Equipment – Page 108 – In Photos dot Org

Press the button and walk

A pedestrian traffic light on St. Patrick’s Street, Cork. The green man is strutting his stuff and people are walking across.

Does anyone else have a dislike for the design of this button? Sure, there’s a big arrow pointing to a large white dot, but it took several years for people to realise that they press the white button instead of the light at the bottom of the unit. The problem is that people are used to pressing a physical button, something that sticks out and can be pushed in. The white dot is flush with the surface of the unit, and people go to press the only thing that looks vaguelly button-like, the light. I still see people do it, and yes, this is one of my pet peeves, thanks for reading!

Aperture	ƒ/4
Camera	Canon EOS 20D
Focal length	10mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/640s

Different lights

Different lights

Traffic lights and street lighting vie for attention. This is across the road from where Bord Gais used to have their showroom. Bet you never realised the titanic struggle for recognition that was going on?

Aperture	ƒ/13
Camera	Canon EOS 20D
Focal length	10mm
ISO	200
Shutter speed	1/320s

No climbing the poles

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

Pleased to meet you!

Pleased to meet you!

A child greets one of the onlookers at the Cork Folk Festival after the “Christ Restoration Ministries Gospel Choir” have sung and danced. There were lots of kids about and they were all having a great time!

I love this photo because the parents look so happy, kids are drinking their water and watching, the expressions on people’s faces as they see this small child come up to an adult, and of course the expressions of those who are oblivious to what’s going on. So much happening in one scene.

Aperture	ƒ/8
Camera	Canon EOS 20D
Focal length	144mm
ISO	200
Shutter speed	1/250s

Cappuccino Morning

Cappuccino Morning

A beautiful misty morning greeted us a few days ago. The mist rolled down the valley outside and when the sun rose it produced these amazing shades of brown through the fog.

Thanks Jacinta for the name, it fits!

I added a tag cloud to the site this morning. It’s quite obvious from it where I live, and what I take pictures of!

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

Balloon Boy

Balloon Boy

A boy is dragged by his mother up St. Patrick’s Street at the Ceili Mor. He was playing with a balloon by punching it continually. I saw him approach and as luck would have it, err, I mean, I quickly composed this shot. I love the expression on his face and I’m very happy that I caught this moment!

Aperture	ƒ/6.3
Camera	Canon EOS 20D
Focal length	18mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/100s

R&H Hall Mill on fire

R&H Hall Mill on fire

This morning, the disused R&H Hall mill on Kennedy Quay, Cork City was the scene of a major fire. Smoke was visible from all over the city, wind blew the smoke up towards Mayfield and traffic was very heavy all over, probably because drivers slowed down to watch the plume of smoke.
From several miles away in Sunday’s Well, I saw two jets of water pour into the top of the building, unfortunately I only had my wide angle lens so I didn’t get a shot of it. This photo was taken with my Canon 75-300 zoom from a residential park off Blarney Street half an hour later.

Seven units of Cork fire service have been fighting a blaze at the disused R & H Hall mill and grain store on Kennedy Quay – rte.ie

Des has a great photo taken from much closer showing the fire bursting from the side of the building. Pity I’m on the other side of the city!

In recent times, a long plume of thick black smoke trailed from a fire on the north side of the city, and of course, back in 2003 a huge blaze left the Sunbeam Factory in ruins.

This afternoon I spent a few minutes shooting the R&H Hall building from behind the Garda exclusion tape. Smoke was still visible coming from the white silos at the side of the building and just as I left a crane was going to lift members of the fire service up to examine the damage. I ran out of time and had to leave before that happened but things were definitely winding down thankfully.

I sent the top photo to the Cork Independent who have published it in this week’s edition on page 11. ~~I haven’t seen it yet but hopefully I can get a copy later!~~ Check out the photo I took of the article above! It’s the first time I’ve had a photo published by a newspaper and I’m very happy!

Aperture	ƒ/11
Camera	Canon EOS 20D
Focal length	300mm
ISO	200
Shutter speed	1/1000s

The Ryder Cup – Eye on the prize

The Ryder Cup – Eye on the prize

Golf’s “biggest competition”, The 2006 Ryder Cup will begin this weekend with an influx of thousands of people to the K Club in Straffan, Co. Kildare, Ireland. Games between Team Europe and Team USA begin on September 22 and continue until the 24th.

I have to admit I have next to no interest in golf but the media here have been going crazy over it for the last three weeks. The one report about the Ryder Cup which I do recall is a correspondent from the US reporting that interest over there is non-existent. People will be watching football, baseball or basketball. He continued by saying that the people who might be interested won’t be watching either because they’re not going to spend the weekend stuck indoors watching a golf tournament thousands of miles away when they can go out and play a few holes themselves in the sunshine. I’m sure that won’t stop rich business men and politicians flying in via helicopter and spending lavish amounts of money at the K Club.

For a little light hearted entertainment you should listen to the Gift Grub report (.wma file) from the Ryder Cup. It’ll make you smile.

It’s all a little silly.

Later .. Liam Morrison asks “Who cares about the Ryder cup?” and uses Google Trends to find out just who cares. The results aren’t surprising given what I said above but it’s nice to have some solid proof.

Aperture	ƒ/8
Camera	Canon EOS 20D
Focal length	20mm
ISO	200
Shutter speed	1/60s

The road to Ceili

The road to Ceili

People stroll along the closed off St. Patrick’s Street to the Ceili Mor.

Technique: I had to rotate the photo and crop it a small bit to get a straighter horizon, then some dodge/burn to bring out the contrast, and fired off the GIMP lomo plugin that creates two layers – one to highlight the centre, and the other to provide the vignette. I added a layer mask to the vignette and by using a gradient knocked off the top half of the vignette.

Aperture	ƒ/9
Camera	Canon EOS 20D
Focal length	10mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/160s

ESB – Broadband – Eircom

ESB – Broadband – Eircom

Power, Internet, Telephone. The combination of critical services that keeps my job going. When they work we don’t care but failure in even one is disastrous.

Pictured on St. Patrick’s Street while I was kneeling down and preparing to change lens. Anyone know which shop this was taken in front of?

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

Looking out for the kids

Looking out for the kids

A wary father carries his son on his shoulder at the Ceili Mor as his photo is taken on St. Patrick’s Street last weekend. Looks like his passenger is enjoying the festival!

I like this: State of Emergency – pictures from Vogue of models and Police. They’re scanned from Vogue Italia so buy the magazine if you see it and enjoy this photo essay.

Aperture	ƒ/6.3
Camera	Canon EOS 20D
Focal length	200mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/200s

Girls dancing on the street

Girls dancing on the street

People of all ages joined in the fun dancing on St. Patrick’s Street last weekend at the Ceili Mor, but there was a noticeable lack of male participation. Any man out there had his pick of the women! Are guys too shy, or are women better dancers?
Me? I was taking photos! If I didn’t have my camera I’d have been out there like a shot, yes sir, definitely, no doubt about it at all…

Aperture	ƒ/7.1
Camera	Canon EOS 20D
Focal length	200mm
ISO	200
Shutter speed	1/250s