The waves at Couminole

Waves about to crash down on the nearby rocks at Couminole Beach on Slea Head, Co. Kerry.

Originally this was in colour but it lacked punch. Converting it to black and white and slightly overexposing the blue channel created this dramatic scene.

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 125mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/320s

Couminole View

Looking out to sea from the steep walkway down to Couminole Strand on Slea Head, the Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry.

The film Ryan’s Daughter was filmed in this area and the beach behind me was featured in the gun running scene! Check it out on Youtube. About 2 minutes into the second clip you can see some of the rocks pictured above. The scenes where the IRA and locals run across rocks with waves crashing on rocks in the background was definitely not filmed on the same beach however. Even at low tide the beach can be crossed in about 4 steps.

Aperture ƒ/10
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/250s

California Sunset

On the way to the Automattic beach houses last night we drove along the famous road that featured in Basic Instinct. I opened the window on Toni’s car and took a few photos of the sunset. I hoped for it to happen, but I was very lucky that the sun was blocked out by the signpost.

What are we doing on day one? Robert Hoekman, Jr is talking to us about "Designing the obvious" and expanding on his talk from the first day at WordCamp. The talk is going great, and generating lots of chatter and ideas!

Aperture ƒ/16
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 21mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/500s

Beach in the evening

Inch Strand in Co. Kerry as the sun shines over the water and the tide comes in.

Aperture ƒ/20
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 72mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/1000s

Donkey in the field

I almost made an ass of myself and forget to post a picture today! You’d be saying to yourselves, “He haw-lways posts a picture every day, where is today’s one?”

Never fear, here it is and I’ve run out of donkey jokes so it’s back to normal. Feel free to contribute in the comments however!

This donkey was snapped down in Kerry last September. We were driving back from Baile Na nGall (Bally David) when I spotted this donkey and a few horses in adjoining fields. I pulled over and ran across the busy bothaireen. Well, a Hi-ace and a tractor passed by..

More of the donkey to come!

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

Lifebelt in the grass

A lifebelt lay in the grass at a beach on the Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry last September. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, beautiful clouds contrasted with the deep blue of the sky and a light breeze blew off the sea.

We were just going back to the car after a nice stroll on the beach. I had just taken footprints in the sand down on the beach when I looked back one more time and saw this striking scene in front of me.

The clouds were perfect, the sun was shining on the beach, the far away hills were in shadow and light. Perfect moment!

Aperture ƒ/13
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/400s

EI-128 on Inch Strand

Last September a large group of glider enthusiasts spent a weekend at Inch Strand in Co. Kerry. They were from two clubs, one in Dublin and one from further north I think. I took down their details but that scrap of paper is long lost at this stage.

Conditions weren’t the best on the day we passed the beach. It was a beautiful sunny day, but the wind wasn’t blowing in the right direction and the only aircraft I saw flying was a powered one. We were on our way home so couldn’t wait around unfortunately. I still got some nice shots. Hopefully I’ll find time to work on them over the next few weeks!

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/250s

Kilbrittain 6 miles

A sign points to Kilbrittain in Co. Cork near the beach at Garrettstown.

Has it been 2 years already Ryan? My Flickr account expires in February 2008 so I have a bit more time on my hands. It’s been well worth it however!

Aperture ƒ/14
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/400s

Letters only

The post box at Garretstown, Co. Cork pictured last year but in pretty much the same condition yesterday when we drove past on the way home. I love the worn texture of the paint!

I like this: Headphoneland

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

Waves crash at Garretstown

Waves crash onto the beach at Garretstown last April.

Ryan has put his photos of the Irish Blog Awards online. Great shots!

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

The soaking wet happy springer spaniel

This is another photo of Ruby, a springer spaniel that lives in Myrtleville. This time she followed us over to Fennell’s Bay where she dashed off into the shallows after stones. She was deliriously happy!

Unfortunately the same could not be said for a group of teenagers higher up on the beach who threw stones at us and into the water very close to us. Their malevolent laughter spoiled that moment for us and put us in real danger. They weren’t locals and by their accents it wasn’t hard to figure out where in Cork they were from.

There’s more of Ruby here and here. We were down in Myrtleville last weekend and didn’t see her at all. I hope she’s ok and was tucked up at home in front of the fire instead of at a cold and wet beach.

Congratulations to Gavin@Headphoneland for winning best photoblog at last night’s Irish Blog Awards! Get well soon!

There’s definitely something up with Flickr’s “Blog This” function. The URL of the image it passed to my blog was borked and displayed the infamous, “This photo is currently unavailable”. I reported it yesterday but I guess it’ll take longer than that to fix.

The ever vexxing question of privacy arrises on Kevin’s blog here and here. In the USA it’s perfectly ok to use someone’s image for non commercial usage as long as the photo was taken in a public place. I can understand why that woman is suing Yahoo! but I guess it’s the money she wants rather than protecting her privacy. (Is there a difference?) I covered the issue in the past, where things could be a little different in Ireland – the expectation of privacy extends to a private conversation in a public place. Vexxing indeed!

The Digital Photography Show interviewed Bert Krages, the author of the PDF, The Photographer’s Right on the subject of photographer’s rights. I haven’t listened yet but it should be good as he knows his stuff. Obviously laws will change from place to place so do some research locally before shooting on the street! The interview is also mentioned here and here.

Aperture ƒ/7.1
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/125s

The Black Surfer

A surfer rides the waves at Garretstown in early January this year. I’m not sure how many were out there but we talked to one wet and cold looking one when he came out of the water and he told us they had been there for a few hours.

The heavens opened and rain fell shortly after. Only the surfers were left out in the open.

Donal has a good post about exposure. Donal, you should read Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera by Bryan Peterson. I’ll lend you my copy if you want. It’s a great read.

Aperture ƒ/6.3
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 800
Shutter speed 1/125s