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Christmas decorations on high

Christmas decorations on Paul Street, Cork a few days before Christmas Day last year.

Hand held, and I hoped to get a “normal” straight shot but it’s hard to crouch down while wearing a jacket and pushing a buggy so it’s lopsided. I prefer it that way!
Conversion to b/w I think brings out the descending pattern of the lights along the street although the original image wasn’t that saturated with colour to begin with.

January Sales

The Christmas rush is over. Sales have been bad for retailers as people suddenly realised, “Oh! The mortgage has to be paid!”

Anyway, I’m half-hoping I’ll be able to pick up a Nintendo Wii somewhere. I don’t suppose they’ll be on sale will they?

I celebrate 10 years online this year! Go me!

Check out Donal’s new photoblog, Pana Vision!

The Sun sets on 2007

The final day of the year 2007. It’s cloudy and misty and rain is in the air. Very mild for this time of year actually.

2007 was a mixed bag for many people. It was a year of extremes - joy and sadness in equal measures, but life changing for myself and my wife as our son Adam was born into the world this year.

This sunset was shot at Garrettstown Beach a few weeks ago. Dedicated to the memory of Gerry who visited that beach with us before she passed away.

Christmas Baubles

Christmas Baubles hang in Porter’s newsagent, Cork. Christmas decoration is everywhere but reflective surfaces present an opportunity to take a self portrait. Yes, that’s me reflected!

Hope you had a great Christmas Day. We went travelling and I must say it was the best Christmas Day in a long time. I think I must invest in a WII next year…

Sparkling Flowing Christmas Lights

Blue glowing and sparkling Christmas lights flow down from the roof of Benetton on Oliver Plunkett St. in Cork.

I loved the reflection in the car and had to take this shot. It was hand held and I’m quite sure I pumped up the ISO quite a bit to get a half-decent shutter speed. Resizing helps to hide and smooth out the noise!

School girls sing the carols

A group of girls from a local school sang Christmas carols in Blackpool Shopping Centre earlier today.

They were brilliant! I wasn’t much in the mood for listening but they lifted my spirits. They were full of life, happy, joyful and really seemed to be enjoying the experience.

Unfortunately we were in a hurry or I’d have stopped to ask what school they were from. Does anyone know? Their uniforms were purple..

Starlight Christmas Lights

The Christmas lights on Carey’s Lane shine brightly in this long exposure shot.

The exposure is so long that crowds of people walked past, some apologising, without evening showing up on the final image! The only person visible is a homeless guy sitting in a doorway. I love how the Christmas lights came out in this. f/22 does lovely things to points of light.

This was taken one evening while in town and I had a few moments to spare. Get out the camera, crouch down and put the wallet under the lens to point it up a bit. Perfectly still, without a tripod!

While I shot this I realised where this photo was taken! See the No Parking sign?

A wonderful thing happened the other day. Gary Byron, a Corkonian like myself, was browsing the net and looking about for things to do when he comes home for Christmas. He stumbled upon this blog and by some one-in-a-million chance found my photo, Wet Day Shopping. He recognised the couple in the photo as his parents and he left a comment on the post.

… what were the chances of me finding this photo, anyway its a great photo, I will get it developed and give to them as a surprise.

I got in touch with Gary shortly afterwards and sent him on a larger image which will print out to a nice 8×10 so I hope he managed to find a camera shop on the Friday before Christmas Day that wasn’t swamped with customers!

I was amazed that someone recognised people in a photo I took. It happened once before. Corksurf recognised the woman in this shot and left a comment on the flickr page of the image. I’m sure it’ll happen again. Hopefully with results as positive!

Last minute shopping

Today many major cities and towns around the world are going to be thronged with shoppers doing last minute shopping before Christmas Day. Traffic is going to crawl and frustrate and the crowds will be suffocating.

I’m glad I’m staying at home. We may head out to the Lough later for a walk. So stressful!

I like this: Europe - The Parisian Chapter

Fun at the crib

Fr James McSweeney’s live crib in Ballyvolane was busy with animals and human visitors all through last week but I managed to get some shots the night when we visited.

As I mentioned already, there were all sorts of animals there, from sheep and donkeys to chickens, calves and puppies. Donations are welcome, and all proceeds go towards the renovation of St. Patrick’s Church. The crib last year raised 35,000 Euro for the Cope Foundation so hopefully they can beat that this year!

The crib is open from 5pm to 9pm until the 23rd, so if you’re in the area, call up to Ballyvolane Church and you’ll see the signs pointing the way to the crib.

I like this: Edward Scissorhands - my wife is a huge fan of the film. I wonder how long it took to get the model looking like that?