I was there too
While waiting for the train in Athens, I spotted a pigeon walking around the station, calm as you can imagine, as if he owned the place.
A few minutes later, a train rolled in, passengers started moving, and the pigeon flew into the rafters. Observing all that he rules.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 500 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
There’s something delightfully peculiar about finding a cat on a lead. I spotted these two characters taking a break near Camden Town in London. The scene just screamed to be photographed. The smoke caught in the sunlight and the cat’s nonchalant pose, how could I resist?
It’s a candid shot, of course, and as the photo was taken in 2022. I wonder if they were and are still living in London?
I searched and found this TikTok video from later in 2022, so they were still around there in October that year!
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 1000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Looks like someone wasn’t that careful parking here. The poor parking sign is doing an imitation of the Leaning Tower of Pisa!
Happy new year to you, dear reader. I’ve been posting photos here for twenty years this year. My first image, this yellow flower, is only 700px wide, but with the advent of high-resolution screens I’m now posting 1280px wide ones. I’ve gone through times when I used the featured image of the post instead of embedding it in the post like I did with this one, and that lasted for a year or two. To deal with those posts, I wrote a small function that copies that image into the post if it’s not already there. It seems to be working OK.
Here’s to the next twenty years. Gulp.
I also decided to embrace the new WordPress Twenty Twenty Five theme, and play around with the formatting of blocks. Nothing fancy at all. Just the bare bones, really.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 250 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
If you visit the Acropolis in Athens, be prepared to join the crowds of other tourists visiting at the same time. There’s an insatiable interest in the area, of course, because it’s so well known.
First you walk up the side of the Acropolis hill, and enjoy nice views of the city, including the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, and the modern buildings surrounding it, and then the crowd bunches up as you enter the ruins, with tour guides holding flags up and lots of chatter from everyone.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I got up there. The smooth cement ground pictured above continued through the middle of what turned out to be a massive construction site, with scaffolding around a few of the buildings. Those paths made the site more accessible for everyone, which is to be commended.
Walk to the side, and you were on rougher ground, on gravel and bare rock, with construction materials and tools seemingly left unattended, within roped off areas.
If you’re hoping to get photos of the site without other tourists, you’ll probably have to go early in the morning, with a tripod to take multiple photos of the same photo and remove people digitally.
This is a long exposure shot of the Parthenon temple. There were loads of people around. A huge group was congregating to the far left of this photo, and another group was heading over from the far right.
On the way out, when I wanted to take a photo of the Erechtheion, a smaller temple apart from the Parthenon, someone else wanted to pose. Our bus was waiting for us below, so there was no time to waste. Afterwards, I liked seeing the human element in this photo.
If you’re visiting Athens, a trip to see the Acropolis has to be high on your list of things to do. I only had an hour or so there, but I’d love to return and spend more time there taking photos.
As an aside, I find it funny that the Unesco ID for the Acropolis site is 404. No chance this place will go missing.
This is the last post of the year 2024 here. The Acropolis has been around for thousands of years. What will human civilization look like in another two thousand, five hundred years? What will happen to all our digital records? Who or what will be remembered of us in that era? Not much survives over those time periods.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1000s |
Exactly a month ago, I ventured out with Blarney Photography Club to see Wonderlights at Fota House. The grounds were transformed into something straight out of a cyberpunk fairy tale. This particular shot caught my eye – a grove of trees bathed in blues and magentas, with disco balls dangling from gnarled branches like some sort of woodland rave.
The fog machines were working overtime, creating this ethereal atmosphere that had me half expecting to see digital faeries emerge from behind the trunks. It’s amazing what a few well-placed lights can do to transform these old trees into something so otherworldly. I shot this at ISO 100 for a lengthy eight second exposure with my tripod, and I was thrilled with how it came out.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 8s |
There’s something magical about Edinburgh during the golden hour, when the sun begins its descent and bathes the city in warm amber hues. I was walking along Princes Street with my colleagues after a long day of meetings when this scene stopped me in my tracks.
At first glance, it might seem like just another urban sunset, but nature has a way of adding its own whimsical touches to our carefully constructed world. A pigeon had chosen one of Edinburgh’s grand statues, the statue of King George IV, as its evening perch, creating an unintentionally perfect silhouette against the burning sky. As I framed the shot, I noticed its companion – another bird adorning a statue atop one of the buildings to the right (The Royal Society of Edinburgh, if Google Maps is right), as if they were having a silent conversation across the street.
The Georgian architecture of Hanover Street creates perfect leading lines, drawing your eye down to where the street meets the sky. The passing cars, their tail lights glowing in the dimming light, add a modern contrast to the historical grandeur of the buildings. There’s something deeply satisfying about capturing these moments where the past and present, nature and architecture, all converge in perfect harmony.
I shot this handheld with my camera set to underexpose the scene slightly, letting the buildings fall into shadow while preserving the rich orange tones of the sunset.
I love that there were pigeons sitting on those statues, even if they’re barely visible in the web-sized version here. They’re a reminder that nature finds a way, no matter what we do to tame it!
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 70mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/15s |
There’s never a bus when you want one, and suddenly four come along when you least expect it. A very busy Bridge Street in Cork last week with commuters on the way home.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 169mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/8s |
The blurred Christmas lights along St. Patrick Street and Cook Street transform into a dreamy tapestry of golden and multicoloured bokeh, creating a magical backdrop above a person wearing a studded black beanie and glasses near Opera Lane.
Nollaig shona duit! Hope you had a nice day today if you celebrate!
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 240mm |
| ISO | 8000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/250s |
Nollaigh Shona Dhaoibh go léir! Now that no more shopping is possible, maybe we can return to normality. Of course, in cold and dreary January, we might look back with nostalgic eyes at the bright lights, decorations, and all the stress excitement.
| Aperture | ƒ/18 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 208mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 5s |
Two fabulous Mockie Ah! queens posed for me in the middle of the street yesterday when I asked if I could take their photo. The cold weather was freezing, but they put on a smile and stopped for a moment to chat, and I was very grateful for the photo. Their vibrant presence transformed an ordinary winter’s day into something extraordinary.
These glamorous performers graced The Pav‘s stage last night, with another appearance scheduled for New Year’s Eve, promising to end 2024 with the perfect blend of sparkle and spectacle.
| Aperture | ƒ/11 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 320 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
