Niketown: Run on Air

The Nike Store, Niketown, on Union Square, San Francisco as seen in 2006.

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

Horgans of Blarney

The Irish flag flies outside Horgans of Blarney, a souvenir shop in the village.

Despite the fact that it’s between the butcher’s and a pub, I’ve never been in there. I doubt most locals have been.

Still, nice to see the flags waving!

Aperture ƒ/7.1
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/125s

Big brother is watching you

Big brother is watching you, wherever you go! CC TV cameras are sprouting up everywhere.

This one is just outside the AIB in Blarney. I happened to go to the AIB in Blackpool and counted at least 3 cameras near the entrance.

If you happen to use WordPress to power your blog, then grab Blog Voyeur and keep a seedy eye on your visitors.

Aperture ƒ/7.1
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/125s

Girl on dad’s shoulders

A small girl sits on (I presume) her dad’s shoulders on Patrick’s Street. In the background is the Savoy Shopping Center, and of course the building side behind Dunnes is clearly visible in the scaffolding supports to the far left.

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 400
Shutter speed 1/1250s

I want real spam!

Oh, delicious spam! How I love you so! I want to spread you on sandwiches and lick the knife clean! Oh Yum!

Or not. I’ve never tasted the edible variety of spam, but like everyone else online I’ve had my fair share of spam emails, comments and blogs.

This is the real spam, made by Hormel. I spotted it in a store in San Francisco and snapped a quick shot of the aisle. Unfortunately the light was bad but, if you’ve never come across it before, it’s a novelty worth posting, right?

Current spam stats:
1. Inphotos: 8510
2. Holy Shmoly!: 21689
3. Gmail: 2176

Spam is here to stay.

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/6s

Slow down in 2008

I’m going to slow down this year. I’ve been trying to keep up with everyone else, moving without thinking, on auto pilot sometimes.

I blog too fast. There! I’ve said it. I tried to post here, to Holy Shmoly!, to The Funny Video Blog every day but there’s only so much one man can do.

Instead, this blog will of course be updated every day, Holy Shmoly will be updated at most 3 times a week, and I’ll try to post one funny video a week.

Then I’ll have time to play with my son, watch him discover the world and enjoy the great times.

Ryan – thank you for the recommendation and a happy new year to you too!

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 400
Shutter speed 1/10s

January Sales

The Christmas rush is over. Sales have been bad for retailers as people suddenly realised, “Oh! The mortgage has to be paid!”

Anyway, I’m half-hoping I’ll be able to pick up a Nintendo Wii somewhere. I don’t suppose they’ll be on sale will they?

I celebrate 10 years online this year! Go me!

Check out Donal’s new photoblog, Pana Vision!

Aperture ƒ/6.3
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/100s

The Anarchist Postman

Graffiti of a postman, or could be a police officer on a wall off South Main Street in Cork.

This was taken several months ago but was still there last time I looked! Sorry for the large file size. Jpeg compression doesn’t like random pixels.

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera DMC-FZ5
Focal length 17.700000762939mm
ISO 80
Shutter speed 1/400s

Irish rugby was rubbish in 2007

Irish rugby player Ronan O’Gara was the face of Samsung and many other brands this year. Apparently Samsung announced that their sales dropped because of their association with the hapless team. 😉

“We had no idea how poorly he would play,” continued the Samsung spokesperson. “Not just Ronan, but the whole team. In hindsight the ‘I’m converted’ caption is quite embarrassing because his conversion record in the World Cup was shite. We’re quite disappointed with Ronan, not only did he let himself and the country down, but he let us, a multi-billion dollar company, down as well.”

Aperture ƒ/7.1
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/100s

Stolichnaya Russian Vodka

A huge advertisement for Stolichnaya Russian Vodka on the side of a building near Union Square in San Francisco. It proudly stats, “Choose Authenticity”.

This is the sight that greeted me on my first night in the city!

Gorbys Nightclub

This alley should be familiar to almost everyone in Cork. The entrance to Gorbys nightclub is halfway down there.

Many a Saturday night was spent queuing up to get in!

Aperture ƒ/3.5
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/2s

Penneys from Drawbridge Street

Look carefully. The grey building in the background is Pennys on Patrick Street. This was taken on Drawbridge Street near Aroma. Once construction work commences in this view will be obscured forever.

This is the same site as yesterday’s shot of Dunnes Stores and the JCB, from a different angle.

Aperture ƒ/5
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 48mm
ISO 400
Shutter speed 1/320s