Musical Posters

Wouldn’t it be great if posters sang to you? Christy Moore would sang a ballad about Guinness and a surf board while Lovely Girls would scream and shout.
Meanwhile Shayne Ward would sing something or other. Not sure who he is. He won one of those x-factor things didn’t he?

I like my peace and quiet.

Aperture ƒ/3.5
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/100s

Thumbs up for Cork!

You may remember this gentleman from a photo I posted around a year ago (it’s pure coincidence I’m posting this today! Really!)

This was shot in Midleton, Co. Cork during the Food and Drink Festival in 2006. Nice guy who came over for a chat afterwards.

Aperture ƒ/11
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/500s

Carroll’s Quay Apartments

This is the apartment block that sprang up opposite the car park, from which I took this photo.

The building itself is a dull grey monstrosity. Large windows look out on the street, hardly offering any privacy for residents. Tiny balconies sit outside some of the windows.

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/80s

Mr Whirly the ice cream man

An ice cream van in December? Yes, Mr Whirly was in Kinsale. Obviously someone isn’t bothered by the cold!

Aperture ƒ/14
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 25s

Smiling pretty girls

On the night when firemen closed off Dorothy Perkins in Cork, a few people saw my camera and presumed I was a photojournalist. Some even asked what was happening but I didn’t know!

Anyway, these two girls wanted their photo taken. They presumed I was with the Evening Echo but I told them photography was just my hobby. Still, got a nice photo considering I was shooting by available light.

I don’t want to be reminded how high I had to shove the ISO to get a decent shutter speed. Thankfully resizing loses some of the noise!

PS. we passed by the shop a few days ago. A sign on the door says, “Closed until further notice”. Does anyone know what happened there?

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 24mm
ISO 1600
Shutter speed 1/25s

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

Christmas decorations on high

Christmas decorations on Paul Street, Cork a few days before Christmas Day last year.

Hand held, and I hoped to get a “normal” straight shot but it’s hard to crouch down while wearing a jacket and pushing a buggy so it’s lopsided. I prefer it that way!
Conversion to b/w I think brings out the descending pattern of the lights along the street although the original image wasn’t that saturated with colour to begin with.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/200s

Firemen in action

Cork City Fire Brigade were called out this evening to a shop on Patrick Street.

I’m not sure what the emergency was but two fire engines were called to the scene and had a Garda escort on the way there. Maybe a gas leak?
A huge crowd gathered around and when some people saw my camera they just had to pose for a shot .. more on that next week!

Trivia: these are my first shots posted in 2008 that was taken in 2008. Plenty more 2007 ones to go through yet though!

The hippiest bus

A strange multi-coloured bus waiting at the lights in downtown San Francisco last summer.

Yes, those are horns on the roof. Does anyone know anything about it? A search for “EFT 922”, it’s registration plate, turns up nothing useful.

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 20mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/25s

Starlight headlights

A long five second exposure at f/22 captured cars stuck on Patrick Street about a month ago.

They’ve done some fabulous work on the pavements of Cork’s main thoroughfare but it hasn’t made a jot of difference to vehicular traffic, except to make it more dangerous to pedestrians as they saunter across junctions blissfully unaware of the cars bearing down on them ..

Aperture ƒ/22
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 5s

So many light trails

Light trails from passing cars fill the frame with a golden glow on the corner of The Grand Parade and Washington Street, Cork.

Long exposure shot made possible by the traffic light switch on which I rested my camera!

Aperture ƒ/22
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 13s

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