or browse through some tags...
People Candid Urban Canon 20D Photos Architecture Sky Street irishblogs Cork Photos Ireland Sigma 10-20 Cork Irish photos Black and White
Yes, yes, we’re clowning around! Here’s the tall gent from the Circo Copa demonstration in Fitzgerald’s Park a while back. I wonder if he’ll ever see this. The put on a great show that day!
Thanks for all the nice comments on yesterday’s post about Michelle. They’re very much appreciated.

Michelle was my wife Jacinta’s family cat for the last 14 years. When I say “family cat”, I of course mean, Gerry’s cat, because Gerry took special care of all the cats in the family until she got sick and the burden of care mostly fell on my father-in-law Frank’s shoulders. He will tell you himself that he was never a big fan of cats, but if you saw the care and attention he lavished on that cat it was obvious she was special to him.
Unfortunately, Michelle was almost 17 years old. Her mother Patches was a regular in the household. She had a litter of kittens and Michelle, the older sister, acted as baby sitter many a time while her mother roamed the neighbourhood searching for food. Gerry took Patches in, and Michelle wandered in crying within a week. She became a permanent fixture and never wandered away again! Of all the cats that came and went, Michelle had a special place in my wife’s heart.
We took Michelle to the vet this afternoon. This was our third visit in the last two months. She had a large tumour, her appetite had disappeared, and she was very weak. We couldn’t let her suffer any more. The vet, Stephanie, let us say our goodbyes and gently put Michelle to sleep. Michelle was very calm through out. She lay there, letting Jacinta stroke her and cup her head in her hands, as the enormity of what was about to happen sunk in. I was fine until the needle went in and then memories of my own pets came flooding back and I was as inconsolable as Jacinta. It never gets any easier.
Michelle will be missed by all who knew her.
Surprisingly I only ever posted one photo of Michelle, when she was snug in her own little home in the back garden. I really like that photo. It’s the first I posted with the Canon 50mm f1/8 lens.

Glowing red flowers captured my attention at Fitzgerald’s Park a year ago, but I was never happy with my work on this photo until recently. Now I love it. Hope you like it too!

Stenciled graffiti near Fitzgerald Park in Cork City. The walls of this alleyway were covered in in street art.
Is it vandalism or not? If not, would you like your house spray painted with slogans and designs. I guess there’s a place for everything.

Traffic must go left. This is one of those shots that has sat in TODO folder for ages and ages because I liked it, but it was sorely in need of some work. I probably cheated by making it black and white.
Shot down at Cork Docklands about 13 months ago.

I shot this through the window of our car while driving back to the ranch after Automattic’s trip to Biosphere 2 in Arizona a few months ago. I love how the foreground blurs but the background and the sky remain motionless and static. Love the movement.

Another cactus shot from Arizona. I’m sure this is as boring as the flower pics everyone else posts for people who live in the desert but it’s all new to me!
Black vignetting caused by a polarizer!

More shots of members of Circo Copa who entertained the crowds at Fitzgerald’s Park on Sunday last. The man with the duster chased the female member of the group around, tickling her and was then declared the winner in some obscure but funny competition.
If Adam was a few years older I’d bring him to see them perform in the Spiegeltent.

The River Martin flows near Blarney Castle in Co. Cork on a cold December morning in 2005. The Castle grounds were quiet that day with hardly a soul about! Spencer Tunick would have been hardly known in the area at the time.

Spencer Tunick shot one of his “installations” in Blarney this morning. I don’t know if everyone congregated in the gardens in front of the Castle, or if it was behind but this is the view from the top of Blarney Castle so Spencer may have taken a shot from here.
Well done to everyone who showed up! Very brave souls.
PS. The Evening Echo ran with a wide angle shot of everyone. No doubt the rest of the papers will have similar photos in the next day or so!


1 Comment