The funnel of the Queen Elizabeth 2 looms over Cobh as seen from near the Commodore Hotel.
| Aperture | ƒ/14 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 88mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Category: Look up
The QE2 docked in Cobh last Thursday. This was shot at the bottom of steps down to the water where seaweed made footing precarious. I saw a few people venture down the steps but none went further than half way down. The tide was well out so I was maybe 3m below the quayside, standing in wet and slippery seaweed. The risks I take to get a photo!
Oh yeah, there’s already something gone bust in my new Canon 40D. The pop up flash refuses to pop up unless I prise it open with a fingernail. It tries a few times, gives up and issues an Error 99 and needs to be switched off and on. The same happened to my Canon 20D, but I’m surprised the 40D didn’t last a bit longer ..
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 21mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/125s |
The Queen Elizabeth 2 is a British ship, and it’s likely that many of the passengers were British too. I spotted one large Union Jack flag draped over a railing and people on the ship waved mini Union Jack flags too. That sort of gets under the skin of many Irish people.
A huge crowd had gathered on the quayside at Cobh. A band was playing and people cheered and waved as the ship departed. The atmosphere was great but when the Irish Tricolour appeared on the roof of the ship, being waved by a young man, the crowd let out a huge cheer, and whistled and clapped in appreciation.
They were still waving the Irish flag as the ship left the harbour. I spotted them after she turned!
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 88mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
Young Cork supporters take the tour bus around the city a few weeks ago. Cork plays Kerry isn’t it today in a replay? Yes, I’m a big sports fan, honest.
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 200mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/250s |
Sears Tower is one of the famous landmarks of Chicago I photographed while in the city. Remarkably, despite the months I spent in the city, I never actually went to the top of the building. I almost did once, but turned back for some reason. Could have been the long line to get past security. Dunno.
Anyway, this is only the second shot of the building I’ve posted. The first, taken near one of the flagpoles pictured here was unusual and was fairly well received. This is a more traditional architecture shot, though I do like the flags waving in the wind!
Oh, my Canon 20D is still broken. On advice from Ryan, I’ll give Canon in the UK a ring, and I’m also on the look out for a Canon 40D. ac-foto in Germany sell the body only for €795 which seems to be the best price I’ve found so far. Prices in Ireland are around the €1,200 mark. Ouch. Where would you buy a DSLR? (that’ll ship to Ireland!)
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 18mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/200s |
Bord Gais, fuelling the passion for Camogie in Cork. Or is it the wine? I couldn’t resist taking this shot this evening!
This is the second last photo I took with my Canon 20D before the shutter started clicking continuously. The last one is a slightly blurry shot of my family and inlaws in the pictured Wine Bar on Washington Street, Cork. I had just taken the shot, decided it was time to put the camera away and get Adam out of the buggy. I put the lens cap on, and click, click, click, click..
The clicks would only stop when I took the battery out. It appears from this thread that I’m not alone. I know that in the old days, cameras would last decades and “they don’t make them like they used to”, but I never expected the Canon 20D to break down on me in just 3 years. At a guess, I’ve probably shot 75,000 pictures with it so perhaps it was about time the shutter complained.
Anyway, I’m going to ring Canon in Dublin tomorrow for a repair quote. If it’s too expensive I’ll have to look into getting a replacement camera. Hope the house insurance will pay out in that case.
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 28mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
A restaurant on St Patrick Street in Cork has this architectural feature over it’s door. You’re either going to love the lomo+vignette+colour effect or you’re going to hate it. This is an experiment with the newly enhanced GIMP Lomo plugin I had originally updated to work with GIMP 2.4. Elsamuko has added a few nice features.
In other news, the Guinness Storehouse photowalk was yesterday. I couldn’t make it but a number of bloggers did, including Will Knott, Darren and Alexa.
You can see some of the amazing shots from the day here, but that url may go stale in a week or so I guess. Well done to Marcus who had a huge hand in organising the trip.
Another Cork photowalk is out of the question in August unless someone else wants to organise one. I’m busy both weekends that are left this month. Perhaps in September? What about constraining it? Make it b/w only? Or portraits only, or architecture, or “secret” places in the city that people won’t recognise perhaps?
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
A public walkway over the railway tracks in Cobh, Co. Cork.
Walking down by the quay in Cobh is a nice relaxing way of spending an evening, at least before it gets dark. Despite the presence of the nautically shaped Garda station close by it’s a bit too secluded and remote for my tastes. I do love the old red brick of the train station and the supporting structure of this bridge. I know I have a few shots of it somewhere that I simply have to dig out.
Lots of dodging the burning in this shot, as well as some brightening in Bibble Pro and b/w conversion of course. Took quite a bit of time to come up with the finished product.
| Aperture | ƒ/5 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/80s |
An old sign reflect in the windows of a new building, somewhere in Chicago.
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 55mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
I went searching and found a few pages describing how to shoot the sun during a solar eclipse. All warned against looking at the sun directly.
So, I ignored all that advice and got out my 75-300mm lens and grabbed a couple of shots of the sun with a chunk bitten out of it by the moon. Thankfully the clouds provided a bit of a filter but my eyes are still watering a bit. Worth it?
With hindsight, what the hell was I thinking? I’m lucky my eye is fine, but if you’re going to shoot a solar eclipse, don’t look through the viewfinder. Set your camera up on a tripod and project an image of the sun on a white sheet of cardboard and then press the shutter button. Much safer than actually looking..
| Aperture | ƒ/45 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 300mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/8000s |
The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) is the world’s oldest futures and options exchange. It was established in 1848 and since 1930 has operated out of this building on 141 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago according to this Wikipedia page.
Possible Batman “The Dark Knight” spoilers ahead. Don’t read on if you’re going to watch the movie!
| Aperture | ƒ/13 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 41mm |
| ISO | 800 |
| Shutter speed | 1/250s |
You’re in town and desperately looking for a parking place. Where do you go? All the on-street parking has either been removed because of road works or taken by everyone who went shopping at 9am. Just look up. There’s a multi storey carpark somewhere near you. Probably.
Front of the car park on The Grand Parade. Shot after I said goodbye to Phil and the others a few weeks ago.
| Aperture | ƒ/13 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/400s |