So, it’s time to move on – 381 photos later and I want to head in a new direction with the blog. So, like the people at Park Avenue, I’m moving my business across the street to denishogan.ie. Please do subscribe to my new RSS Feed.

First post on the new site to follow tomorrow!

Thanks for visiting this site – hope to see you over on denishogan.ie soon.

My dad and I recently pulled the Avenger out of storage to get it ready for a few HRCA races this year. I went to see my parents yesterday evening and noticed the door of the garage was up – of course the Avenger caught my eye and I couldn’t resist taking a few photos.

When processing, I got to thinking of all the time spent in and around this car. My dad first started racing in it in the early ninties. It was always a competitive car – he upgraded to the current engine in the mid-ninties – a Chrysler BRM 1600cc Twin Cam 16v. An incredible spec considering it is nearly thirty years old. And it’s a very rare engine. Since the early ninties, he has been bringing the family (whoever was available at the time) to Hillclimbs, Sprints and Races all over the country. And I’ve been dragging my friends along to the same events for about as long.

The Blue Avenger, as it is referred to, has a long history here in Ireland – including a very successful hillclimb career. It’s a car that lots of people want to drive, but very few are allowed to.

This is much more than a car – I’d go so far as to say it is more like a family member. It may sound strange thing to say, but this particular car has brought family and friends together for twenty years now. I suppose the fact that it gets to sit on Carpet in the garage says a lot!

Given that the Blue Avenger has had such a big impact on me over the years, I’m hoping to do a Photo Story Board of the car over the next few months. Watch this space.

A view of Thomond Bridge in Limerick from outside City Hall on the banks of the river Shannon.

Another one from last may – I liked how this light streamed the branches of the tree. Nothing special, just found it while looking for another picture!

Taken at the St. Patricks Day parade in Limerick yesterday – some clown blows Sí a kiss as he passes by in his car. Sí also featured in last years St. Patricks Day photo!

Another one from the archives! This is one of my many attempts at a self-portrait for a Limerick Camera Club challenge last November. I originally strayed away from this idea because I was limited to a 12×8 print – and it’s a crop that just didn’t suit the image (IMO).

Unfortunately I can’t say that the idea was my own – I got it from the cover of a book called “Crashed and Byrned“. Worth the read for the Motorsport heads – can be stomach turning in places, but it’s an interesting book about a very interesting character.

I’m not sure about the image or the processing. Any suggestions?

I took this shot last year, but didn’t think much of it at the time. These giants stand above an abandoned building site here in Limerick. I hear that the developer responsible for the abandoned mess has since gone out of business – I’m not sure if that is true or not.

The Cranes have been standing, motionless, over this part of Limerick for the bones of two years now. I doubt they are being maintained. Should they be taken down permanently? It might help lessen the impact of Limerick’s biggest eyesore.

The National Lottery Skyfest kicked off the 2010 St. Patricks festival in Limerick. We didn’t have the best vantage point (this was taken from Sarsfield Bridge), but I couldn’t really get any closer and fit the whole lot into the frame.

It was a pretty good show – nice to see the streets of Limerick packed on a Saturday night – everyone in good form.

About the car:
When the DTM series ended in 1996, Mercedes-Benz wanted to find a replacement top-flight racing series. Enter the FIA GT Championship in which Mercedes-Benz campaigned their very successful and infamous CLK GTR.

Successful:
It won everything around it. AMG-Mercedes won both the Driver and Team Championships in 1997 and 1998

Infamous:
We were very lucky growing up, we had Eurosport on satellite during the nineties. I was watching Le Mans live in 1999 when this happened:

That weekend, two CLK GTRs (technically they were CLK LMs, essentially the same car with a V8 instead of a V12) took flight – both spectacular. Unfortunately you can only win at Le Mans by going fast and going the distance… being spectacular will only win talent contests.

About the photo:
This is a shot of a 1:18 scale model of the GTR – I got it back in 1998 and it’s been sitting in a box for the last ten years or so. I found it a few weeks ago and thought it would be something different to try and capture.

The lighting was a bit of a nightmare, but it worked out ok. I had a black card under the model, a reflector above. I managed to bounce the on camera flash up onto the reflector and back down onto the car with a bit of trial and error. Here’s a shot of the setup, it’s not great, but it did the job:

This is the final shot from Chamonix – this is from Le Tour right at the top of the Valley. It’s a nice spot – there’s a nice long Blue down through the trees to Valorcine and lots of nice Reds. My favourite has to be a nice long run off-piste through the powder, finishing back on a Mogul field.