Ireland 2023 – The First Irish Tour(s)

Highlights From This Trip

• 11 Days
• ~2000 miles driven
• 43 Locations Photographed
• ~800 photographs
• One trip, turned into three!
• Lots of abandoned schools and houses
• Finally photographed an iron lung!

“How about a little trip to Ireland?”. A casual remark I made to a friend while photographing an old quarry in Wales. An enthusiastic yes, and the wheels were set in motion. One caveat; the trip would need to happen soon, as a couple of the items high on the hit list were in imminent danger of disappearing.

One trip turned into two, with only a couple of weeks between. Later in the year, a third trip. I think this is a first for me, but there was a very good reason for this. It has something to do with…

…My strange iron lung obsession

The USA is the place to find iron lungs, a coffin-shaped chamber that encloses most of a person’s body and varies air pressure in this enclosed space to “breathe” for the person inside. They are used for patients who are unable to breathe for themselves due to muscle control issues, often as a result of polio. Sadly, I didn’t get to see any during my 2018 USA Tour.

However, there is one tucked away in some old hospital buildings in Ireland! A little closer for me to visit than another jaunt across the pond (although this is on the cards for next year, maybe!). Because old iron lungs in abandoned hospitals are rare, photographing one is something that I have been sort of obsessed with for a while. Now that I finally have a ridiculous amount of photos of this specific Irish example, happy days!

I can think of a couple of people who will be very pleased that they won’t have to hear my iron lung rants again!

Some wonderful abandoned Irish schools

I amassed quite a collection of abandoned schools leading up to this trip, which made for some interesting little route fillers along the road trip route. Many were empty, and although often brightly painted, they were not very photogenic. However, several of them still had desks inside! Add in natural decay and a few plants, and my camera cards (and film rolls) were soon filling up with many photos.

My favourite was a double-classroom school filled with desks, as well as blackboards and a few cupboards. The doors and exterior also had a style reminiscent of Art Deco, although the school is a little younger than this. A close second favourite was actually an unexpected roadside find! This was a very decaying school with a collapsing roof, which was filled with ferns and (bizarrely) a lot of discarded fishing gear! Next door was a little schoolmaster’s house, which contained an old organ (a musical one, not the squishy body part variety!)

Cute abandoned houses and cottages of Ireland

It seems like a while since I photographed a cute abandoned house, but these are always something I enjoy! A wonderful cottage with a green stove and a quaint red-doored house were highlights. As a little lucky bonus, a roadside find provided a quick, unexpected exploration and a few interesting shots!

A big blue-domed dance hall

What a beautiful blue! It closely matches my hair colour!

I had been wanting to visit this location for a while, so it felt amazing to finally photograph it. Spurred on by the news that demolition has been approved, this was one of the locations that prompted the speedy decision to visit Ireland.

A perfect opportunity for a little selfie as well.

Testing out other 35mm film stocks & shutter release cable

On the second and third Ireland trips, I tried out another couple of 35mm film stocks! I am very much enjoying experimenting with various films as I continue my analogue journey. For the first trip, I finished off the roll of Ilford HP5 Plus that was still locked inside my camera from my recent Poland road trip. After finishing this off, I decided to switch from ISO 400 films to something a little slower.

On the second and third Ireland trips, I tried out another couple of 35mm film stocks! I am very much enjoying experimenting with various films as I continue my analogue journey. For the first trip, I finished off the roll of Ilford HP5 Plus that was still locked inside my camera from my recent Poland road trip. After finishing this off, I decided to switch from ISO 400 films to something a little slower.

Having finally purchased a shutter cable, I was ready to try some longer exposures. I have already had some good results with Kentmere Pan 400, so I decided to give slower films a try. Longer exposures and slower film will likely be the direction I am heading in. Now that I am feeling more confident with film photography, it seems like a good time to start!

Many of the places I photograph are too dark for 400 speed film, often even opening up to f2 or f2.8 will yield very underexposed shots with the slowest shutter speed of 1/30 on my Zenit E. The Kentmere Pan 100 worked very well on my second Ireland; I was happily snapping f8/f11 on my tripod-mounted 1970s camera while counting the seconds and clicking my new shutter cable. On the third trip I turned to colour, loading some Kodak Gold and Kodak ColorPlus.

More behind-the-scenes photos from my Ireland 2023 Spring Road Trip(s)

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this road trip blog! Here are the rest of the behind-the-scenes snaps and preview photos from this trip, see you next time <3.