, it didn't take long until I wanted to make another one... this video making thing is very addictive!
This time I ended up going to Killiney Hill and the reason was very simple. I had some footage made last year for when I was shooting the video for Coinaphoto (which you can see here) so, I thought I would just need some drone footage to make the video. I was wrong, very wrong!!! I was blessed with the weather so once I started flying the drone, I wanted footage from this angle, that angle, the other angle and at some stage the three batteries were completely empty! However, I was craving for more footage so I wasted my GoPro battery hoping that I would get some nice shots.
I was so happy with the final result! This is only my second video but I can see some improvements myself from the first video (WTL Video 1).
This video was made in a place where I had taken photos before. Killiney Hill is such an amazing place, surrounded by the sea and the mountains. Also, you can see Dublin at the north side and Wicklow at the south side. I had to go there twice, I took so many photos that I split the post in two, Shot no.23-part I and Shot no.23-part II.
Please check the photos and enjoy the video and if you really like it, subscribe to my YouTube channel.
Shot no.30 (Canon EOS M10 with lens Canon EF-M 15-45mm, Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 and Canon EF 75-300mm) EN Photos taken at Blessington Lakes, Blessington, Co. Wicklow in December 2017. If you visited this blog before you probably noticed that I constantly blame the weather if the photos are not great. One of those days I decided to see if I could use the bad weather and poor light to take good photos. So this day started with a regular visit to the gym with my friends. When I was bringing them home I could see the fog hiding at the top of Dublin mountains so, immediately, I wanted to go there for a blog mission however, it was already afternoon so there was not much more hours of daylight. Decided to drive to Blessington and hope that area of the lake and mountains was envolved in mist. I was dead right!!! I don't know the area very well and time for exploring it was non existent. I knew this lake resort called Avon Rí because a few years ago I had my first Christmas party in Ireland in there. Parked there and went to the back of the resort where there is a passage to the lakeshore but of course it was closed by a gate... No hassle, jumped the gate and enjoyed 1h of frozen conditions for photography! To make it more extreme, decided to build that beautiful construction with stones in the cold water to use as foreground. After that hour couldn't cope anymore with my running nose and numb hands and went to the resort's restaurant to have some food and to get warm! If you go there you must try their pizza, it is delicious! It was time to go back home but tried an alternative route and just by luck found this monument called Threecastles Tower. It was pouring raining but still managed to take a few pictures! That was my adventure through Blessington lands! I hope my "bad weather photography experience" is approved by you! ;)
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Fotos tiradas em Blessington Lakes, Blessington, Co. Wicklow em Dezembro de 2017.
Se já visitou este blog antes então, talvez tenha percebido que eu culpo constantemente o clima se as fotos não são perfeitas. Um dia decidi ver se eu saberia como usar às más condições atmosféricas e a pouca luz para tirar boas fotos.
Então, esse dia começou com uma visita regular ao ginásio com meus amigos. Quando eu estava a levá-los a casa, dava para ver o nevoeiro escondendo o topo das montanhas de Dublin, então, imediatamente, eu quis ir numa "blog mission" no entanto, já era tarde, por isso já não havia muitas horas de luz pela frente. Decidi ir até Blessington na esperança de que a área do lago e as montanhas estivessem envolvidas em névoa. E estava certo!!!
Não conhecia a área muito bem e o tempo para explorar era muito pouco. Conhecia um resort no lago chamado Avon Rí porque, há alguns anos atrás, eu tive a minha primeira festa de Natal na Irlanda lá.
Estacionei e fui até à parte de trás do resort onde tem uma passagem para o lago mas, é claro que o portão estava fechado... Sem problemas, pulei o portão e desfrutei de 1h de condições gélidas para a fotografia! Para tornar a experiência mais extrema, decidi construir essa bela estrutura com pedras na água fria para usar como primeiro plano.
A determinado momento, não consegui mais lidar com o nariz pingando e as mãos entorpecidas e fui ao restaurante do resort para comer e me aquecer! Se você for lá, tem que provar uma pizza, é deliciosa!
Depois de comer, chegou a hora de voltar para casa mas, tentei uma rota alternativa e, apenas por sorte, encontrei este monumento chamado "Threecastles Tower". Estava chovendo, mas ainda conseguiu tirar algumas fotos!
