A bicycle tied to a post on Patrick’s Street, Cork late last November.

I’m heading to London later today for my brother Donal‘s stag. Yes yes, wild weekend, etc etc. I’ll have my camera too of course and I’m staying next to King’s Cross Railway Station so I thought it would be great to go photograph the area. Unfortunately it seems that photography in railway stations and the undergroundrequires a permit. In fact, photography in the UK has become a lot riskier in recent years unfortunately:

• Discordant Photography?
• Threats to Photographers’ Rights?
• Tube: Photography now costs £300 and requires prior permission

For an individual like myself a permit would cost £30 but such a permit requires up to 2 weeks notice. I wonder if they can charge me if I use a telephoto lens from the street when someone opens the front door?

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I was there ready to shoot the participants, but I was overwhelmed by their speed. It only took the main group about 11 seconds to come around the corner at one end of Blarney and disappear through the other end. I’m kicking myself I shot in Programme mode when I should have been in Aperture Priority mode, but I did get a few nice panning shots that froze the rider while the background blurred into smudges and streaks of colour.

The Canon 40D performed admirably. ISO was set to 100 because it was a bright day, AI Servo focus to track the riders and keep them in focus, and high speed continuous shooting mode which delivered 6.5fps. It was all over so quickly I barely had time to take a breath. I shot around 230 images while waiting and during the short time the racers were in Blarney. I knew I’d go a little mad with the shutter button, so I preselected Jpeg mode rather than my usual RAW mode.

Here’s a transcript of the commentary during the race. This bit, while serious, made me smile:

13.10: The race leader has been to see the race doctor, who reports a very unusual injury. He had a thorn embedded in his tongue – presumably from an overhanging branch, or perhaps even some dried fruit he ate – which was removed by the doctor. The thorn, not his tongue.

Hope you like the gallery, hopefully some of these shots will be posted here in single posts during the week!

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Cork City Library on the Grand Parade used to have railings in front for locking up your bike. Those railings disappeared a few months ago but people still leave their bikes there.

The library itself will soon be the subject of a major facelift as a developer expands it into a new block of retail units and apartments as well as library.

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His and hers bikes locked up against a pole in Daunt Square, Cork last February. Looking at this with fresh eyes, I was lucky to catch the people behind the bikes without at least one of them standing behind the pole!

I love the expressions of the two girls closest to the bikes. I wonder if they’re sisters?

I have to get out and take more street shots soon. I can’t remember the last time I “shot from the hip” and Cork City needs recording!

Link love: Thailand: What’s love got to do with it?, Spring Lamb (Thanks Markr), Great blogs of our time, Part One (thanks for the link Niall!), A Collection of Inconvenient Facts, When Your Agent is Not Your Friend – read if you sell to a microstock site, My Top Five Wedding Photography Tips For Point-And-Shoot Digital Users, Crop This! (via), Trash the dress (via)

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A little boy sits on the ground near some bikes while all around people talk and enjoy the day. This was taken at the Midleton Food and Drink Festival last year.

In the last 3 weeks I’ve worked on perhaps 3 photos, but luckily I had another 50 prepared to tide me over the weeks following the birth of Adam. Now where are those nappies…

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A young street performer at the Midleton Food and Drink Festival last year.
Late posting today, so much to do..

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A Sex Pistols fan on his bike last April. This was taken on Washington Street, Cork while waiting for the street lights to change. I was walking, not in a car!

PS. Mallow Camera Club did really well yesterday at the SACC competition!

The club won the event outright and also took first place in each of the three sections, Colour Prints, Monochrome Prints, and Slides. In the individual category club members Morgan O’Neill and John Hooton won first prize in Colour Prints and Slides sections respectively.

Well done everyone! Sorry I couldn’t make it up for the day. In case you’re interested, here’s another reminder that Des Clinton will be talking at the club tonight.

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Riding a bike anywhere on today’s streets is almost a suicidal pursuit but bike lanes help. Here a bus drove past as I took this shot in an urban tunnel in downtown San Francisco.

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As you can imagine, I was quite tired by the time I got to San Francisco!

Picture above was taken just down from my Bird flying by photo. I know there are lots of awkward lines in this shot but the line of the Golden Gate Bridge is just about horizontal.
Automattic had it’s first meeting of the week a few yards from here in the glorious sunshine. Some of us suffered sunburn but it sure beat sitting around some dusty old conference table!

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Bank of Scotland(Ireland) are changing their unwieldy name to the much shorter “Halifax”. The bank is a major player in the UK market, but the name change could yet backfire because Halifax isn’t very well known in Ireland. I presume a slick marketing campaign will take care of that.

The building across the river is the Cork branch of the bank on the Grand Parade. I love how the sun picked out the bright white of it’s walls and the bike in the foreground was in shadow beneath a tree.

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