Symmetrical Abandonment

This was the derelict site of the demolished tax office in Cork, but back in February 2019.

What difference 6 years? Nothing really except they’ve removed the rubble. It’s still an ugly eye sore. They really should have put a park there if they’re not going to do anything with it.


Apertureƒ/8
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length16mm
ISO125
Shutter speed1/40s

Milky Way Over the Costa Brava

In July 2022, I was in Llafranc and wondered if I’d be able to photograph the Milky Way. Dark skies maps of the area showed glowing lights all along the coast, and it seemed unlikely, but I wandered down to the beach one night to try. I was pleased with the result because there was no way I could see anything like this with my bare eyes! There was too much light around.


Apertureƒ/4
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length16mm
ISO6400
Shutter speed20s

A Hotel on the Rocks

A hotel on the coast of Tenerife on Playa de Ajabo looks out on the Atlantic as waves batter the rocks underneath. They’re turned into mist by a long exposure photo in this evening shot, about 20 minutes after the sun has set.


Apertureƒ/8
CameraILCE-7RM5
Focal length24mm
ISO100
Shutter speed3.2s

Bantry Through the Shop Door

I had some fun in Bantry today, experimenting with a new exposure mode I haven’t really used in the past, Spot Highlight. I came across it in this video made by Sean Tucker. In this mode, the camera will expose for the highlights, sacrificing shadow detail to make sure that bright areas contain detail and aren’t over-exposed.

Luckily, the sky was clear, and it was a lovely day in Bantry, so there were plenty of highlights and shadows.

The histograms of such images showed most of the data was in the shadows, for obvious reason. There were usually plenty of dark areas in those images.

I tested the new adaptive profiles in Lightroom Classic on this image too, but it brightened the shadows in a way I didn’t want it to. Luckily, you can reduce the “Amount” slider, so the effect is reduced.

I used Lightroom’s native noise reduction “enhancement” which generated a 64MB DNG from a 69MB RAW file. I was delighted when I converted that to a 3.6MB lossy DNG, and I was still able to use the adaptive colour profile!

This photo was taken inside a lovely shop called Meara & Morley in Bantry. My wife loved it. I think we’ll be returning in the future!


Apertureƒ/4
CameraILCE-7RM5
Focal length24mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/1250s

The sign Americans dread

It’s a commonly held belief that Americans don’t know how to drive around roundabouts, but when I visited that country last year (in the before times), I saw at least 2 roundabouts and local people had no problems traversing them.

Good luck getting around them in a monstrosity like the Cybertruck however.


Apertureƒ/2.4
CameraSM-G998B
Focal length9mm
ISO50
Shutter speed1/1400s

The Silesian Insurgents’ Monument

The Silesian Insurgents’ Monument in Katowice, Poland stands next to a roundabout and a large building called KTW and The Spodek. KTW was only completed in 2022, and if you look at the city in Google Maps you’ll see a construction site there.

The monument was erected in 1967.


Apertureƒ/8
CameraILCE-7RM5
Focal length24mm
ISO250
Shutter speed8s

A Siamese Stroll

I spotted this stunning Siamese Cat in the town of Garachico in Tenerife recently. He was wandering across the street near the Plaza Juan González de la Torre.

Despite my calling him, he just walked on up the street, ignoring me, but he did give one look back as he walked past some rubbish bins, and out of sight.


Apertureƒ/6.3
CameraILCE-7RM5
Focal length240mm
ISO1250
Shutter speed1/500s

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