From the back it looked normal enough – it was only as I walked past it I realised it was all burned out.

I don’t know how much longer it will be there – I’ve an impression that people are going to want to salvage it.

Outside Carlingford, County Louth on one side

Looks like it’s been there a while. I’m not much cop at climbing around things at the moment – ironically – so I didn’t go down to do the superwide that I’m thinking about. I may need to go back there.

Because I was in Bettystown first, I was a bit later getting to Balbriggan than was probably healthy. It didn’t matter, however, because I found quite a few things to interest me…there are three trawlers of interest, and one sailing boat. One of the trawlers is so old and decrepit, it is so covered in algae and in such a rotting state that actually, I almost missed it. It just fades into the port wall.

It’s a little like that clip out of Pirates of the Caribbean, part 2, where Will’s Dad just walks out of the ship wall because he’s become one with the ship. This boat is almost one with the port wall. That being said, once I found it, it was going to be one of the easier ones to photograph because it was near the camera and near where I was going to be shooting an off camera flash at it.

This was one of the last photographs I shot, and I think it was a 13 second exposure with a single flash shot from front left hand side, off camera. The nerd in me has to say these things.

I didn’t have a tripod so the camera rested on the camera bag. This meant in terms of angle adjustment I didn’t have a lot to play with.

I like the photograph, however, and would be tempted to give it another shot, maybe tomorrow if I am out on time and have got a tripod.

The other shot which I like, although again, it needs a little more thought for the future was the yacht.

I like this. I also think that on a still evening like this, there’s room to play.

The tide was half out while I was there, so in theory, with a pair of disposable waders (no one would want to keep them after wearing them once), you could access lower angles with the camera.

Balbriggan Harbour is full of the most disgusting looking gunk. I really didn’t have any wish to get any closer to it than almost falling in.

Anyway, I spent some time on the beach and the tide was about mid-level I guess. I couldn’t see the wreck anywhere which would suggest to me it’s a far distance down the beach and involved a walk which I just couldn’t do today. Although I took a few photographs not of wrecks, it was a bit disappointing, because I would like to have looked at it and got a feel for what I want to do with that wreck.

All was not lost though; I stopped in Balbriggan on the way home.

This is probably the picture that started it off.

I used to spend a lot of time walking in Howth County Dublin and could always see this thing sticking up out of the water. I think it’s gone now – I haven’t seen it in ages and ages. I think it’s the remnants of a trawler that ran aground years and years ago.

The photograph is an old one – I think I took it about 6 years ago and for a long time, it was one of my favourites. I like the reflections quite a lot.It was take with a film camera and lately scanned. For me it’s amazing how much noise you can see in film photographs now – they tend to be a good bit softer than some of the digital stuff. I don’t know if that’s really good or not.

Anyway, when I started the project, I especially want this to go into it.

These two photographs caught my interest. I’m looking at both of them and I am trying to figure out how I might reduce them. I guess I’ll be looking for a place with a minimal amount of light pollution and from what I can see, the flashes were placed inside the wreck on at least one of the shots. I like the effect of playing with the different coloured gels as well. I have a rough idea of how to do this and I have a full set of gels apart from the one which is part melted onto my flash.

Anyway this one is from PhotoInference and this one is from victorvonsalza. The ship itself is located in Oregon from what I can see.

One of the points which has been made to me is that there are a lot of ugly wrecked boats out there. I’m looking for a way to make them look beautiful as far as possible.

Treasa, if you get time head down to Bantry bay and Castletownbere, there are 4 good wrecks that I can think of just off the top of my head. There is a spanish trawler on a small island with a ligthouse called Roncarrigicmor, then on the way into Castletownbere (CTB) on left before the golf course there is another old wooden trawler in a small harbour which rotten down to its ribs. Then across the bay on the Bere Island side there is a half submerged industrial trawler called the Bardinea Reefer which caught fire in the late 70′s, plenty of it exposed on a low tide. Carry on to the far side of CTB, out to Dunboy Castle and there is another rotten trawler in the small harbour. Worth the trip.

via Grizzly Man on the property pin

They’re only properly visible at low tide and the train line blocks the view from Great Island. It IS possible to get out there on foot – if you’re adventurous! The circular building just to the right is a Martello Tower, apparently of some note:
There are seven Martello Towers in the vicinity of Cork Harbour. During the 19th century Fenian uprising, the famous Captain Mackey briefly captured and held the Monning Martello tower near Fota island in Cork Harbour; this tower is believed to have been the only one ever captured.

This is what I have so far.

A lot of people have influenced me over the years of whom a key one is Philippe Plisson. He took some photographs of the boat graveyards in Brittany that I found particularly interesting – I wanted to say inspiring there but it’s a bit kitsch at this stage. Boats tend to catch my eye anyway.

This photograph was taken in Skerries, north County Dublin some years ago. The harbour has since been cleaned up a lot – it’s a working harbour anyway, in the same way that Howth is. But I am sure it is not the only harbour with abandoned boats on it.

While looking for something to do of a long weekend I decided to see if I could find another abandoned boat that I knew about, on a beach in Donegal somewhere. While looking for information on it, it occurred to me that there might be quite a few old, dead and abandoned boats around the place.

I have a lot of projects, of which another involves lighthouses. I grew up away from the sea, so I don’t understand why I have some affinity for it.

A lot of people have started helping me with this; the people on boards.ie photography, the people on kitesurfing.ie and the people on thepropertypin.com. A few of my friends are also coming in with information. I hope to get a lot of this done through the summer, as far as possible.