Waves at Couminole

The waves crash on to the beach at Couminole on Slea Head, Co. Kerry.

Standing where I was when I took this image was scary. Huge waves lifting up water to head height before crashing down mere feet in front of me.

Is that Skellig Michael in the background?

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 72mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/500s

Shadows on Slea Head

Shadows from the broken clouds above play over the landscape on Slea Head in Co. Kerry. Every moment was a different photo until the rain eventually caught up with us!

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/160s

Rain blows over Slea Head

Rain descended on us moments after I took this shot as it sped across the bay and over Slea Head from the south!

This was taken above Couminole Beach.

Aperture ƒ/5
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/500s

Yellow Walking Man

An arrow points the way for walkers near Wine Strand on the Dingle Peninsula. Across the water is Ballydavid or Baile na nGall.

Beautiful clear skies, lovely calm water. Ideal weather.

Aperture ƒ/13
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 20mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/160s

Dingle

The town of Dingle, or “An Daingean” as it’s officially known as now. The name change has upset many local people who mourn the loss of their identity and fear that the brand recognition of the name Dingle will be lost on (mostly American) tourists who flock here through out the summer.

The 2005 Placenames Order changed the name and it’s an utterly silly law. Yes the town is in an Gaeltacht, the Irish speaking part of the country. Yes, more people (hopefully?) speak Irish in those parts than in others, but a region does not survive on it’s own without interaction with non-Irish speaking people. I’m all in favour of An Gaeilge but this law is wrong.
Luckily, locals have stencilled the word “Dingle” back onto most signage but they missed a few signs here and there.

Aperture ƒ/11
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 40mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/320s

The waves at Couminole

Waves about to crash down on the nearby rocks at Couminole Beach on Slea Head, Co. Kerry.

Originally this was in colour but it lacked punch. Converting it to black and white and slightly overexposing the blue channel created this dramatic scene.

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 125mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/320s

Couminole View

Looking out to sea from the steep walkway down to Couminole Strand on Slea Head, the Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry.

The film Ryan’s Daughter was filmed in this area and the beach behind me was featured in the gun running scene! Check it out on Youtube. About 2 minutes into the second clip you can see some of the rocks pictured above. The scenes where the IRA and locals run across rocks with waves crashing on rocks in the background was definitely not filmed on the same beach however. Even at low tide the beach can be crossed in about 4 steps.

Aperture ƒ/10
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/250s

Lysfoss heads into Cork

A large cargo ship of the Lys Line company called "Lysfoss" makes it’s way into Cork while a small fishing boat is tied to the pier in Cobh.

In the distance the harbour pilot can be seen heading for the small harbour in Cobh.

It’s fascinating what comes up on Google:
The Lysfoss went aground (pdf) in 2001. This page says a vessel of the same name was in dry dock and had repairs made on 2 separate occasions.
The Lysfoss sailing schedule.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/40s

Fitzgerald’s Park Reflection

Clouds in the sky reflect off the water of the pond in Fitzgerald’s Park in Cork.

Aperture ƒ/5
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/100s

The Yellow Rose

A yellow rose in Fitzgerald’s Park in Cork. I made this photo a few weeks back and it had just rained, leaving nice little droplets of water on the delicate petals of the flower.

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

Shih Tzu playing ball on the beach

Our pet Shih Tzu, Oscar with a tennis ball in his mouth on Garrettstown Beach a few weeks before Adam was born last April.
He loves running after the ball, but the poor little doggy is a bit lame right now. We took him to the vet who couldn’t find anything wrong. This has happened before and he recovered so fingers crossed he gets better this time too.
The strange thing is, it only affects him when he’s walking on pavements or roads. On grass he’s almost fine, and at home you wouldn’t know it from his running around! Dog psychology?

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 225mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/1250s

A rainy day on the street

It’s raining in Cork, possibly. The weather has been all upside down this summer. By the time you see this on my photoblog, I’ll be on my way to San Francisco. Check my Flickr stream for tomorrow’s pic 🙂

I couldn’t run my future posting script because Flickr changed their filename naming scheming to protect original images. Good move, but it’s annoying if you blog the original sized ones!

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 400
Shutter speed 1/320s