The Tin Pub in Ahakista

The Tin Pub in Ahakista

One of the highlights of Ahakista in Co. Cork is the Tin Pub set in the middle of an area lush with vegetation, flowers, trees and lovely West Cork Scenery.

Jacinta visited here several years ago with her friend Mary when they had a picnic in the back garden. We did the same, after asking the family who own the building. You see, the pub wasn’t open yet, but then Tom had a wedding the previous night and finished work at 4am. Shortly after we made ourselves comfortable outside and had poured our tea he showed up and smiled when he saw our picnic.

After our picnic we got chatting to Paul and Cath, who are over from Cornwall for a week. Over a pint we soon got lost in the easy going atmosphere of the pub and before we knew it time had caught up with us and we had to make the journey home.

Despite Pete McCarthy’s assertion that driving down a road with grass in the middle means you’re going the wrong way, you should try the “alternative route” to Ahakista. When you leave Bantry take the first turn right to Sheepshead and you’ll see it sign posted a few miles down the road. Go slowly, because others use the road, but the scenery is amazing. If it wasn’t for the fact that we were late leaving home, I would have stopped several times to shoot landscapes.

I can’t remember the last time I was in this part of the world, but the beautiful scenery and laid back way of life means I’ll be back!

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 1600
Shutter speed 1/15s

Fat Boy Harley

Harleys in Blarney

The 15th annual H.O.G. Rally took place this weekend in Killarney, Co. Kerry. 10,000 Harley Davidson riders were expected. For the last few days I’ve seen Harleys around Cork sporting flags from all over Europe.

Here are two of them on their way back, pictured in Blarney! Jacinta and I were going to the local shop when 2 couples riding on these beautiful bikes drove past. I had to grab my camera ask them to pose for a shot or two! For once I was in a photo because they invited us to sit on their bikes for a photo.

Phil – I hope you like the photos, I’ll send you on a couple of other shots too!

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/125s

Bonfire Night

Sofa Burning
Bonfire night.. adding fuel to the fire
Fire Brigade arrive

It was Bonfire Night in Cork yesterday. It’s celebrated on St. John’s Eve and there have been bonfires lit in Cork for as long as I remember. Not all parts of the country celebrate the night, and I heard on the radio 2 days ago that there may be a by-law passed in Cork banning the lighting of bonfires that night because of the danger to people, property and the fire services.
Unfortunately each year the fire services are attacked with rocks and other weapons when they go to certain areas of the city.

Aperture ƒ/9
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 179mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/400s

De-construction on Grand Parade

The construction site that is the Grand Parade right now but it will soon look like Patrick’s Street with broad pavements, paving and those flag bearing poles that are so prominent on our main thoroughfare.

No Fred photos today, I haven’t had time to work on any. Expect more next week!

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 800
Shutter speed 1/2500s

Fred The Band in the Spiegeltent

Fred played in the Spiegeltent on Tuesday night and as usual put on a great show! Their show is energetic and wild and brilliant!

More photos tomorrow!

Edit: Donal has great photos of the night. Go look!

Aperture ƒ/3.5
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 1600
Shutter speed 1/40s

Brendan O’Carroll enjoying his break

Irish comedian Brendan O’Carroll, also known as Mrs. Brown, enjoys his break during yesterday evening’s performance of Good Mourning Mrs Brown.

We were on our way to see Fred play in the Spiegeltent which is situated in front of the Opera House when we noticed a group of people outside the back entrance of the same building. After we passed, Jacinta realised who it was and we hurried back and made our introductions.
Brendan was very nice to us, he introduced his lovely wife, and posed for a photo with Jacinta and this shot. Hopefully he’ll remember the address of this blog, I really have to get cards printed!

Aperture ƒ/4.5
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/50s

Luigi Malones

A long exposure shot in Luigi Malones Restaurant in Cork catches some of the hectic activity during lunch hour.

Aperture ƒ/22
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 5s

The Web 2.0 Conference Cork

Tom Raftery welcomes everyone to the Web 2.0 Conference in the Radisson SAS Hotel in Little Island yesterday.
I’ll post a few more shots later tonight and update this post.
From left to right: Shel, Walter, Rob, Fergus (behind Rob), and Tom speaking.
Salim was seated to the right of Shel just outside this photo.
Tom has posted his own thoughts on the Conference and Conor has extensive coverage of each speaker, including a few nice words about me. Thanks!

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 125mm
ISO 1600
Shutter speed 1/60s

Web 2.0 pre-conference dinner

A group of about 20 bloggers, techs, and generally smart and nice people gathered in Probys Bistro last night before the Web 2.0 Conference today.
Pictured, in no particular order, and only if I figured out, or know your blog:

Not pictured are Fergus Burns or Walter Higgins who were sitting on either side of me at dinner. They gave great talks too, Fergus concentrated on the Irish perspective of starting a company while Walter gave a more technical talk on the technology behind AJAX and Rich Internet Apps.
Bref, Conor and Sabrina – where are your blogs?

Thanks again to Damien Mulley for organising the dinner. It was a great opportunity to meet some of the participants and characters at conference in an informal setting.

Later.. here’s a pic of me at the dinner taken by Joe Drumgoole:

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/5s

Relaxing on Panna

Young and old women relax on St. Patrick Street in the glorious sunshine about a month ago.

Aperture ƒ/9
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/200s

An Modh Scoil

This is the Small Claims Court in Cork. If you have a grievance about a product or service you can bring a case against the provider here for around 15 Euro.

In a past life it was also a primary school. I went to school here in the early 80’s when it was the Model School or “Modh Scoil” in Irish.
If you look carefully you may be able to see the inscription, “Cork District Model National School” over the door.
When it was a school the brickwork needed repair, the grounds were simple cement paths with green areas and the heating was open fires and boilers in several of the classrooms. Teachers had to pile on more coal to keep the fire going.
After the school closed down they couldn’t demolish the building because of it’s age so it was converted into a court.

I visited there last year with Jacinta and we were shown around by a friendly guard. I left my camera in it’s case. It was strange to see that the 6th class classroom was now a small courtroom, that huge rooms with high ceilings had been boxed off into offices, and that the boy’s toilets at the end of the building was now a holding cell for prisoners.

This is my first shot taken with the Sigma 10-20mm lens posted here. I didn’t need the wide angle because this is slightly cropped from the original.

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