Charity Daffodils

Here are the daffodils my wife picked up when she gave a nice crisp €50 note to the Irish Cancer Society collector in Blarney this afternoon.

A few days ago I offered to give the proceeds from the sale of a photo to charity plus €50 of my own money/. Nobody splashed out on a print unfortunately.

Well done to Robert who braved the elements to collect today!

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 72mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/60s

Old farm building in ruins

Out in the wilds of Co Cork, to the north of Bantry I found an old deserted farm. The house looked like it had been empty for some time and some of the out buildings were in worse repair.

Don’t forget the photowalk on Sunday!

Aperture ƒ/6.3
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 24mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/80s

Daffodil Day

Daffodil Day is fast approaching on Friday so I thought a photo of these gorgeous flowers was appropriate.

Daffodil Day is when cancer charities all over the world raise a large portion of their funds by selling daffodils. If you see an official seller please support a good cause and give generously.

I gave away a Daffodil Day header image last year on my blog. Actually, I’m still using it since then as my blog’s banner so I’m rather pleased with it!

Buy this image before Friday and you’ll support charity
Daffodil Day is next Friday. I’ve just started selling this image of daffodils on rebubble.com. If I make any sales before or on Friday I’ll give any profit I make to The Irish Cancer Society.

Red Bubble is a business and charge a base price on every print sold. I make a few Euro from each sale but no matter how many or how few prints I sell I’ll add 50 Euro to whatever profit is there. Even if I sell no prints (which I admit is quite likely), the Irish Cancer Society collector in Blarney will get a nice crisp 50 Euro note straight out of the ATM at lunch time on Friday.

If you think this is just a ploy to make some photo sales, then put your money where your mouth is and give generously to a Daffodil Day collector on Friday. If they’re not collecting in your area, I’m sure some worthwhile charity is!

Aperture ƒ/3.5
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 50mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/200s

The long road

A road winds into the hills north of Bantry. Yesterday’s photo of the Bantry hills was taken just up the road from here!

I joined Red Bubble yesterday and sold a photo already, although I think it was Pete who bought it as I emailed him last night about it. Nice selection of presentation methods too. Cool.

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

The rolling hills of Bantry

This is one of my favourite shots from the weekend in Bantry.

Basically I drove up the back roads out of Bantry town, then came to another town and picked the smallest road out of that place before going up a tiny little boithirin with barely room for my car. Wonderful.

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

Mountain Daffodil

A daffodil in the garden of a house in the hills north east of Bantry Bay. I drove up there last Saturday morning and stopped when I saw the open gate. Wandering in the driveway I took a few shots of the view and then noticed these daffodils growing.

I prefer the daffodils. The day was too gloomy and the view wasn’t that great.

Dedicated to the memory of the three young men who lost their lives today in nearby Dunboy Castle.

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

Fitzgerald’s Park Bench

A park bench in the lovely and picturesque Fitzgerald’s Park, Cork.

Something awful happened. I went away with my family on a great weekend break on Friday and in the rush and stress I forgot to post some photos for the weekend. I’m catching up!

Aperture ƒ/5
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/50s

Call me Spike

Frost covered weeds still manage to grow and thrive in the cold.

I saw this wonderful speckled white plant growing from a ditch yesterday morning and it looked very ominous. When I converted it to black and white I saw myself looking at something abstract, possibly evil, something that could be microscopic or huge.

I wouldn’t hang this photo on a wall, but I love it!

Aperture ƒ/3.5
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 50mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/160s

The frosty daffodil

This morning was a frosty one. My breath made clouds in the air and a light breeze carried away the warmth in the shadows.

Thankfully there was a lovely sunrise that more than made up for the cold. Down at the end of our park there’s a small green area, and this is the second year that daffodils have grown there. Luckily the frost didn’t seem to do them any harm.

"Sioc" is the Irish word for frost. I don’t know why but it’s one of my favourite. Maybe it has a lingering connection with cold frosty mornings from my childhood.
“Sioc” is pronounced almost exactly like the English word “shook”.

Aperture ƒ/9
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 50mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/25s

Looks like rain in Ballycotton

Threatening clouds over Ballycotton Harbour in Co. Cork. This was taken way back in 2006 on a nice September afternoon.

Lots done to this image, including overlay layers, and layer masks and other fun.

Aperture ƒ/11
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/250s

Spectators on the beach

The hang gliding crowd attracted a bit of a crowd on Inch Beach in 2006. Well, it was late September and there wasn’t that many people on the beach in the first place, so 2 people isn’t so bad, eh?

Hunger got the best of us and we watched as a powered plane flew high up in the air. I don’t think any of the gliders made it up that day because the winds weren’t right.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/800s

Ballycotton Fishing Boats

Fishing boats crowd the harbour in Ballycotton on a warm August afternoon.

This was taken in 2006, when I think I shot the rest of my Ballycotton images. I love the imposing clouds and the leading lines of the bows.

Aperture ƒ/11
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/250s