I was there too
The sun rose this morning a few minutes after 7am, but this is what the sky looked like about 8 minutes before. There was a glorious orange glow and the clouds were lit up from underneath by the sun coming around the globe and shining through the atmosphere.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 26mm |
| ISO | 500 |
| Shutter speed | 1/125s |
The Cannonball Run brought a burst of excitement to the streets of Blarney back in 2018 despite the rain that day. It appears I only posted one photo from that day before. I must dig out more!
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 105mm |
| ISO | 8000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
I love the narrow streets and alleys of Malaga. They’re great for street photography!
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 28mm |
| ISO | 1250 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
The Baltimore Beacon on one side and Sherkin Island on the other, while we travelled to that island on a day trip, the same day as this photo of the Wallis Buoy.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 6D |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/640s |
Ah, the majestic Wallis buoy. It’s a beacon of maritime sophistication and seagull real estate. On my way to Sherkin Island, I came upon this floating masterpiece, complete with a solar panel that probably powers the seagull’s Netflix subscription. The bird, perched confidently atop its throne, seemed to be enforcing the 6 km speed limit with all the authority of a traffic warden who’s had one too many cups of tea.
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 6D |
| Focal length | 105mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1600s |
I was watching the sun set in Tenerife when a family approached and walked by. They were silhouetted by the sun, but instead of the usual black shadows, I wanted to try something different. No doubt the purists will be scoffing at the bright vignettes. Well, thanks. 🙂
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 122mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/400s |
Tucked away on the serene Sherkin Island in County Cork, I stumbled upon a timeless moment that felt plucked from another era. Two older men, clearly no strangers to the soil beneath them, were deep in conversation.
This photo was taken in 2015 while on a visit to the island. I hope they are still living on the island, chatting away.
| Aperture | ƒ/11 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 6D |
| Focal length | 105mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/50s |
Three women wait at the traffic lights on Grand Parade. They’ve all been shopping in NEXT.
It’s odd what Lightroom sometimes does to a photo when you correct for lens distortion. 🙂
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 160 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
A hand raised in greeting, with a smiling face, or is it a hand raised in anger?
Luckily, it was the former, with the smiling face of a friendly man just out of the shot greeting his friend in the plaid hat.
| Aperture | ƒ/1.7 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 6.3mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1500s |
A man with his pint of Beamish seated at The Roundy a few years ago.
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 800 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
If you don’t like crowds, you should avoid Valencia during the Fallas festival. I rarely saw any trouble. The crowds were almost always in good mood or, at the very least, resigned to not moving very fast. It appears that moving fast can be accomplished if you hire someone in a high-vis vest who will barge through the crowd, dragging a well-dressed family behind them to the front of the crowd. I saw that once as I waited for the Mascletà one bright sunny day last week.
| Aperture | ƒ/1.7 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 6.3mm |
| ISO | 10 |
| Shutter speed | 1/230s |
If you visit Valencia during the first 19 days of the month of March you’ll be bombarded by the loud bangs of bangers going off, and fireworks every day. You’ll also come across elaborate Falla, or statues, dotted around the city.
In the past, they were built of papier mache, but these days the main construction material is styrofoam. On the 20th of the March, all the Fallas in the city are burnt to the ground, with only one item from each saved.
The best Falla in 2025 was the one built at Jerusalem Convent-Matemático Marzal, and luckily, I was staying about 100m away. In reality, that didn’t help much because the crowds visiting there during the day meant it was almost impossible to walk past it quickly. The only time the streets were nearly empty was at 5am one morning when I was going to take sunrise photos.
Here’s only a small selection of photos from that area. There’s more to come, mostly of crowded streets, but the Falla will feature again, probably.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.4 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 7.9mm |
| ISO | 50 |
| Shutter speed | 1/125s |