Essa foi a minha aventura por terras de Blessington! Espero que a minha "experiência na fotografia do tempo ruim" seja aprovada por você! ;)
Shot no.25 (Canon EOS M10 with lens Canon EF-M 15-45mm and Canon EF 75-300mm, Huwaei Mate 9)
Photos taken at Palácio da Pena, Sintra, Lisbon District in October 2017.
Quick trip to Lisbon to watch Benfica for the Champions League and on the following day, photo mission for the blog. Palácio da Pena in Sintra was the chosen place. I was meant to wake up at 8.30am and go early, of course that didn't happen! Woke up at about 9.45am, got ready very slowly, had a huge breakfast at the hotel (very slowly again), planned to get the train from Lisbon to Sintra but I was so lazy that I had to call an Uber to pick me up at the hotel door and drop me at the palace entrance. My laziness was probably due to the rain in Lisbon but fortunately, in Sintra, the rain only arrived in the evening.
Sintra is a very beautiful village, very posh, just about 30 minutes driving from Lisbon. Sintra was always a very important town in Portuguese history, from Roman times to modern history, that town has a castle from medieval times, several palaces, extravagant houses and beautiful gardens. The most important one is Palácio da Pena which was built in 1836 on the top of a mountain at 476m high and surrounded by forest that is part of Parque da Pena. From the start it was the favorite residence of Portuguese Royal Family until the end of monarchy in 1910. It's a beautiful piece of architecture visited by hundreds of thousands of people per year. I should have thought about that better because I don't really like to photograph crowded places and that palace was crowded (that is my excuse for so little photos and in none of them you can see the ground). Inside the palace the light wasn't the best, it was crowded and tripods weren't alowed so there is only one photo in this post from the chapel. The palace is the second highest place in those mountains so you have a great 360º view. Spent the whole afternoon shooting and in the evening (when the clouds started getting heavier) went down town to try Travesseiros de Sintra and Queijadas de Sintra, two typical pastries and they are just delicious!
One day in Sintra is not enough! There is several palaces to visit and the beach is not too far so it's a perfect spot for holidays, not far from the capital but not that busy! Certainly I'll visit it again!
Shot no.24 (Canon EOS M10 with lens Canon EF-M 15-45mm and Canon EF 75-300mm)
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Photos taken at Powerscourt Waterfall, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow in September 2017.
Monday morning, a beautiful Autumn day that started with a visit to the gym with some friends and then we went South to find a spot to photograph. I thought about many places but I decided to go somewhere that wasn't too far. One of my first posts on this blog was about Powerscourt gardens (Shot no.1 and Shot no.7) which I visited in May. At that time I didn't have the opportunity to visit the waterfall so I said that I would have to do another visit someday. So, four months later that day had arrived!
When we left the gym we hit the road straight away so after 30min we got hungry so first we stopped in Powerscourt House to have lunch. It was expensive but delicious, worth every cent and having tasty food with that view is priceless! Also had a chance to give a little taste of Powersourt Gardens to my friends... I believe they might want to visit it at some stage, they were very impressed!
After that, driving about 10 minutes on countryside roads (which made me want to stop the car to take photos but the roads were so narrow that I couldn't do it and of course we were running out of time), we arrived to the waterfall. You enter with your car and at the entrance you have to pay about 6€/person then, already inside the premises, you still have to drive for another 3min until you get to the car park. There you have facilities like toilets and a kiosk where you can buy food and tables for picnic and barbecues. Also there is a playground for kids. All this is surrounded by mountains and trees painted with Irish green, astonishing!
The waterfall is impressive with it's 121m height, which is Ireland's hightest waterfall. There is a road for people drive to very close to the waterfall if someone has mobility limitations, the only problem is that the cars don't fit well in the photos!
If you ever get enough of watching the waterfall you have trails for hiking. I didn't have time for hiking because obviously I spent nearly 2h photographing.
I was a little disappointed with myself because I didn't plan this mission very well. I went in the afternoon, I was in a valley surrounded by mountains and high trees which reduced my hours of light but then, just to make it worse, the sun set just behind the waterfall so all my pictures were blinded by the sunlight and the sky looked white instead of blue in some photos. However, on the upside, I had to work way more with the manual settings on my camera which made me learn a lot!
