During a recent visit to Foley’s Bridge, Tollymore I decided to experiment with some long exposure photography. capturing the Shimna meandering its way through the forest.
The Shimna River is crossed by 16 bridges as it flows through the Tollymore Forest site. The Old Bridge, built by James Hamilton in 1726, is the oldest of the current bridges. The Ivy Bridge was built in 1780 and Foley’s Bridge in 1787. Tollymore forest is the former home of the famous Tollymore demesne.
Foley’s Bridge
The house known as ‘Tollymore Park House’ or ‘Bryansford House’, was a Georgian mansion built by James Hamilton around 1730, and was demolished in 1952. Tollymore was subsequently opened to the public in 1955 as Northern Ireland’s first national forest park.
James Hamilton was the Second Earl of Clanbrassil and built Foley’s Bridge in honour of his wife Grace Foley. It was recorded that the Earl enjoyed driving around his estate on his horse and carriage. Nice drives were created so that the Earl could show off his estate to anybody visiting him and family.
Today much of Foley Bridge is overgrown. The long exposure images were photographed at f22 with a shutter speed of 5 seconds. If you want to know more about capturing long exposure photography then check out the beginners guide to long exposure photography.
Links
20 long exposure photographs of Northern Ireland
The Long Exposure eBook
