Hula hoop dancer

A dancer entertained the crowds at the Midleton Food and Drink Festival last September. She was quite popular as you can imagine!

Here’s a fascinating page on hula hoops courtesy of Wikipedia.

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

Scared Child

A girl looked up at me from her buggy as I took her photo with the wide angle lens of my camera. This was taken just after the St. Patrick’s Day Parade this year and the place was black with people, especially outside the The Larry Tompkins pub so no wonder she was a little upset. Mum can be seen in the background, looks like they’re going home.

Today is the calm before the storm. I woke up to quiet. Oscar is with my family, Jacinta and Adam are still in the hospital. Tomorrow, everyone comes home probably, although Jacinta could do with an extra day.

Thank you to everyone who commented yesterday (and here too!) I’m bringing my laptop into the CUMH this afternoon to share with Jacinta all the good will and wishes left by you and everyone else!

PS. Good luck to Donal and Celine who are off to Lesotho today for 10 days. They have a long jounrey ahead of them but I know they’re going to do some great work out there, the money they’ve raised will be well spent and I’m looking forward to the photos!

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/320s

The Art of Negotiation

A group of boys discuss the day’s market in Midleton at the Food and Drink Fair there last September.

I’m off to the hospital again. I came home for a few hours sleep. Strong coffee day today methinks and no sign of baby just yet. Don’t even contemplate ringing me unless you’re family. The phone won’t be picked up.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/320s

Father and son in the square

A father and his offspring walk about after the parade on St. Patrick’s Day in Cork this year. Normally this is a busy junction but it was closed off for a few hours to make way for the festivities.

Patrick’s Street can be seen in the background with the statue of Fr. Mathew rising into the air.

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/500s

Girls on the street

St. Patrick’s Day brought out a huge crowd onto the streets and here’s a group of girls we bumped into on Patrick’s Street.

We were on our way to a cafe for refreshment when I spotted a bicycle chained to a pole, but it had fallen down. As is my way I crouched down to get a shot of the wheel and the pole receding into the sky and when I got up this group of girls were looking at me. One asked what I was doing and of course I had to take their photo since they were enjoying themselves so much!

PS. Thank you Meg for linking to my blog at Cute Overload. Your blog must do some savage amount of traffic if referrers from your site are anything to go by. I did as much traffic here yesterday as I’d normally do on ocaoimh.ie!
PPS. Greetings to Zefrank too. I agree, check out the show, although can there be anyone left who hasn’t seen Ze Frank at least once?

I like these. Claire went exploring an old house: part 1, part 2.

I like these too – Donal’s Stomp photos are particularly good especially as they were taken at a live performance and in a darkened theatre! Very good!

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 13mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/40s

Patrick’s Day in pictures

Revelers who were obviously having a great time at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Cork!

Patrick's Day in pictures

Big and crazy hats were the order of the day for many visitors and spectators

Patrick's Day in pictures

Crowd Safety officials had their hands full with the large crowd at the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Cork. I think they’re worried.

Patrick's Day in pictures

A carousel in Emmet’s Place attracted parents and kids and did a roaring business after the short St. Patrick’s Day parade in Cork. Each time themachine came to a halt parents and children alike both rushed up to grab their places!

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

The red and white man

A street entertainer on stilts entertained the crowd at the Midleton Food and Drink Festival last September. I took photos of him in Cork too and I think he recognised me and my wife as he made a beeline for us and stopped to chat.

This was shot from below as he was towering over us, but I cropped a much larger shot. I used flash to illuminate his face against the bright sky.

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

Gary finds his parents

A wonderful thing happened the other day. Gary Byron, a Corkonian like myself, was browsing the net and looking about for things to do when he comes home for Christmas. He stumbled upon this blog and by some one-in-a-million chance found my photo, Wet Day Shopping. He recognised the couple in the photo as his parents and he left a comment on the post.

… what were the chances of me finding this photo, anyway its a great photo, I will get it developed and give to them as a surprise.

I got in touch with Gary shortly afterwards and sent him on a larger image which will print out to a nice 8×10 so I hope he managed to find a camera shop on the Friday before Christmas Day that wasn’t swamped with customers!

I was amazed that someone recognised people in a photo I took. It happened once before. Corksurf recognised the woman in this shot and left a comment on the flickr page of the image. I’m sure it’ll happen again. Hopefully with results as positive!

Last minute shopping

Today many major cities and towns around the world are going to be thronged with shoppers doing last minute shopping before Christmas Day. Traffic is going to crawl and frustrate and the crowds will be suffocating.

I’m glad I’m staying at home. We may head out to the Lough later for a walk. So stressful!

I like this: Europe – The Parisian Chapter

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

Fun at the crib

Fr James McSweeney’s live crib in Ballyvolane was busy with animals and human visitors all through last week but I managed to get some shots the night when we visited.

As I mentioned already, there were all sorts of animals there, from sheep and donkeys to chickens, calves and puppies. Donations are welcome, and all proceeds go towards the renovation of St. Patrick’s Church. The crib last year raised 35,000 Euro for the Cope Foundation so hopefully they can beat that this year!

The crib is open from 5pm to 9pm until the 23rd, so if you’re in the area, call up to Ballyvolane Church and you’ll see the signs pointing the way to the crib.

I like this: Edward Scissorhands – my wife is a huge fan of the film. I wonder how long it took to get the model looking like that?

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 21mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/60s

Christmas Street Lights

The Christmas lights in Mallow, Co. Cork illuminate the streets with a lovely cheerful glow.

A passing car provides another source of light in this long exposure shot on the main street of the town.

Aperture ƒ/22
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 6s

Chistmas Tree Lights

St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Mallow is lit up by the lights of the Christmas tree in the church grounds.

The camera club social night was in Mallow last night and after a great meal myself and Jacinta left the rest to prop up the bar! I had my camera with me and I got some good shots of the town and the church above.

It gave me the idea of writing an article about night shooting, so expect that in a day or two!

Aperture ƒ/22
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 20s