Moments before yesterday’s photo of a beach inspector there were two seagulls.
I was watching them as I walked down Garrylucas Beach and neither moved so I have a couple of shots of them with dramatic waves thundering behind them. They seemed to be not disturbed by the wall of water beyond.
I on the other hand kept an eye on the incoming tide, but I didn’t stay long. It was freezing.
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Now I want to go shoot street photography in Amsterdam again.
Garylucas Beach in Co Cork was hit by 40kph winds this afternoon, with tall waves crashing on the beach. I took a few photos but retreated to the car as it was so cold. Within minutes the wind had ripped right through me.
Luckily, gulls are protected somewhat from the cold by their feathers and this gull stood in the water without a care in the world for several minutes.
I climbed up and down these steps daily while on holiday. They led to my apartment while I was in Fuerteventura. Even in daylight you had to be careful, but it was at night that you were really challenged. There was no lighting at all except for the street lights that shone over the high walls, casting deep shadows on most of the ground. The torch function of my phone got plenty of use.
The yellow you see here was mostly worn away and gone on the top of each step making the descent a little more difficult and ensuring one had to be paying full attention to what they were doing.
Late in the afternoon one day I was returning and noticed the shadows on the weathered paint of the steps. I love that, but the missing reflectors or lights that were supposed to be there just added to the dilapidated look.
Walking through the preserved barracks at Auschwitz II-Birkenau confronts visitors with the stark reality of life and death in Nazi concentration camps. This photograph captures one of the sanitation sheds, where rows of crude concrete benches with circular openings served as communal toilets for thousands of prisoners.
Under the holes ran open cesspits or channels, not plumbing. Prisoners had to sit shoulder-to-shoulder, with no privacy at all. There was no running water, toilet paper, or sanitation as we’d understand it.
Prisoners were allowed to use the latrines only at fixed times, usually twice a day. Each use was limited to a few minutes for hundreds of people. Missing roll call because of illness or diarrhea could lead to severe punishment or death.
It was part of the systematic dehumanization of prisoners.
Visiting sites like Auschwitz-Birkenau or viewing documentary photographs serves multiple purposes: honoring the memory of victims, educating future generations, and reinforcing our collective responsibility to recognize and resist hatred, discrimination, and dehumanization in all its forms.
I suspect this is a lesson being forgotten or denied by many today.
27 January 1945 | On Saturday, at around 9 a.m., the first Soviet soldier from a reconnaissance unit of the 100th Infantry Division appeared on the grounds of the prisoners’ infirmary in Monowitz. The entire division arrived half an hour later. The same day a military doctor arrived and began to organize assistance.
In the afternoon soldiers of the Red Army entered the vicinity of the Auschwitz main camp and Birkenau. Near the main camp, they met resistance from retreating German units. 231 Red Army soldiers died in close combat for the liberation of Auschwitz, Birkenau and Monowitz. Two of them died in front of the gates of Auschwitz main camp. One of them was Lieutenant Gilmudin Badryjewicz Baszirow.
The first Red Army troops arrived in Birkenau and Auschwitz at around 3 p.m. and were joyfully greeted by the liberated prisoners. After the removal of mines from the surrounding area, soldiers of the 60th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front marched into the camp and brought freedom to the prisoners who were still alive. On the grounds of the main camp were 48 corpses and in Birkenau were over 600 corpses of male and female prisoners who were shot or died in the last few days.
At the time of the Red Army’s arrival, there were 7,000 sick and exhausted prisoners in the Auschwitz, Birkenau and Monowitz camps.
We visited the lighthouse at Faro de Tostón just before sunset. Lots of low cloud threatened to hide the sunset but fortunately a gap was left just above the horizon so we got a lovely glow and even after-sunset luminescence that provided some interesting silhouettes in the sky.
This shot came about just before I got in the car and left. It was pitch dark. I could barely see anything, but I’m happy with the way this came out. A couple of days ago I saw drone shots of the rocks behind it where a small yacht had run aground.
I suspect the light in the background is actually the glow from Playa Blanca in Lanzarote, or it might be Urb. Origo Mare, but apparently that resort shut its doors permanently last year. Interesting comments here too. It’s had a chequered past.
There were plenty of mobility scooters around the place and these two ladies had fun with one as they drove up and down a nearby road, blaring music and laughing.
The cocederos, the shallow ponds where water evaporates and salt is collected, visible in the foreground in front of the fin whale skeleton at the Salt Museum in Fuerteventura.
Shout out to Finbarr for the lift to the museum that morning! 🙂
The recent rains in Fuerteventura have transformed the island. If you look at this location in Betancuria on Google Maps you’ll see a dusty field, and the street view shows mostly bare ground with bushes planted here and there.
In the background is La Casa del Queso where we enjoyed some coffee and sandwiches. Locals at the next table were served seemingly never-ending portions of food that just came out again and again from the kitchen, to be finished off by fresh oranges for dessert.
Ironically, this was taken on the nicest day of a recent holiday in Fuerteventura. A cold wind from the north blew across the island for the previous week, keeping temperatures down and contributing to a couple of rain showers. The island benefited from it with wild flowers and grass growing on the hills and fields where moisture was trapped.
Castillo Caleta de Fuste lies in the approach to the airport, so it’s not unusual to hear the roar of a jet engine overhead multiple times a day.
In the background is the prominent CHINA SHOP, selling the usual assortment of trinkets, souvenirs, bags and all sorts of other goods. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind having a single shop in Cork that carried the variety of goods they had.
This is one of those brilliant street photography moments that you absolutely cannot plan or manufacture. I’m minding my own business photographing a mural in Castillo Caleta de Fuste in Fuerteventura when suddenly I hear this voice behind me ask, “Why aren’t you taking MY photo?” I turn around and there are these two absolutely brilliant ladies marching towards me with massive grins, clearly on holiday, clearly having the time of their lives, and absolutely determined to be photographed. No hesitation, no awkwardness, just pure “we’re fabulous and we know it” energy. They posed, they smiled, and they radiated that gorgeous confidence that comes from being comfortable in your own skin.
Then, they just walked off without even asking my name or what I’d do with the photos. No social media handles exchanged, no “Can you send that to me?”, just a moment of spontaneous joy captured and then they were gone, off to continue their Fuerteventura adventure.
Coincidentally, a couple of days before I’d been reading this thread on Reddit about asking people to pose for a portrait and watched this great Jamie Windsor video on the subject so I was delighted when this happened!
The mounted fin whale skeleton is clearly visible in a photo of the museo de la sal (salt museum) in Fuerteventura. The museum was closed at this early hour and the area was roped off with stern warnings to buy tickets at the museum, but we still managed to get a few photos.
The salt flats are no longer used of course so the sunset reflection I was hoping for wasn’t to be but there were two ponds that served the same photographic purpose.
What was actually more interesting were the nearby homes and buildings. They were whitewashed with coloured surroundings and there will be a few photos of them over the next few days.
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