Pure joy! A child on drums!

Can you imagine the noise? Well, don’t worry, it was in the middle of the street! A child took control of the drums while the adults took a break during the Cork Folk Festival.
From the programme I guess the group singing and dancing with accompanied drums and music were the “Christ Restoration Ministries Gospel Choir”. A large crowd gathered around so it was difficult to get any shots of the dancing, not surprising really because they were very good.

I like this: Battersea Power Station and Grosvenor Bridge because the photographer, Dave Gorman, had a positive experience with the police. (via)

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

All the fun of the Ceili Mor

The Ceili Mor on St. Patrick’s Street, Cork, last weekend. Last year the Ceili Mor attracted 8,371 people who broke the world record for the largest Irish dancing event!
This year was a more modest event but still the people showed up and joined in, slowly at first, but there was a decent crowd out enjoying themselves later!
Photos from last year: part 1 and part 2.

I forgot to mention. I saw so many people with cameras that I’m surprised there aren’t a lot more Cork-based photoblogs. I’m not talking about parents with a compact camera and kids in tow, I counted at least 5 solitary people silently working the crowd and the dancers with everything from bridge cameras to Digital SLRs and zoom lenses. I really need to get business cards printed and spread the word about WordPress.com

Aperture ƒ/7.1
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 28mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/80s

Princess Jacinta

Royal Sedan Crew Portrait

Princess Jacinta was formally announced to the populace of Cork as she rode a sedan car up Saint Patrick’s Street in Cork. She was regal in stature, enjoying every moment of it, and alighted outside Boots Chemist on the thoroughfare where she was presented with a flower as a token of gratitude from a happy populace. She ended her reign shortly afterwards and is at home with me now. The experience hasn’t changed her at all.
“Your highness, is that ok?”

Members of Cork Circus took my wife Jacinta up the main street in Cork City. She recognised one of the group as the Midleton Princess I photographed last week and after speaking to her, they persuaded her to ride in their sedan car. She was embarrassed at first but what fun is life if you can’t do crazy things every now and again eh?
We were in town enjoying the festivities of the Ceili Mor and the Cork Folk Festival.

Aperture ƒ/9
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/250s

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

Waiting for Passengers

People wait expectantly in San Francisco International Airport for the first sight of someone they know to appear in the crowd off a plane.

Toni, Andy and I were there to meet Podz off his plane. I had flown in earlier in the day and was almost asleep on my feet but I managed to make this hand held long exposure shot!

I like this: Daft Punk at Marley Park because I wanted to go, heard that they were brill in Scotland, but Donal didn’t think much of their gig in Dublin. Nice shots of their light show though!

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 800
Shutter speed 1/8s

Midleton Princess

Adding a bit of humour ot the Midleton Food and Drink Festival, this princess was just on a break but kindly posed for the camera after I asked.

Sorry about the blown out detail on her hand – the sun was behind her so I had to fill in the shadows with flash. Unfortunately her hand was sunlit and the camera just couldn’t take it.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/250s

O’Connell and Quane

Kayaks on Fountainstown Beach

Daniel O’Connell and Michael Quane on the beach at Fountainstown. They’d been out on the kayaks for several hours but were kind enough to chat to us and allow me to take their photo.
Michael Quane is a celebrated artist who has exhibited internationally and has many public works to his name including the statue, “Horses and Riders” , on the roundabout in Mallow! You can find out more about his work by searching Google.
Daniel O’Connell of course shares his name with a famous character from Irish history.

I forgot to mention. the photo of the kayaks had to be rotated about 1.35 degrees right to get a horizontal horizon. I filled in the white spaces left behind with a liberal use of the clone tool. Thankfully a sandy beach is easy to clone! To get an even exposure I copied the image into a new layer where I brightened it up. The sky was over-exposed but by using a layer mask and a gradient I hid that sky and was left with a nice bright area right at the sea shore.

I like this: What the soldiers see

I have been deployed all over the world from Bosnia to Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq for the first part of the wars with the 101st Airborne Infantry. Currently I am back in Iraq in OIF 3 attached to a Signal unit to help them out, I have been here since May 2005, I have just volunteered to stay till Jan 2007 well I hope you enjoy these pics I will have more of the day by day

(via)

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 800
Shutter speed 1/30s

Sowan’s Organic Bread Mixes

Sowan’s Organic Bread Mixes were a big hit with everyone who sampled their bread, including Jacinta. She bought a packet of the stuff and I’m going to sample the finished product this morning! This is their stall at the Midleton Food & Drink Festival.

Their website is sowanorganic.ie and I discovered this positive post about them from a WordPress.com user, Keith. It always gives me a tingly feeling whenever I come across those because of my involvement with WordPress.com.

The September issue of the Digital Journalist is just out. This picture just screams at me – the contrast between the normal living room and the huge cloud of one of the collapsing Twin Tower is alarming.

Late in the day, but I like these: Randy for you, a truck with a message, and Back from the dirty, photos by Chris Weeks of Paris Hilton and others at a party.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/160s

The Apple Store

An apple stall at the Midleton Food and Drink Festival last weekend. It was a wet morning and when I saw the water glistening on the apples I just had to make this photo.

Technique: Photo was levels adjusted manually because the GIMP thought there was too much green in the image, it gave a blue tinge to the whites in the image. I then burned the scene and did the apples over a little more to really bring out the rain drops. Saturation increase of everything but the blue and cyan channels helps to warm up the image. Finally resize and unsharp mask to sharpen. (Was that useful? I’ll add this more often if it was!)

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/800s

East Cork Camera Group at Midleton Food and Drink Festival

Thomas Tattan at the East Cork Camera Group stand in Midleton yesterday. They were participating in the Midleton Food and Drink Festival and had a great photo gallery in a quiet courtyard off the beaten track. A good crowd were milling about enjoying the photos and making purchases.

We got down early to the festival, before the main crowds and were able to enjoy it at our leisure. More photos throughout the week!

I like this: Mara crossing and Taken at a wedding and Some stop action frames

Aperture ƒ/13
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 33mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/250s

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

Sunrise over Blarney

This is the view that greeted me a few days ago from my office. I wouldn’t post it except that today is wet and gloomy and I want to remember what a nice sunrise looks like instead of the grey cloud I’m looking at now.

The Midleton Food & Drink Festival is this weekend. I went there last year and got some nice photos of a martial arts demo and we’ll hopefully head down tomorrow if the weather improves. You really want good weather because the town will be so packed with people you’ll hardly be able to move!

There’s something up with Flickr’s email uploader. I sent this photo off twice and it didn’t appear in my stream. I had a similar problem yesterday but the photo appeared on the second go. Manual upload and “Blog This” saved the day though!

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