April in Ireland: A Fujifilm Roundup

The Matchbook | 5.22.26

Ireland, as you well know by now, has always been one of Sarah and I’s favorite spots on the planet. It was always this mystical and magical someday place we hoped to visit when we first met, some far away dream we didn’t know would ever happen. In 2018 it finally did, but only because we forced it to, adding it on to the end of a wedding trip on the border of France and Belgium. Europe in mid-June, we decided, was far too busy, why not book a cheap flight to Dublin, drive a circle around most of the island, and then fly home?

That decision changed our lives.

Now, somehow, some inexplicable how, we’ve been to Ireland 9 different times, and we’ve shared it with multiple people—from my sister and her husband in 2023, to our dear friends Danny and Anna this time around. EVERY single trip has been for work, and we’ve been blessed to photograph over a half-dozen weddings and elopements on the island. What a gift.

This trip, we tried something new, only using our Fuji cameras for our day-to-day photography, and what a gift it was. Here’s Part 1 of our Ireland Adventure, in Fuji glory:

Click on the first and it’ll let you see them bigger and scroll through each one :)

Touchdown in Ireland and we were exhausted from travel but elated to be back. A stop at Powerscourt Estate for a tea and a scone was revitalizing, Sarah was in heaven getting her clotted cream and jam, and we found a rad bag that we wanted to buy but didn’t. I missed driving these rainy, windy, tiny, foggy roads. I missed the light in Glendalough, I missed the ancient headstones, I missed the smell of damp earth and the feeling all things were alive. I just missed it. We didn’t have time to rest, not yet, as we had our first elopement shoot that night, hours after traveling 28 straight to get there. The day was magical, the wedding was stunning and I hope I performed and officiated it with the gravity it deserved. The photos we got were stunning. We finally crashed into our beds after a shared dinner with our new friends and newlyweds in a pub, and then woke the next day to Danny and Anna arriving later in the afternoon all the way from Arizona. Ready to share this stunning Isle with them.

That day of rest proved perfect. We just re-explored a spot we’ve been lucky enough to visit 5 or 6 times, and seeing it through the Fuji made it even more unique. It forces you to find new perspective, it forces you to act as the zoom lens with your body, moving yourself instead of just turning the lens. You have to think, you have to plan, you have to really see with fresh eyes. Sarah sat in that windowsill HOURS just soaking up the light, the smell of fresh rain, and the view of this 1400 year old place. That evening, right before twilight, their bus finally arrived.

We shared Glendalough with them before they too crashed and could hardly stay awake. The next morning we took off and headed south and west, stopping in Kilkenny, showing them the oldest medieval city in Ireland, getting them some much needed pastries (and a sausage roll that we quite literally never stopped smelling in the car the rest of the day) and taking them to some of our favorite little local shops where we even got to watch a ceramics artist make his art. What a place, what an eye-opening, shockingly simple and alive place, and for Day 1, I think Danny and Anna were already starting to feel the slower pace of life, the simple joy of being there.

Rock of Cashel is a breathtaker, every time, and it’s so fun seeing people who’ve never seen it first spy it across the rural landscape in the middle of the country. It towers above everything, and you can almost imagine what it would have been like to ride up to it on horseback all those years ago. Game of Thrones stuff friends, truly. We stopped at Blarney Woolen Mills, then woke early to venture into Killarney National Park, Torc Waterfall, and take some very needed forest hikes in.

The first half of our little trip together was amazing, and Sarah and I were so excited knowing what was coming up on the back half…the Wild Atlantic Way, and a surprise proposal that I think we both couldn’t possibly wait for.

More next week, the 2nd half of our rad Irish Adventure, told out in Fuji Photographs.

If you wanna help support this place and keep it alive, I really truly would love if you joined the family. I cannot keep doing it without the help of some of you paying it forward. For those who have, THANK YOU from the bottom of my silly silly heart.

I love you all.

Be good.