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A flavour of the St Patrick’s Day festivities and people who attended the Parade in Cork yesterday.

Special Olympics Team

Some of the Special Olympics Team took part in the parade and as I said yesterday, it was strange to see only them on the street with nobody else about. Everyone cheered them on however and clapped as they passed! The next group took at least 5 minutes to appear leaving me to wonder if the parade had already finished.

Kids and flags

You normally don’t see Irish people waving flags about unless it’s a special occasion. St. Patrick’s Day is one of those times when the the Irish Tricolour comes out!

Dodgy looking souvenier seller

If there’s a buck to be made ..

Crowds on St. Patrick’s Day 2008 in Cork

Crowds lined Patrick’s Street in Cork to watch the Parade. It was crazy! To get any sort of shot I had to either hold my camera in the air and shoot blind or grab quick shots with the zoom from between the bobbing heads of those in front of me. If you were in any way uncomfortable with crowds then it wasn’t the place for you.

More tomorrow and for a few days probably.

St. Patrick’s Day is for the kids

A young girls waves her Irish flag in the air after spotting part of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Cork approaching.

I shot several decent shots but it’s late and I’m tired. I was quite disappointed with the parade and left after half an hour. Like previous years there were huge gaps between some of the groups partaking in the parade.

It was strange to see the Special Olympics group striding up Patrick’s Street all alone with no other group in sight. They proudly showed off their medals and the crowd cheered and clapped for them. I’ll have a photo of them up here later in the week.

Face in the machine

A cement mixer on Patrick Street coming out of Drawbridge Street stopped and I spotted the two faces in the poster.

Smiling pretty girls

On the night when firemen closed off Dorothy Perkins in Cork, a few people saw my camera and presumed I was a photojournalist. Some even asked what was happening but I didn’t know!

Anyway, these two girls wanted their photo taken. They presumed I was with the Evening Echo but I told them photography was just my hobby. Still, got a nice photo considering I was shooting by available light.

I don’t want to be reminded how high I had to shove the ISO to get a decent shutter speed. Thankfully resizing loses some of the noise!

PS. we passed by the shop a few days ago. A sign on the door says, “Closed until further notice”. Does anyone know what happened there?

Girl on dad’s shoulders

A small girl sits on (I presume) her dad’s shoulders on Patrick’s Street. In the background is the Savoy Shopping Center, and of course the building side behind Dunnes is clearly visible in the scaffolding supports to the far left.

Firemen in action

Cork City Fire Brigade were called out this evening to a shop on Patrick Street.

I’m not sure what the emergency was but two fire engines were called to the scene and had a Garda escort on the way there. Maybe a gas leak?
A huge crowd gathered around and when some people saw my camera they just had to pose for a shot .. more on that next week!

Trivia: these are my first shots posted in 2008 that was taken in 2008. Plenty more 2007 ones to go through yet though!

Starlight headlights

A long five second exposure at f/22 captured cars stuck on Patrick Street about a month ago.

They’ve done some fabulous work on the pavements of Cork’s main thoroughfare but it hasn’t made a jot of difference to vehicular traffic, except to make it more dangerous to pedestrians as they saunter across junctions blissfully unaware of the cars bearing down on them ..

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…

A busy moment

Freeze what you’re doing. Right now. The world has stopped.

A busy moment on Patrick’s Street, Cork captured forever.

I liked this image because of the solitary motorcycle rider, but then I noticed all the activity: the people walking, cars *all over* the frame, the parked security truck with the driver leaning over to get his papers.
All frozen.

Lost in thought

Two teenage girls on Patrick’s Street, Cork. One is lost in thought, while the other chats away.

Do you recognise the Special K poster in the background?