Golden Gate Bridge in Fog

Tourists on a ferry pass by the fog shrouded Golden Gate Bridge
in San Francisco Bay.

The day was beautiful out near Alcatraz but fog covered the upper reaches of the bridge and I thought would make a pleasing shot.

PS. I’m not finished with photos from 2006 by a long shot!

Aperture ƒ/13
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/800s

Footprints in the sand

Footprints on a sandy beach on the Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry.

The blue sky, fluffy clouds, golden sand and warm breeze are just the tonic for a relaxing break away from it all.


Apertureƒ/14
CameraCanon EOS 20D
Focal length11mm
ISO200
Shutter speed1/400s

An Fear Marbh

An Fear Marbh, an island off the coast of Co. Kerry, Ireland, with the setting sun lighting up the cloud over the Atlantic.

“An Fear Marbh” translates as “the dead man” and is so named because of the obvious shape of the island – that of a man lying on his back.
This was taken last September but because today is the Winter Solstice, and the shortest day of the year, I thought it was the perfect image for the day. Days will get longer now, little by little each day.

On the day this was taken we had dinner in Dingle. I watched the sun set and the light travel down the mountains near the Conor Pass. After eating, we quickly drove west to the coast to watch the sunset. Driving down a small road we spotted a car pulled over and someone standing outside watching the sunset so we stopped and got out. Turns out it was another photographer shooting the setting sun! We stayed there chatting for a few minutes before heading off. A few moments later the road turned a corner and this beautiful scene presented itself. I had to stop and shoot a few dozen shots.

Last night we called to the crib in Ballyvolane. Fr. James McSweeney has put together a wonderful crib with chickens, pigs, calves, goats, sheep, lammas, a pony, 2 donkeys and 4 young puppies. I’ll post a photo or two tomorrow, and the crib is definitely worth a visit if you live in Cork.
Visitors are asked to give a donation, and this year money raised will go to the St Patrick’s Church renovation fund. The crib is located 200 metres from St Oliver’s Church in Ballyvolane on Kilmorna Heights.
Fr. James has a photography site at Today is my gift to you.ie where he posts a new photo every day. I’ll be converting it to a WordPress blog in January when things quieten down again!

Aperture ƒ/9
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 106mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/5s

Seaside Bubbles

Bubbles in the incoming tide break on the sandy beach at Garretstown about a month ago.

I turned this black and white because I love the abstract feel to the bubbles and it makes the grain of the sand beneath more visible. I had to jump up to avoid getting splashed moments later but such are the risks one takes for one’s art!

Aperture ƒ/11
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/800s

Carefree on the beach

Shoes off wandering along the beach, the glow of a setting sun and nothing to do but enjoy the moment.

Taken in Garretstown last month on a warm Autumn day.

Aperture ƒ/11
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 179mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/2000s

Pier 38, San Francisco

Pier 38 is where True Ventures have their San Francisco office. It was the location of a great post-WordCamp party last August. It was such a beautiful night I had to take a shot of the moon and lights reflecting in the water.

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1.6s

New Johnny T

The boat New Johnny T passed by a pier in San Francisco on the same afternoon this shot was taken.

I wonder what happened to Old Johnny T?

Welcome Darragh White to the world and congrats to your parents!

Aperture ƒ/22
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/160s

Watching from Alcatraz

A small hut on the island of Alcatraz looks out on San Francisco. It looks well preserved and anyone in the hut would have a god view of the city and probably the surrounding coastline up to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Aperture ƒ/10
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/400s

Rusted and abandoned

An old oil drum stands on the quay at Ballycotton rusting away as the exposed metal is beaten down by the elements.

Technique: I increased the saturation of the reds to bring out the rust of the drum. I desaturated other colours so the drum would stand out.
I then duplicated the layer and darkened the top one to bring out the clouds and sky before using a layer mask to expose the ground on the bottom layer. After that a simple gradient at the top of the image provided a nice dark effect and finally, I dodge and burned the rust until I was happy. Was that useful?

I used CocoViewX to view my work directory from my Linux box on my Macbook. I was surprised that Finder didn’t display thumbnails and I didn’t want the iPhoto heavyweight when all I wanted was to know which image was which.

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

The Golden Bay Bridge in San Francisco

The Bay Bridge in San Francisco all lit up at night. The lighting on the bridge casts a golden glow over the water that is beautiful to watch and photograph. More on Wikipedia.

Niall Kennedy walked with myself and Bryan Veloso around the Ferry Building on the night before WordCamp and we got some great shots.
You can see the pier to the right of this image here in more detail with a super reflection.

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 20s

Have bike, will travel

As you can imagine, I was quite tired by the time I got to San Francisco!

Picture above was taken just down from my Bird flying by photo. I know there are lots of awkward lines in this shot but the line of the Golden Gate Bridge is just about horizontal.
Automattic had it’s first meeting of the week a few yards from here in the glorious sunshine. Some of us suffered sunburn but it sure beat sitting around some dusty old conference table!

Aperture ƒ/13
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/320s

Bird flying by

A gull flies off after an inconsiderate photographer runs after it to shoot it. Beats having the kids do the running eh? They might fall!

This was taken in San Francisco, and that’s The Golden Gate Bridge in the background. I went through my shots from my August trip a few days ago and selected around one hundred images for processing. I’ll mix in a few shots over the next few week’s posts. There’s everything from bridges, street people and furniture, Memphis Minis and Alcatraz so plenty for all tastes.

Note to self – when traveling to a new timezone, change the time on your camera!

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