Category Archives: People

Music in Blackrock Village

Fintan Lucy and Niall O’Carroll entertained the crowds with great music and an occasional joke at the market in Blackrock village yesterday morning.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 6D
Focal length 17mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/200s

Cork Street Photography June Photowalk

Some photos I took in Cork City yesterday as part of the June Photowalk with Cork Street Photography “in the Style of Garry Winogrand”.

I only used a wide angle lens all day, and in processing I mostly avoided cropping the photos, although I did use the lens correction tool in Lightroom that straightens photos and crops a small portion of the image. Only two images have been cropped extensively, the one above in the bus, and the one of the woman sitting on a block smoking a cigarette.

I hardly ever composed a shot by eye, preferring to shoot from the hip, or in landscape mode from about shoulder height. I messed up framing when at 28mm, but at 17mm got more shots than I missed. Back button focus worked fairly well. I’d focus on the ground in front of me. A couple of shots were blurry but I was too far from the subject anyway, so no loss.

I used to shoot lots of wide angle street photos, and this got me back into it and reminded me of how hard it is!


Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 6D
Focal length 17mm
ISO 5000
Shutter speed 1/160s

Shoot … in the Style of Garry Winogrand

Tomorrow I’ll be braving the streets with Cork Streetphotography taking photos in the style of Garry Winogrand.

I’d never heard of Garry but a quick Google brought me plenty of digest. First this documentary, filmed in 1982, that showed his technique and friendly nature:

Then I came across this excellent blog post about the man. To summarise his technique:

  • Shoot, shoot, shoot.
  • Garry Winogrand shot with a 28mm lens. That’s fairly wide, so he was always in the thick of the action. No telephoto lens allowed.
  • He would frame his shot by looking through the viewfinder, so no shooting from the hip.

You can see in the video above how he fiddles with his camera to distract the people around him. That’s not a bad idea, especially when you have a wide lens!

The tips from that post, which I urge you to read:

  • Shoot, a lot
  • Don’t hesitate and follow your gut
  • Smile when shooting on the streets
  • Don’t shoot from the hip
  • Don’t crop
  • Emotionally detach yourself from your photographs
  • Look at great photographs
  • Focus on form and content
  • Become inspired by things outside of photography
  • Love life

Camden Quay, Cork

I’ll be only using my wide angle (17-40mm) lens so I won’t be tempted to zoom in too much. Tomorrow will be challenging.

The photos in this post are mine, just in case you’re not familiar with Cork. I shot the first photo in San Francisco in 2007. You can find many images by Garry Winogrand on Google Images.

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/250s

Biker? Surfer?

I honestly don’t know how he was going to get that board on to his bike, but he must know a way.
Spotted in San Diego in 2012.

This was my entry into Blarney Photography Club’s league competition last night on the subject of transport. Unfortunately it didn’t do too well, but I still really like it.

This’ll be my image for day two of the six (not five, oops) day challenge that’s doing the rounds on Facebook right now.

Aperture ƒ/6.3
Camera Canon EOS 40D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 400
Shutter speed 1/800s

TTIP Protestor

TTIP is the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. It’s not something I’m too familiar with but it seems there’s lots of anger about it in certain quarters. This was a protest that took place on Grand Parade last Saturday.

They’re anti GMO too. I learned that animal feed in Ireland now contains genetically modified ingredients and the speaker declared the only way of being sure that the food you eat is safe is if it’s organic. Studies have shown it’s no safer than other types of food, but organic farming is big business. Be as sceptical of their claims as you would any other claims.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 6D
Focal length 105mm
ISO 320
Shutter speed 1/320s

Michael O’Regan and a Customer

Michael O’Regan is a well known sight on St. Patrick Street, Cork, selling the Evening Echo for over forty years from a couple of spots on the street.
Ten years ago I took a photo of him and promised I’d make a print for him. It took some time but last weekend I handed him a large print of that same photo. He was delighted, and posed for another photo along with a customer who had just bought a paper off him!

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 6D
Focal length 50mm
ISO 2000
Shutter speed 1/250s
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