Last week I went on a trip to Limerick. It was a quick visit and after seeing three places and having some good food we found ourselves on the way back home. Aside from two relaxing days what I really took away from this trip was lessons in film photography, the fragility of it, but also it’s resilience.
Back when Kodak discontinued BW400CN I purchased a few rolls with a bulk discount, but since learning to develop my own film I’ve found it being left on the shelf and so in order to use up my supply, it’s all I took to Limerick. When I got back I had to leave it into a new lab and the results weren’t great. I got a call off them asking if the film had been through an x ray machine and when I went to see it there was streaks galore and it was almost black in places. I don’t think it was entirely their fault, but I don’t think it was entirely the film either. My holiday memories were now severely damaged negatives, I’ve spent hours in photshop and thanks to that and my scanner I’ve managed to get a few useable images to accompany the text for my blog.
Rated the number one thing to do in Limerick, St. John’s Castle is a 13th Century Castle sitting on the banks of the Shannon just North of the city centre. The tour around it starts in the visitor centre where you can learn all about medieval life as well as the castle itself, following that you can explore the castle and it’s many towers. We spent a few hours wandering around and in particular enjoying the views of the city and the Shannon from the top.
St Mary’s Cathedral was Google’s second highest suggestion for things to do in Limerick and while nice to walk around I wouldn’t be raving about it. There’s a €4 suggested donation for entry but expect to be made pay the €4 by a lady at the door. All in all we spent about ten minutes walking around, most of which was setting up to take photos and there’s only really one I got that’s useable…
We spent all of our second day in Limerick, in Clare… Bunratty Castle and Folk Park is a huge tourist park in Co. Clare just half an hour from Limerick, it has a 15th Century castle on the site as well as many rebuilt old houses and shops so you can explore the Ireland of old! We spent hours there wandering around and the highlight for me had to be the scones in the Tea Room, you have to get a scone there if you visit!!
Overall I had a good two days but I wasn’t a fan of Limerick City, the castle and in particular the Folk Park were very enjoyable but the city itself doesn’t have the greatest feeling to it, I can’t see myself going back to be honest. The thing I took away most from this trip is the perils of shooting film and the importance of having a good lab to develop your photos. On saying that it’s still an amazing medium, when digital photos corrupt they’re gone for good whereas with my negatives I was still able to get a few useable shots from them, it really is a remarkable medium.
Colin Tonge 
2 thoughts on “Limerick – Lessons in photography”