Don't forget to visit Powerscourt House & Gardens and Waterfall if you come to Dublin, there is many bus tours from the City Centre.
Hope you enjoy my shots!
PT Fotos tiradas em Powerscourt Waterfall, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow em Setembro de 2017. Segunda-feira de manhã, um lindo dia de Outono que começou com uma visita ao ginásio com alguns amigos e depois fomos em direcção ao sul para encontrar um lugar para fotografar. Pensei em muitos lugares, mas decidi ir a um que não fosse muito longe. Um dos meus primeiros posts neste blog foi sobre Powerscourt Gardens (Shot no.1 e Shot no.7) que visitei em maio. Dessa vez, eu não tive a oportunidade de visitar a cascata. Ficou decidido que eu teria que fazer outra visita algum dia. Então, quatro meses depois, esse dia chegou! Quando saímos do ginásio, metemo-nos na estrada de imediato, depois de 30min ficamos com fome por isso, primeiro nós parámos em Powerscourt House para almoçar. Era caro, mas delicioso, valia a pena cada cêntimo e, com comida saborosa, aquela vista não tinha preço! Também tive a chance de dar a conhecer um pouco de Powersourt Gardens aos meus amigos ... Eu acredito que vão querer visitá-lo no futuro pois ficaram muito impressionados! Depois disso, conduzímos cerca de 10 minutos em estradas secundárias (o que me fez querer parar o carro para tirar fotos, mas as estradas eram tão estreitas que não conseguiria fazê-lo e, claro, ficaríamos sem tempo), chegámos à cascata. Você entra com o seu carro e na entrada, tem que pagar cerca de 6 € / pessoa, então, já dentro das instalações, você ainda tem que conduzir por mais 3 minutos até chegar ao parque de estacionamento. Lá você tem instalações como casas de banho e um quiosque onde você pode comprar comida e mesas para piquenique e churrascos. Também há um parque infantil para crianças. Tudo isso é cercado por montanhas e árvores pintadas com verde irlandês, surpreendentes! A cascata é impressionante com uma altura de 121m, é a maior queda de água da Irlanda. Há uma estrada para as pessoas conduzirem até muito perto da cascata no caso de alguém com limitações de mobilidade, o único problema é que os carros não encaixam bem nas fotos! Se você já tiver observado suficientemente a cascata, sempre tem a opção de fazer as trilhas para caminhadas. Não tive tempo para fazer caminhadas porque, obviamente, passei quase 2h fotografando. Fiquei um pouco desapontado comigo mesmo porque não planeei esta missão muito bem. Eu fui de tarde, eu estava num vale cercado por montanhas e árvores altas que reduziu bastante as minhas horas de luz mas então, para piorar, o sol estava bem por tráz da cascata, então a claridade tornou o céu branco em vez de azul. No entanto, o lado positivo é que eu tive que trabalhar muito mais com as configurações manuais na minha câmara, o que me fez aprender muito! Não se esqueça de visitar Powerscourt House & Gardens e Waterfall se você vier a Dublin, há muitas excursões de autocarro desde o centro de Dublin.
Shot no.23 - part II (Canon EOS M10 with lens Canon EF-M 15-45mm and Canon EF 75-300mm)
Photos taken at Killiney Hill, Co. Dublin, Ireland in September 2017.
So exactly one week later, another Sunday, morning time was terrible for photography but the afternoon and evening were just golden! Drove all the way back to Killiney Hill 100% sure that it would be a day for good shots and I don't think I was wrong. The sky was blue but still with some clouds so didn't make the background so boring.
This time I managed to photograph what I had planned when I went on the first visit.
To reach this monument you need to do a little hike, very easy!
That obelisk was built in 1742 and has been restored several times after that and still knows how to look well in a photo! The pyramid was built in 1852 at the edge of Killiney Hill and it was a great spot for me to put my tripod on the top of and take several pictures of Co. Dublin, Dalkey Island and Co. Wicklow... just had to turn around! Sea and mountains so close, just undescribable!
Killiney Hill Park is a great place to spend time, you can hike, mountain climb, play sports or just chill! It includes Killiney Hill and Dalkey Hill, just a few minutes away from Dún Laoghoire.
I read somewhere that there is many famous people living in Killiney and Dalkey like U2's Bono and The Edge. Who knows if you will find Bono on a hike around the hills?
