I was there too
I was watching the sun set in Tenerife when a family approached and walked by. They were silhouetted by the sun, but instead of the usual black shadows, I wanted to try something different. No doubt the purists will be scoffing at the bright vignettes. Well, thanks. 🙂
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 122mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/400s |
Tucked away on the serene Sherkin Island in County Cork, I stumbled upon a timeless moment that felt plucked from another era. Two older men, clearly no strangers to the soil beneath them, were deep in conversation.
This photo was taken in 2015 while on a visit to the island. I hope they are still living on the island, chatting away.
| Aperture | ƒ/11 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 6D |
| Focal length | 105mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/50s |
Three women wait at the traffic lights on Grand Parade. They’ve all been shopping in NEXT.
It’s odd what Lightroom sometimes does to a photo when you correct for lens distortion. 🙂
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 160 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
A hand raised in greeting, with a smiling face, or is it a hand raised in anger?
Luckily, it was the former, with the smiling face of a friendly man just out of the shot greeting his friend in the plaid hat.
| Aperture | ƒ/1.7 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 6.3mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1500s |
A man with his pint of Beamish seated at The Roundy a few years ago.
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 800 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
If you don’t like crowds, you should avoid Valencia during the Fallas festival. I rarely saw any trouble. The crowds were almost always in good mood or, at the very least, resigned to not moving very fast. It appears that moving fast can be accomplished if you hire someone in a high-vis vest who will barge through the crowd, dragging a well-dressed family behind them to the front of the crowd. I saw that once as I waited for the Mascletà one bright sunny day last week.
| Aperture | ƒ/1.7 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 6.3mm |
| ISO | 10 |
| Shutter speed | 1/230s |
If you visit Valencia during the first 19 days of the month of March you’ll be bombarded by the loud bangs of bangers going off, and fireworks every day. You’ll also come across elaborate Falla, or statues, dotted around the city.
In the past, they were built of papier mache, but these days the main construction material is styrofoam. On the 20th of the March, all the Fallas in the city are burnt to the ground, with only one item from each saved.
The best Falla in 2025 was the one built at Jerusalem Convent-Matemático Marzal, and luckily, I was staying about 100m away. In reality, that didn’t help much because the crowds visiting there during the day meant it was almost impossible to walk past it quickly. The only time the streets were nearly empty was at 5am one morning when I was going to take sunrise photos.
Here’s only a small selection of photos from that area. There’s more to come, mostly of crowded streets, but the Falla will feature again, probably.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.4 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 7.9mm |
| ISO | 50 |
| Shutter speed | 1/125s |
I remember the day I took this photo, in August 2020. When I arrived, a group of young women were taking selfies at this spot and from my perspective, they looked like they were standing on the edge of a cliff. It’s still dangerous, but it was a calm evening and there was plenty of space if you’re an invincible teenager, unafraid of your mortality.
At the time, only pubs that served were alllowed to open due to Covid restrictions, but B&Bs and hotels were open. Breakfast in our B&B in Dingle was strictly monitored, with guests having to book their times so the dining room didn’t become too crowded.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 38mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 3.2s |
Wikipedia says, “A mascletà (pronounced in Valencian: [maskleˈta]) is a pyrotechnic event characterized by the achievement of a noisy and rhythmic composition that features, particularly during daytime, in street festivities; it is typical of the Valencian Community (Spain). It gets its name from the masclets (very loud firecrackers) that are tied by a wick to form a line or firework display. These are usually fastened at a medium height with ropes or raised by cannons.”
They are LOUD. The sound reverberates around the city centre, and you can feel it shake your body, and even into your legs. Quite an experience!
I did try to protect my ears, but it’s two days later, and there’s a remnant of the mascletà still ringing gently in my left ear since this morning when I woke up. Only time will tell if that is permanent.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 640 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1000s |
A glass fronted building on Wilton Terrace is reflected in the waters of the canal in Dublin earlier this month. I thought it might be the Canadian Embassy, but Google Maps shows it’s a slightly different building.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.2 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 2.2mm |
| ISO | 1600 |
| Shutter speed | 1/8s |
Two people kayaking at the mouth of Dingle Harbour in Co. Kerry while I was on a boat looking for Fungi, the Dingle Dolphin, back in 2017.
We saw Fungi that day. He broke the water a few times.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 6D |
| Focal length | 116mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/125s |
Waves crash onto the beach and rocks of Couminole Beach, Co Kerry near full tide. A dangerous beach for swimming at the best of times, it would be foolhardy to go swimming there in conditions like this!
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 20mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/640s |
