The Belfast Titanic Maritime Festival 2013 was held over the 25th to 27th May. The Festival is always worth a visit (it’s free) and this year was no different with Tall Ships, a Maritime Market, street theatre and more. I called in on Saturday 25th and although it was fairly busy it wasn’t too crowded. Unfortunately, although the weather was fine it was a bit windy and sailing ships being involved, things didn’t go exactly as planned but then I suppose they rarely do.
The Buoys are in the grounds of the Art College or to give it its proper title, The University of Ulster Campus, Belfast. I found out recently that they’ve been there since 1979 and that just makes me feel old.
Originally they were something to be remarked on, they were imposing and had jets of water squirting from beneath but time has not been kind to them. The water jets no longer work and they frequently fall victim to people with spray paint but on a sunny Spring day they can still draw attention and deserve a photograph.
The tenth Belfast Festival of Fools was held from 2nd to 6th May 2013 and brought artists from across the globe. As always the event was well supported and the acts certainly introduce a carnival atmosphere to the city. Even the weather, unusually for Belfast, cooperated with the rain mostly staying away over the four days.
The events were mostly in Cathedral Quarter but I came across some in Corn Market and the Victoria Centre.
In 1613 Belfast was made a town by James I, starting the journey towards the city we know today. To celebrate the past four hundred years events are being held over the year across the city and today a Belfast 400 festival was held in the grounds of the City Hall.
Some stalls from St. Georges Market had moved to the grounds, there was face painting for the kids, music and BMX Stunt Bikers doing their thing.
While my wife went shopping I killed some time, had a coffee and took some photographs.
Click on an image to enlarge.
Street Entertainers
Stunt Bikes
There has been many, many thousands of words written about how to present portfolios, blogs, websites and even yourself. I’m sure someone somewhere has decreed that black and white and coloured images should not be displayed together but this just seems to work better in black and white.
Musical Interlude
Now to cover the title of this post. Recently I saw a photograph of a bridge in Paris covered in padlocks and now I’ve noticed these padlocks on the Lagan Footbridge. Some seem relatively new but others looked as if they’d been there for a while. I’ve walked past them many times without giving them a thought and it took the photograph of the bridge in Paris to make them register with me. Hopefully there’ll be many more over the years and the council won’t feel they have to remove them.
Its amazing how quickly you become used to new buildings. I think the Titanic Building has been open for just over a year but now when I pass its as if it’s always been there and I can’t remember what the area was like before it was built. I know that I have photographs taken before most of the recent construction in Titanic Quarter but I don’t know if I have images of this particular site. Possible subject for a future post maybe?
These photographs were taken at the rear of the building from the slipway where the liners were launched.
