Eyes Open Ireland

This weeks Eyes Open Ireland are from Linda , Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim

I started taking photographs in December 2008 after receiving a digital camera as a gift. I started in a small way, taking pictures in the back garden to get used to the camera, the settings and really just to practice.

Eighteen months later, I still spend some time every day taking pictures in the back garden – preferably in dry weather, but I have been out in rain and snow! I spend this time because it’s a good way to wind down after work, but mainly because every day I can find something different.
It’s one of the reasons that I love taking photographs. You look around you at everything and see things that previously would have been missed completely.

I am not an avid gardener, but the garden is quite well established and there are a few lovely wild corners that always hold a surprise. The different stages that the plants go through have become a source of wonder to me and I revisit them frequently to try to document them.

The insects and bees that I would have been avoiding in the past are now followed as closely as possible. Birds, snails, my cat Alex – whatever turns up I’ll try to get a picture.

Rest assured that I do actually leave the garden sometimes and photograph many other places and other things! But the garden is still a source of real inspiration, a place where, by concentrating on what I’m photographing, I can slow down and relax.

It’s a place of peace.

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