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I look outside now and see the hazy cloud and rain that has descended on Cork and wonder if I was really at Allihies beach and saw the fluffy cumulus cloud stretching off into the distance. It seems like a another lifetime.

Today my wife, Jacinta, and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary. It’s a joyful day because we are a happy family with our mad little son but it’s also the first anniversary of Jacinta’s sister’s untimely passing from this world. We went for dinner this afternoon with her family and it was a cheerful gathering, but of course in quiet moments, one’s thoughts stray to Gerry who wasn’t there.

We had lunch in T.J. Newman’s in the town of Schull last month. Lovely thick bread in the sandwiches I got. Kept us going for ages and tasty too! Adam loved looking at all the paintings upstairs!

This is really looking back into the archives. I shot this in 2004, probably with the Sony 717 and at a guess probably in the park near the Gun Powder Mills in Ballincollig. Long time ago. Lovely day!

A farmer ploughing his field caught my attention while out driving with Adam (trying to get him to sleep, it worked!)
The farmer saw me and asked the usual “why are you photographing me?” question but was friendly enough. Plenty of work to be done anyway as he was only halfway through the field!

When I saw the scene I pictured the contrasting bright and dark halves of the ground, but the day was so bright it was difficult to shoot the shadow close by me. I had to clone out a really annoying power line going right across the top half of the image too!

Shot just outside Ballincollig in Co. Cork.

It’s a beautiful Bank Holiday Monday here and the village of Blarney is buzzing with locals and tourists. Meanwhile, I’m at home working. If you’re off today, enjoy the glorious weather!

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PS. watermarks courtesy of this script.

This is a picturesque stream that runs through Glengarriff Nature Reserve in Co. Cork. We went for a short walk close by but by the time we got here it was getting late in the afternoon and Adam was getting hungry!

A hungry, scrawny cat came up to us while walking around Schull in Co. Cork last weekend. The poor thing was crying for food and affection. This was the first time Adam saw a real cat and he was delighted but we had to leave the poor thing to fend for itself.

I discovered that the Irish name of the town called Schull is “Scoil Mhuire”, a much nicer name IMO. In English that would be “Mary’s School”, or more likely, “St. Mary’s School”. West Cork is so beautiful but the basterdisation of Irish names is shocking. I even saw a sign for a town called “Snámh” which had been translated as “Snave”. “Snámh” is the verb, “to swim” in English. Perhaps the town was created by an English landlord and named “Snave” first and then named “Snámh” by the Irish?

PS. Congrats to fellow Mallow Camera Club member, David Lavery, who left his comfortable 9-5 day job to become a wedding photographer in Mallow, Co. Cork a year ago today! Not many would take the jump, so I hope he’ll get that blog rolling and write about his experiences. I know I’d like to hear about them!

This is John Sullivan, a man we met near the beach at Allihies in West Cork a few days ago. He’s quite a remarkable man, especially as he will be 91 in June. I’ll be very happy with myself if I’m as fit and healthy as he is when I celebrate my 91st birthday!

The photo isn’t the best I could manage but I only took the one shot and wanted to share it. There was a very strong light behind him from the afternoon sun and I used the on-camera flash to fill in the shadows as best I could.

I remember seeing a shot Alkos took of this stag or deer on a wall near the English Market in Cork. I must dig up a link to it. Anyway, that shot was on my mind when I took this photo and I really like how it turned out!

Boats and lobster pots (I presume?) lie on the quay in Bantry. This area is a must see for photographers. There are so many things to see you could spend hours there just snapping away!