Frosty White Strand

   A trip to Ireland with 5 unlikely high school classmates was in the planning stages for nearly two years. Photography is never far from my heart, over time those 4 classmates would silently take their own place in my heart. So, the Ireland adventure would become a balancing act to not let my passion for photography cloud this new found bond, with respect to the photography, quite the opposite happened…a Story for another time !

    I researched many AirBnB locations in northern Ireland, specifically Malin Head. The location would be close to an image that I wanted most from my trip to Ireland. The rental property was on the ocean, close to two Pubs and far from city ground lights in the hopes of seeing the Aurora Borealis, all the boxes were checked. The image I was hopeful for proved to be the most harrowing experience of the trip, but alas, that image will be shared in a future Story Behind. The rental property is seen below, with this month’s image made directly in front of the property.

Clocha Dubh, White Strand

  Well written stories, so I’ve researched, most times have three parts, an opening paragraph to generate interest and invite the reader to learn more. A middle component detailing the bulk of the story, and an ending short summary, be it a whimsical closing line or a more profound thought giving reason for the story in the first place. This Story Behind will have two mid-story components. The first to provide context surrounding the 5 principle characters who traveled to the western coastal region of Ireland, aka The Wild Atlantic Way ! The second detailing the evolution of this month’s featured photograph which ended up an unintended mistake. The opening image was only meant to be supportive of the beginning of an epic trip with 5 high school classmates. The unexpected processing error lead to the opening image, and is at least worthy of a short explanation found in part Two.

   The 5 classmates initial encounter began back in the 60’s and ended with a 1970 high school graduation. Years later my reconnection was a result of social media. Terry’s daughter, and now granddaughters live in central CT. Terry reached out on FaceBook and invited me for a meetup as he passed through town to visit his grandkids. After a few beers at Chuck’s Terry heads off to the restroom while I put a little blurb on FaceBook that I was hanging out with Terry. Betty happens to be driving home from a weekend party and sees my FaceBook post and tells her husband, “I’m gonna go surprise those guys”. This photo is of Betty’s 2016 surprise visit in our hometown Chuck’s Steak House.

Chuck’s 7/23/2016

    Neither Betty or I had seen Terry in 46 yrs and I only saw Betty one time at a local event since graduation. Other ’70 grads were regularly getting together and soon a 50th Class of 1970 Reunion was gaining traction. That reunion would draw me into those regular gatherings. The 2020 class reunion was postponed not once but twice because of COVID and finally took place in June 2022. Darlene had lost her husband of 45 yrs. in the summer of 2021 and was not planning on coming East for the reunion. Thankfully, Darlene’s son convinced her to make the trip back for the Reunion and renew old friendships in June of ’22.

    Terry was raised in a traditional Irish family with a passion for Irish music. By 2023 with a vast knowledge of Irish folk music Terry had been to Ireland 22 times where he’d met well known Irish musicians and on many occasions sat in singing with them in various Irish Pubs. Terry plays a beautiful guitar with a commanding baritone voice. He can easily take-over a Pub, we all bore witness to his command of the room as he performed 6 – 7 times while we were in Ireland. Terry regularly performs Irish music at local bars in Naples FL and summertimes on Cape Cod having homes in each locale. At one of the ’70 gatherings Terry suggested a trip to Ireland for all. Recently my place in photography had shifted to a handheld camera making travel to far off places feasible. Terry knew the Ireland countryside as if he were born there and would a more intimate dive into Ireland’s culture and landscape. Before the end of that night in late 2023 we five pushed our chips to the center of the table and never wavered for the next 22 months. 

    We each have grown children, now raising similar families allowing the freedoms that we each enjoy today. Surely the close families we each have raised is the subliminal bond that would draw us together. An interesting side bar, Terry, Betty and Darlene grew up only houses apart in the Wright Acres section of RH and attended a different elementary school. Kathy and Steve grew up across town closer to the CT River, at the time it seemed like another country until we all came together in one high school. For the most part we were Seniors when we last saw one another until we reconnected as an infinitely wiser version of a Senior.

    We all met in Boston on September 17, 2025 and flew into Shannon, Ireland for the next two weeks. On the ground less than 6 hours we stopped @ Sean’s Bar, the oldest bar in Ireland for an 11am pint…see photo below to put faces with our names. Two men (Terry left side, Steve right side) and three woman would make up what would become affectionately known as IrishEyes. Photo Left > Right, Betty, Darlene and Kathy. We all walked, likely ran out of high school in June of 1970 and went our separate ways. I stayed local, married in 1974 @ 22 yrs old and soon began a family. Terry enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1969 prior to graduation and began serving 5 years active duty overseas in September 1970. He remained in the Reserves for a total commitment of 31 yrs. Betty married in 1973 and began raising her family in New Britain, only 15 minutes from where she grew up. Kathy moved to Lake Tahoe, NV in 1972 raising her only daughter and would return to the area permanently in 1988. Darlene had a short stay in Las Vegas before permanently settling in coastal California in 1973, she would marry in 1976 and began her family of 4 children. Betty and Kathy would sporadically see one another but nothing gave clue to the reconnection that was ignited by the 52th class reunion.

Sean’s Bar, Athlone

    The point of all this context is @ 73 yrs old, save for Betty who was 72 yrs young on the trip we really didn’t know much about one another, certainly not our individual idiocracies. As youngsters we began school together in the early 1960s, and unknowingly grew up together. Essentially the first real family outside of blood relatives is the way I rationalize the emotions that overtook me during those first few ’70 gatherings. Just the other day Betty shared a story where her friends would ask “how was your trip to Ireland”? Betty’s response, “it’s still going on”! To Betty’s point we text all the time, go to one another’s social events and follow the ins and outs of our children…in every sense of the word, a Family born anew in Ireland !

    Part Two, to lay the context for this month’s image it’s important to know wintertime for me is my most favorite time to make photographs. I love the random shapes ice can make, combining jagged shapes with silky rushing water is heaven on earth for me.

Literal White Strand, Malin Head

I had just returned from 3 days in the New York’s finger lakes region photographing waterfalls and ice covered streams. I began correcting this month’s featured photograph as my 1st visual of the trip to Ireland. See the “out of the camera” image here. My interests in photography have never been in presenting a scene as a literal rendering, rather, I enjoy creating tonalities and subliminally steering the viewer to similar emotions that drew me to make the image in the first place. I composed this image more as a means to get the photos juices flowing with no real expectation of making a memorable photograph. I remember approaching the scene so the near body of water cut thru the image at an angle and lined up the small white cloud in the water to create a bit of texture and interest.

Frosty Seaweed

As I began to process the image for this month’s Story Behind I wanted to add a bit more shape to the seaweed. By moving the “Highlights” slider to the right (Green arrow) would increase brightness to the top area of the seaweed. I mistakenly grabbed the “Exposure” slider (Red arrow) which significantly lightens the masked off seaweed area when moved to the right as seen in the side adjustment panel. While it was clearly a mistake on my part, I thought let me see how this plays out to the readers…Seaweed or Ice ??

    The lengthy text to open this month’s Story Behind will serve going forward to any and all imagery I post from “our 1st” adventure, to Ireland…2027 in the planning stages!