Shortly after I retired back in 2007, I took a cruise around the British Isles with my wife and great friends. This may have been the trip that rekindled my passion for photography. Even though I had started into photography back in the late 70's, I literally took off several decades when my family and career took up almost all of my time. I shot occasionally during vacations and I actually thought I was pretty good (I wasn't). On this trip, I finally had some time to spend on learning what photography was all about. It was also around the time that I began to understand how important editing was to one's creative vision (I never seriously edited my photos until I got home from this cruise).
In any case, we signed up for many of the cruise's excursions and I was excited to visit Powerscourt Gardens outside of Dublin. The gardens are located on the Powerscourt Estate, which was originally a medieval castle. It was transformed by the 1st Viscount Powerscourt in 1741 to the house that exists today. The gardens and property are quite large and beautiful, which lends itself to being explored. We spent almost a whole morning wandering around and I thought that this composition gives a good view of the house and its "backyard".