An old sign reflect in the windows of a new building, somewhere in Chicago.
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 55mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
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Under the L
The L is the elevated train system in Chicago and many films have been filmed underneath it’s tracks, including some scenes in Batman, The Dark Knight. Here’s the L under Kimball on the brown line. I worked close by a few years ago!
Aperture ƒ/4.5 Camera Canon EOS 20D Focal length 18mm ISO 800 Shutter speed 1/50s -
How to (not) shoot a solar eclipse
I went searching and found a few pages describing how to shoot the sun during a solar eclipse. All warned against looking at the sun directly.So, I ignored all that advice and got out my 75-300mm lens and grabbed a couple of shots of the sun with a chunk bitten out of it by the moon. Thankfully the clouds provided a bit of a filter but my eyes are still watering a bit. Worth it?
With hindsight, what the hell was I thinking? I’m lucky my eye is fine, but if you’re going to shoot a solar eclipse, don’t look through the viewfinder. Set your camera up on a tripod and project an image of the sun on a white sheet of cardboard and then press the shutter button. Much safer than actually looking..
Aperture ƒ/45 Camera Canon EOS 20D Focal length 300mm ISO 100 Shutter speed 1/8000s -
Chicago Board of Trade
The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) is the world’s oldest futures and options exchange. It was established in 1848 and since 1930 has operated out of this building on 141 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago according to this Wikipedia page.
Possible Batman “The Dark Knight” spoilers ahead. Don’t read on if you’re going to watch the movie!
(more…)Aperture ƒ/13 Camera Canon EOS 20D Focal length 41mm ISO 800 Shutter speed 1/250s -
The Thieving Duck Photoshoot
Many moons ago I posted the infamous Thieving Duck that went viral when someone robbed it, added a funny story and emailed it around. Apparently it’s been seen all over the world which is kinda cool. It even made it to snopes.com too!
Anyway, I can finally reveal a few more shots from that photoshoot in Chicago. All the talk about the new Batman movie got me digging into my old Chicago photos and I found these shots I took on State Street way back in 2005.
Aperture ƒ/5.6 Camera Canon EOS 20D Focal length 18mm ISO 100 Shutter speed 1/80s -
Looking for a parking space
You’re in town and desperately looking for a parking place. Where do you go? All the on-street parking has either been removed because of road works or taken by everyone who went shopping at 9am. Just look up. There’s a multi storey carpark somewhere near you. Probably.
Front of the car park on The Grand Parade. Shot after I said goodbye to Phil and the others a few weeks ago.
Aperture ƒ/13 Camera Canon EOS 20D Focal length 10mm ISO 200 Shutter speed 1/400s -
Western Star Cork
The Western Star in Cork was a favourite haunt of UCC students for many a year but now it looks like it’ll be demolished! Looks like development has been on the cards for quite a while:
Permission was granted to Tom O’Riordan carry out development namely, permission for part demolition of existing public house and removal of existing timber outhouses, construction of 12 medical suites over 29 no. ground floor level car parking spaces and associated entrances, roadways and site works with vehicular access medical sites from the grounds of the Bon Secours Hospital at the Western Star, Western Road, Cork in accordance with plans and particulars submitted on 16/08/05; further information requested on 07/10/05; further information received on 04/04/06; clarification of F.I. requested on 26/04/06 and clarification of F.I. received on 31/05/06 Ref. T.P.05/30005
Aperture ƒ/8 Camera Canon EOS 20D Focal length 18mm ISO 100 Shutter speed 1/160s -
Ryanair’s bumpy landing
Will Ryanair face a bumpy landing this year?
Shots taken at Cork Airport of a Ryanair flight coming in to land. There are two small cottages just down the road from where I stood with children playing in the garden of one. I guess you get used to the engine whine after a while.
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GIMP FX Foundary is a massive GIMP plugin archive
I’m surprised I haven’t blogged about The GIMP FX Foundary before. It’s a huge collection of GIMP plugins that have been updated to work with the latest GIMP.
All the plugins were already available in the GIMP Plugin registry or elsewhere but not all of them survived the changes to Scheme in the latest versions of GIMP. I downloaded these plugins ages ago and recently grabbed the updated tarball with over 100 plugins. You’ll see the results of those plugins over the next few weeks as I play around with settings and effects.
I could go on and on about it, but why bother? It’s a small download and free so why not grab the zip file yourself?
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Pobal ar Aire
Pobal ar Aire. Community on Alert. This is (was?) a scheme designed to help neighbourhoods help themselves by volunteering to keep an eye out for trouble makers or lawlessness. The local police are then informed.
It seems to work well, these signs are dotted all around the country, but in Bantry it looks like they’re protecting their beer..
Aperture ƒ/5 Camera Canon EOS 20D Focal length 10mm ISO 100 Shutter speed 1/60s -
The shop is closed Today
A corner shop in the English Market has a simple but effective way of shutting up shop for the day. Put a broom stick across the entrance!
The English Market is completely roofed over and locked tight at night so I guess traders feel reasonably safe with minimal security precautions. That’s what’s wonderful about the market. It’s in the centre of Cork City yet it feels like an entirely different place, like a village market with stalls.
Definitely worth a visit if you’re a tourist in Cork.
Aperture ƒ/4 Camera Canon EOS 20D Focal length 10mm ISO 1600 Shutter speed 1/15s -
A child’s bloody nightmare
A page from a child’s “colour in the picture” book provides a stark subject for this photo. Is that red blood on the wheels of that car?
Spotted on the ground somewhere in Cork City.
Aperture ƒ/5.6 Camera Canon EOS 20D Focal length 10mm ISO 100 Shutter speed 1/80s
I’m still waiting (2007)
Feed the swans at the Lough (2008)
Aftershot Pro B&W Workflow (2012)
Sólfar, The Sun Voyager (2012)
Kilkenny Castle and Bench (2013)
Pelican at Fota (2014)
Roses and Shandon Bells (2014)
The old Grand Parade (2015)
Flags wave in Crosshaven (2016)
Police Motorcycles (2017)
Demolition of the Tax Office (2018)
Two Faces (2019)
Business on the street (2021)
Pure #DerelictIreland (2022)
Long shadows at sunset (2024)
The Edge of the Lake (2025)