On the Salthill Prom

Last weekend brought me back to Galway for the first time since last June, which is by far the longest I’ve gone without a visit to Galway since I lived there from 2000 to 2003.  It was nice to be back.  As well as getting to catch up with two upcoming brides on Saturday afternoon, and (thanks to an engagement party for friends) almost everyone I know there on Saturday night, I got the chance to walk the prom in Salthill on Sunday – one of my favourite places on a dry day.  It was windy, but that adds to it.

I was walking it with Aoife and Rioghnach (her sister, my sister-in-law).  Well actually they lost me early on as I was stopping regularly to take photos.  After they kicked the wall (a prom tradition at the turning point) and before I did we passed each other and I saw that I was after falling far behind.  I had to speed-walk back to the car, but still got time to take this shot.

The walk towards the wall is heading west, and at that time of the evening it meant facing a sunset – a lovely one at that.  That made photographs a bit more technically challenging, but I got a few nice images, one of which I’ll share later in the week.  The walk back had different light – with it now coming from over my right shoulder – and the camera could be trusted to do a better job with automatic metering as there was no longer any back light, which can confuse the camera’s meter.

The prom for me is symbolised by the yellow margin painted along practically its entire length, so as I sped back to the car I took a moment to place the camera on the ground, set a wide aperture to give very narrow depth of field, chose  focal point one-third into the frame, and let the camera meter (aperture-priority) and take a photo.

This is what I got, and I like it.  I think the selective focus adds to the sense of that yellow line  (and the prom) going on forever.  In the driving rain or bitterly cold wind it can feel like it does indeed go on for ever sometimes.  On Sunday, with a beautiful sunset and a fresh (if a little strong) breeze, it felt way too short and my visit was far too brief.