Cupid’s Arrow in the sunset

The arrow head of Cupid’s Span is caught as a silhouette by the evening sky in San Francisco. The monument sits in Rincon Park and was created by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen to mirror the span of the Bay Bridge nearby.

Aperture ƒ/13
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 20mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/200s

Golden Gate Tower

One of the suspension towers of the Golden Gate Bridge looms over traffic on a beautiful August afternoon.

Driving across the bridge was wonderful because the bridge is such an iconic part of the San Francisco and it’s simply enormous! Maybe next time I’ll walk across it’s 1.7 mile length. If you’re interested in finding out more, the Wikipedia page is a mine of information!

PS. Congrats Mel, Sharon and Alex on the new member of your family!

Aperture ƒ/11
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/250s

Watching from Alcatraz

A small hut on the island of Alcatraz looks out on San Francisco. It looks well preserved and anyone in the hut would have a god view of the city and probably the surrounding coastline up to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Aperture ƒ/10
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/400s

The Golden Bay Bridge in San Francisco

The Bay Bridge in San Francisco all lit up at night. The lighting on the bridge casts a golden glow over the water that is beautiful to watch and photograph. More on Wikipedia.

Niall Kennedy walked with myself and Bryan Veloso around the Ferry Building on the night before WordCamp and we got some great shots.
You can see the pier to the right of this image here in more detail with a super reflection.

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 20s

Looking down from on high

Looking down on a street in San Francisco. You wouldn’t want to be afraid of heights walking around on top of a building!

We all want to see what the neighbours are up to and living in a high building is the perfect opportunity of peeping-toms everywhere. You can see all sorts of things – a parasol with lounger across the street, garden furniture, a tree; all invisible from street level.

The postman has been and delivered 100 minicards from moo.com! I ordered 100 duplicates in the order as well so I hope they’re on the way too. I got in touch with their customer service people just in case and am waiting on a reply from them now. Later – I got my reply. The duplicate cards are a separate order and were shipped separately. Should be here in a day or two!

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/125s

Steps down to the river

Steps lead down to the River Lee in Cork City. Railing stops people going down them but in times past fishermen and other boat users hauled goods up these steps onto the quays.

This was taken a few yards up the quay from a previous shot.

Technique: To increase the dynamic range of this photo I made copies of the original layer. The bottom of the photo was quite dark and that had to be brightened and the sky was too bright so darkening that helped significantly. I used layer masks to isolate my changes to those areas of the photo that needed it.

The new Digital Journalist is out!

I like this: Ramadan in Beaumont. Love the second image here.

Aperture ƒ/10
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/200s

Lady at the lights

If looks could kill! I don’t know who she was looking at but she doesn’t look happy!

Pictured on the corner of Washington Street and Grand Parade a few days ago while we waited for the traffic lights to change. Finn’s Corner, a sports clothes shop, has been on that corner for years and St. Augustine’s Catholic Church is visible just down the road. I’ve never been in that church despite it’s central location. It’s so well integrated into the street scape that it’s easy to forget it’s there.

Aperture ƒ/10
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/200s

Is it Bank of Scotland(Ireland) or Halifax?

Bank of Scotland(Ireland) are changing their unwieldy name to the much shorter “Halifax”. The bank is a major player in the UK market, but the name change could yet backfire because Halifax isn’t very well known in Ireland. I presume a slick marketing campaign will take care of that.

The building across the river is the Cork branch of the bank on the Grand Parade. I love how the sun picked out the bright white of it’s walls and the bike in the foreground was in shadow beneath a tree.

Aperture ƒ/16
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/500s

The Sexy New County Hall

Grabs your attention doesn’t it? Exciting design isn’t it? Wonderful work of engineering eh? Well, ok, it’s only the Cork County Hall but it is the tallest storeyed building in the Republic of Ireland at 67m so that must count for something? No?

The County Hall has been renovated over the last few years and does look better than it used to. I saw someone walking around on it’s roof a week or so ago, bet you’d have a great view from up there. Anyone know how I’d do that?

Aperture ƒ/10
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/200s

No climbing the poles

A sign that points upwards? It either forbids drivers from driving down a road, discourages people from climbing up a light pole or local government don’t want people to look up. Your guess is as good as mine. I’m stumped!

Aperture ƒ/14
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/400s

Bay Bridge San Francisco

This is the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. It’s the view from Matt’s apartment building. He brought Andy and myself up there to enjoy the view, and probably in my case to keep me awake after the long flight!

Aperture ƒ/7.1
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/100s

Tourquoise Doors

Turquoise doors in Courtmacsherry, Co. Cork, Ireland. The owners made some effort to grow plants in their front yard and I really love the doors!

Later .. Jacinta and I went to see the Midleton Food and Drink Festival and besides buying a few cakes and lovely hotdogs I went to see the gallery set up by the East Cork Camera Group. This year it was tucked away in the peace and quiet of a square off the main street where it was a pleasure to view their work. I spoke with Thomas Tattan there who was very happy with the weekend. Pictures tomorrow!

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/125s