Construction signs on Parnell Bridge in front of Cork City Hall were lit up by a passing bus a few nights ago.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 50 |
| Shutter speed | 6s |
The Tranquil Waters of Robert’s Cove
Robert’s Cove in Co. Cork looked particularly spectacular this afternoon when I visited. We arrived to a sudden shower of rain, but it soon stopped, and we wandered up the path alongside the cliff away from the beach.
Panoramas really don’t post well online. I need to do something like they do on Instagram where they break it up into 3 identical sized images and the gallery allows you to scroll from left to right smoothly. An idea for a new WordPress block?
Two podcast episodes you might like:
| Aperture | ƒ/4.5 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/640s |
The Galeón AndalucÃa in Cork
The Galeón AndalucÃa, a replica of a 16th-17th century Spanish galleon docked in Cork a few days ago for the European Maritime Days to Play, on yesterday and today.
I wandered down the quays where there were a number of other boats. A nice day out for school kids who got a few hours out of the classroom too!
| Aperture | ƒ/2.2 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 2.2mm |
| ISO | 50 |
| Shutter speed | 1/3800s |
Trácht ar Mhalairt SlÃ
If the road works, why are there signs pointing out where diverted traffic goes?
Did you know that most street signs in Ireland are bilingual? As Gaeilge on top and English below.
Thanks Henry, for the company last night. A good spot to do long exposure photography.
Oh, here’s something interesting about this photo. It’s made of two images I had to merge together in Photoshop because my long exposure shot wasn’t long enough. Two 4 second shots of a slowly moving bus on a corner.
Set the layer type of the top layer to “screen” and the lights in the air come through.
The resulting tiff file was 318.7MB. That’s a monstrosity for a simple image so I converted it to DNG which resulted in a 233.3MB file, and then to lossy DNG. That squeezed it down to 7.5MB! Not bad for a 9417×6278 image.
I couldn’t see any difference in image quality. There were slight differences when I clicked the auto Transform button, but nothing major.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 29mm |
| ISO | 50 |
| Shutter speed | 6s |
A Sunlit Stroll in Athens
It was a blisteringly hot day in Athens when we were walking around the ruins of the old city when I saw this woman in a bright yellow jumpsuit approach.
That yellow colour jumped out at me, but it was only later I noticed the man behind her carrying her bag. Is that a charging cable going from her phone to the bag? Nice to have someone else carry your bag on a hot day, with a battery for your phone too! 🙂
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
A Visitor’s Perspective of the Hagia Sophia
Another tourist watches for a moment before taking her own photo with her phone, inside the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Non Muslims are restricted in where they can go now because it was turned back into a mosque again in 2020.
This was on the morning after I spent the day in bed recovering from food poisoning, so I didn’t take a whole lot of photos and had to go back to bed afterwards as I was so tired from the walk. This page has a number of photos showing what it’s like. Definitely try to avoid the busy times. It’s thronged with visitors.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 10000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/60s |
Trump Tower Construction by the River
Chicago in 2005 was a city in flux, and nowhere was that more obvious than at the Trump Tower construction site, right on the banks of the Chicago River. I was walking at the edge of the site and took a bunch of photos, some of which I’ve posted over the years.
What you see in front of you appears to be the open area next to the “new” tower. Over to the left is the Wrigley Building and looking at Google Street View gives a good view of what it looks like now, from across the river.
I haven’t been back to Chicago in twenty years. I’d love to see it again.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 18mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
Greeting Visitors in the Shadow of the Wrigley Building
I last visited Chicago in 2005, when I took this photo of the Wrigley Building, and this “We’re glad you’re here!” banner.
Did you know the clock faces of the Wrigley Building are each almost 6m in diameter? The two towers of the building were completed just over 100 years ago!
| Aperture | ƒ/9 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 53mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/160s |
Underpass Artists
Two young men decorate the underpass on the Line in Blackrock this evening with spray paint. There are fabulous murals on both walls of the underpass!
Fun fact: spray paint, the tool of choice here, was invented in 1949 by Edward Seymour, on the suggestion of his wife, Bonnie.
| Aperture | ƒ/1.7 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 6.3mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/60s |
Standing for Palestine in Cork
A man carrying a Palestinian flag after the protest rally last weekend. I met him on Nano Nagle Bridge, and he said he comes in whenever he can, to join the weekly rally against the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/3200s |
The Duck Who Loved Cash
Twenty years ago today, I was walking up State Street in Chicago when I spotted a duck robbing an unsuspecting woman on the street. I was horrified and, of course, immediately took a photo of such a strange incident.
Turns out, it was some sort of advertising photoshoot for Western Union, but the original photo went viral, even appearing in newspapers.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 55mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
Cork City Walks Past Fashion Giants
Advertising goes unnoticed as people hurry past on Opera Lane, Cork.
Did you know the rugby shirt, with its bold stripes, was first popularised in the 19th century?
| Aperture | ƒ/2.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 640 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |