Blarney Castle Gardens, November 2020.
| Aperture | ƒ/9 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/15s |
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Sun Shines Through the Trees
The sun has set on 2020 and I finish the year with what is probably my favourite photo of the year.
The sun shines through trees heavy with Autumn coloured leaves, not yet touched by the harsh winter winds back in October this year. Photo made in the grounds of Blarney Castle where I expect to take many more walks since we are only allowed exercise within 5km of home. That remains in place until the end of January because of rising Covid19 numbers in the country. Third lockdown of the year unfortunately.
I have made roughly half the number of photos I normally shoot in a year. In April I took one photo with my camera. The number of photos I took with my phone wasn’t much different from previous years but I know for certain that I took many more photos of my cats and dog this year!
Aperture ƒ/8 Camera ILCE-7M3 Focal length 70mm ISO 800 Shutter speed 1/160s -
Michael Mansfield of Ardmore, Co Waterford
Many years ago I published a few photos of Ardmore in Co Waterford. The post received a number of comments about one particular photo of a gentleman on a motorbike. His name was Michael Mansfield and unfortunately he passed away in 2009 but that hasn’t stopped the occasional visitor from leaving a comment since then, the most recent being yesterday.
That comment prompted me to look up the photos I made that day in 2005 to find more photos of Michael Mansfield. Here are the three I found, including the one that appeared in the original post.
Reading the comments I wish I had stopped to talk to Michael. He seems to have been quite the character around Ardmore!
Aperture ƒ/4 Camera CYBERSHOT Focal length 25.1mm ISO 100 Shutter speed 1/500s -
The Swans of Blarney Castle
Blarney Lake lies at the far end of the gardens surrounding Blarney Castle but is well worth a visit if you’re in the gardens. I’m not sure how often swans are there but these two curious and friendly birds were there yesterday.
Aperture ƒ/5.6 Camera DSC-RX100M4 Focal length 25.7mm ISO 125 Shutter speed 1/320s -
HDR in ON1 Photo RAW 2021 vs Lightroom
I got an email from On1 again this morning offering a free trial of the latest version of their raw processor. Since I just paid for another year of Adobe Lightroom I’m not going to switch but every year ON1 Photo RAW gets better and better.
I took loads of bracketed photos at Blarney Castle yesterday so I decided to test out the HDR feature in Lightroom and On1 Photo RAW 2021. Last year I was not impressed when I tested this but the end result this time was very pleasing. ON1 created a slightly brighter, paler image with less contrast than Lightroom which I prefer. If you’re a Lightroom user you should definitely try the free trial of ON1 Photo RAW!
HDR generated by ON1 Photo RAW 
HDR Generated by Lightroom I upload my photos to Google Photos too. It generates HDR images from uploaded files. The HDR images tend to be too colourful and look like the HDR images created when HDR was a new thing and people were a little too enthusiastic about it. Here’s what Google Photos made of the same set of images.
HDR Generated by Google Photos In this totally unscientific and simple test I like the HDR created by ON1 Photo RAW the best!
Aperture ƒ/8 Camera ILCE-7M3 Focal length 16mm ISO 100 Shutter speed 1/60s -
Fun day at Fota Wildlife Park
Earlier this year, between lockdowns, I visited Fota Wildlife Park for a nice couple of hours walking around the park looking at the animals. No chance now, Fota is more than 5km from my home!
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The Disappearance of Fungie
The disappearance of a single solitary dolphin in the year 2020 would seem to be small news among the horrible things that have happened this year. The pandemic is still raging. Ireland is in lockdown again. People are dying from Covid-19.
However, on October 20th it was reported that Fungie, a dolphin that first appeared in Dingle Bay, Co Kerry in 1983 was missing for 7 days.
For as long as I’ve been aware of Dingle, it has been synonymous with Fungie. He was hard to miss as there’s a statue in the town, and several boats lined the quays ready to take visitors out to see the friendly dolphin.
I went out once in 2017, and I saw him break the surface a few times but he wasn’t in the mood for playing at the time. You should have seen the packed boats of tourists trying to grab a glimpse of him. Thankfully our boat wasn’t as busy!
The last time I saw him was in August this year. My family and I walked out to Hussey’s Folly on a glorious evening where we sat in the grass watching the water, accompanied by several boats and kayakers.
There was the occasional shout when someone spotted him, and the delighted laughs and exclamations made it all worth it.
The next night we walked out by the small beach at Bín Bán. As night fell we heard splashes in the still water and spotted Fungie swimming back and forth just ten to twenty metres from shore. All was quiet. There was only my family and a passer-by around. It was very special hearing his splashes in the water.
Paddy Ferriter, keeper of the old lighthouse pictured above, was the first person to spot Fungie in 1983. He tells his story in a short clip here:
This is wonderful storytelling by Paddy Ferriter, the old Lighthouse keeper and the first to spot Fungie in Dingle harbour in 1983. The speech, the mannerisms, the eyes… Paddy had it all.
Filmed by Zari productions in 1991. pic.twitter.com/3hM9GouUcV— Seán Mac an tSíthigh (@Buailtin) October 21, 2020
My photos of Fungie don’t do him justice. Follow these links for more:
Our beloved friend, Fungie❤️ Take a moment to think of your favourite Fungi memory and share it with someone you love today…Hopefully we can create a collective expression of joy and gratitude and guide him back home🥰#DinglePeninsulaMissesYouFungie pic.twitter.com/CkL3sMfljb
— Dingle Peninsula Tourism (@DinglePeninsula) October 19, 2020
Washington Post article on his disappearance.
There are wonderful videos of Fungie on this Facebook page.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd7sEG6WhPM
Aperture ƒ/8 Camera ILCE-7M3 Focal length 300mm ISO 250 Shutter speed 1/320s -
Morning Walks around Blarney
Covid-19 Lockdown began again in Ireland for six weeks until December 1st. Hopefully people don’t go crazy drinking and partying in December thinking the Coronavirus is gone, but of course they will. Bet we’ll have another lockdown in January.
We’re restricted to exercising within 5km of our homes now, which is ridiculous when you live in a village but obviously makes sense if you live in a build up urban area. I get out for a quick walk most mornings around Blarney and the sun rising is always a nice experience.
The Mill built an outside dining area for customers and even had nice fake trees with these flowers dotted around the area. When lockdown was announced they pull down part of it, including these trees. Hopefully they’ll be back in December.
The leaves of trees in the carpark of the Woollen Mills in Blarney as the sun rose.
Waterloo Joinery and other signs point the way up Waterloo Road.
Mushrooms growing in a tree stump in the grounds of the Woollen Mills.Aperture ƒ/8 Camera DSC-RX100M4 Focal length 12.06mm ISO 5000 Shutter speed 1/40s -
Queue for the Whopper
Last month in Burger King, St. Patrick Street, Cork.
Aperture ƒ/4 Camera ILCE-7M3 Focal length 18mm ISO 5000 Shutter speed 1/500s
- First it was lomo, then cross-processing, and nowFaking Depth of Field (2006)
Innovative Streets (2007)
Explore Cork City in Photos (2007)
O’Keeffe Lounge and Bar (2008)
Lonely Boat in Fountainstown (2009)
Fog on the Water in Blarney (2015)
Bokeh in Blarney (2016)
At the ATM (2017)
Smokes (2018)
Shadow in the Sun (2019)
Life of Cattle (2021)
Over on the North Side (2022)
A Relaxed Coffee Shop (2023)
All lit up in pink (2024)