Looking up at Union Square

A festival or competition was being held on the beautiful August day we wandered through Union Square, San Francisco. It provided ample inspiration for photos although we didn’t linger long because we wanted to see more of the city.

The statue pictured is in the center of the Square and, “commemorates Admiral Dewey’s Spanish-American War victory at Manila Bay.” Here’s more and more on Union Square and the history behind it.

Department stores, Fifth Avenue and Tiffany & Co can be clearly seen in the background, it’s the center of the shopping world in San Francisco!

Aperture ƒ/11
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/320s

San Francisco Tourists

Tourists stopped on the sidewalk off Union Square in San Francisco last summer. Despite the city’s reputation for fog the day was sunny and clear.

I had a great time doing some street photography of course!

Aperture ƒ/10
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/200s

Tips for photographing your baby

There’s only a few days left to go before the due date so this post by Michelle Jones is timely. She points at this 3 part series on baby photography by Amber Holritz. Here’s part 2 and part 3.

An image of a child can and should serve the following purposes:
1. Appropriate likeness of the child
2. Artistic rendering
3. Historical documentation for future generations

An image of a child would ideally show:
1. Emotional connection
2. Scale
3. Reality

Great posts on the process of getting to know the family, the different shoots, and building a relationship for future business.

Further reading:

  1. Photography Tips for Mom #2 – “The Sleep Newborn” describes photographing babies less than 10 days old. At that age they sleep a lot and Me Ra has some special shots. More in the tips for moms category.
  2. Photographing Babies by Digital Photography School is of course an excellent read.
  3. Finally, tips for submitting great photos to baby contents has a couple of good ideas for the competitive among you.

Blue skies contrail and clouds

A wall of the Beamish and Crawford Brewery blocks the sun in this shot taken on South Main Street, Cork.

Blue skies are great for sun worshippers but photographers don’t like them. It’s always better to have some cloud or interest in the sky. The fluffier and more solid the better, as long as some blue sky can be seen.

Aperture ƒ/14
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/400s

Daisies in the ruins

Boarded up windows, grey walls, overgrown vegetation. It can only be an Irish hospital right?

This is the final picture in my Old Hospital series.

Beautiful – Lough Gill, 2

Aperture ƒ/7.1
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/125s

Letters only

The post box at Garretstown, Co. Cork pictured last year but in pretty much the same condition yesterday when we drove past on the way home. I love the worn texture of the paint!

I like this: Headphoneland

Aperture ƒ/10
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/250s

Daisy drops of rain

Rain drops show on the white petals of a daisy that struggles amid the ruins of an old hospital building.

I wonder if that building is still there? I’ll have to go look someday.

Aperture ƒ/6.3
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/125s

Doorway into the gloom

Taken almost a year ago, this doorway leads into an old building on the grounds of a hospital in Cork. A cherry blossom can be seen blooming outside contrasting with the gloom and ruin of the interior.

While on the hospital theme, I wrote up our experiences at the new Cork University Maternity Hospital yesterday. They have major problems there and most of them can be traced back to under staffing of the facility.

This photo was made from two exposures. I didn’t use a tripod, instead placing the camera on a chair to avoid any shakes. I quickly bracketed a few shots and merged them together later in the GIMP.

Aperture ƒ/3.5
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/30s

Father and son in the square

A father and his offspring walk about after the parade on St. Patrick’s Day in Cork this year. Normally this is a busy junction but it was closed off for a few hours to make way for the festivities.

Patrick’s Street can be seen in the background with the statue of Fr. Mathew rising into the air.

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/500s

Feline eyes stare at me

I love cats. There’s nothing quite as relaxing as rubbing a cat’s soft fur while he basks in the heat of the sun. Some people hate cats however and I’m non-plussed. Perhaps it’s a primal instinct in them?

This is a friend’s cat as he was eating from a bowl. It’s my desktop picture!

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 144mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/60s

Easy self portraits with the Quik Pod

This is interesting. One of the benefits of a really wide angle lens is that taking self portraits with my wife Jacinta is rather easy. One of the down sides of having the camera at arm’s length is the distortion of the lens isn’t the most flattering thing in the world.

Into the fray comes the Quik Pod. It’s an extendable pole you can put your camera on! I don’t imagine I could put my Canon 20D, Sigma 10-20 lens and perhaps the Canon 580EX on the end and lift the weight of it without capturing a cringing and straining face in any resulting image but if someone wants to send me one to try out I’d be more than happy to do a full review of it for you! (via Exposure)

Girls on the street

St. Patrick’s Day brought out a huge crowd onto the streets and here’s a group of girls we bumped into on Patrick’s Street.

We were on our way to a cafe for refreshment when I spotted a bicycle chained to a pole, but it had fallen down. As is my way I crouched down to get a shot of the wheel and the pole receding into the sky and when I got up this group of girls were looking at me. One asked what I was doing and of course I had to take their photo since they were enjoying themselves so much!

PS. Thank you Meg for linking to my blog at Cute Overload. Your blog must do some savage amount of traffic if referrers from your site are anything to go by. I did as much traffic here yesterday as I’d normally do on ocaoimh.ie!
PPS. Greetings to Zefrank too. I agree, check out the show, although can there be anyone left who hasn’t seen Ze Frank at least once?

I like these. Claire went exploring an old house: part 1, part 2.

I like these too – Donal’s Stomp photos are particularly good especially as they were taken at a live performance and in a darkened theatre! Very good!

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 13mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/40s