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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!

Hmm. I’m seething! I’m angry! I’m pissed off! Yesterday I explained why I “reserve all rights” on my photographs. I want control over how and where they are used. I don’t want a photo of my 7 month old son to appear in an inappropriate context. There are other restrictions on usage. When I photograph people, I never get signed model release forms so those images cannot be used for commercial or marketing use. Also, as some of my images are on sale as fine art limited edition prints in a gallery in Kinsale they have a monetary value.

So, it was with some shock that I looked around O’Learys Camera World while waiting to have my lens looked at and I saw two of my images in an electronic photo frame. The two images are Clouds Move At Night and West Cork Landscape. There was also an image of St Finbarrs Cathedral which has been photographed to death and could be by anyone, and 2 images of a large manor-house I didn’t recognise.

When I pointed out the images were mine and copyrighted, that they were downloaded from my photoblog or Flickr I was told they didn’t know how the images were on the device, that they were on it when they got the frame. It seems strange to me that a wholesale distributor of photo frames who probably distributes to many parts of the country and other countries would just happen to put pictures of Cork on their frames. If they do, I need to find out who that distributor is and work out a royalty scheme. If not, how long have my images been used to sell a €99 photo frame in a prominent city centre photography shop?

I can’t remember if I received an apology, I probably did, but they turned off the frame and took out the memory card and promised to wipe it clean. Do those photo frames come with memory cards?

After that, the purpose of my visit was to have my Sigma 10-20mm lens fixed. The M/AF switch fell out, and I noticed a crack in the plastic casing near the base. It has to be sent to Sigma’s HQ in Bandon and I’ll hear from them in a few days. There was also a €50 non-refundable deposit, which will be deducted from the cost of repair.

The whole experience leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Sitting around at the GPO

Teens sit around on the limestone blocks on Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork. That’s the Post Office in the background and the infamous Hi-B Bar to the left where you can be thrown out or verbally abused if the eccentric owner doesn’t like the look of you!

Sometimes I just miss talking to you

A sticker on the back of a STOP sign reads, “Sometimes I just miss talking to you” and is signed “The 508″. A message of love for someone missing, or mindless graffiti? What makes the image for me is the couple walking by at the bottom of the frame. The sticker could be a speech bubble above their heads.

Shot on Oliver Plunkett Street a few month’s back while walking around Cork City.

PS. Welcome all from Creative Ireland!

MAAS lighting up the street

A close up of the MAAS logo on one of the street lights on Oliver Plunkett Street.

Light trails on Oliver Plunkett Street

Light trails from a passing car leave their mark on this long exposure shot of Oliver Plunkett Street in Cork.

Can you see pink lights on the vertical poles standing at the edge of the pavement? On my Linux box they’re clear as day but I can’t see them at all in Preview on the Macbook.

The lights were designed and made by MAAS here in Cork and the colour changes slowly from blues to purples to pinks to yellow and to any other colour. It’s quite a sight to see the colour change when standing at one end of this long straight street!