Blarney Castle, taken moments before clouds completely covered the sky.
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Blarney Castle Stairway

Climbing to the top of Blarney Castle requires a climb up steep stairs that get narrower and smaller as you reach the top. It’s not for the faint hearted or claustrophobic!
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Walking Patrick’s Bridge

Pictured walking along Patrick’s Bridge, Cork on Saturday evening. What really attracts me to this image, despite it’s obvious flaws, is the figure in the dead-centre. There’s light all around yet here’s a walking shadow.
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Red Blarney Roses

While out with Matt this fine morning we walked over to Blarney Castle. Just inside the railings are some beautiful red roses. I just had to take advantage of the beautifulsunshine and snap off a few shots!
Photo was desaturated, and the red and yellow channels were restored afterwards to isolate the lovely colour of the flowers. -
Blarney Castle Gate Pillar

The current Blarney Castle was rebuilt after a major fire in 1446 and afterwards had an entrance gate different to that which is presently visible.
I was out for a walk a few days ago taking photos when I met two men in high-visibility jackets. They saw me with the camera and one of them stopped me and asked me if I knew about the nearby historical pillar.
In the 1600’s the river flowed in a different course past Blarney Castle. If it still flowed that way, it would go right under the Blarney Woollen Mills factory. He showed me a slight hump in the road which is all that remains of a bridge over that river!
This pillar which is hidden behind a stone wall was originally part of a gateway to Blarney Castle in the 1600s. I’m not certain if it was a river or a land entrance but it’s a shame that it’s now lying unused in a field. -
Trees and Lights

On a trip to our local shopping centre last night I noticed these lovely twinkly blue lights on the small trees outside. All I had to do was set the camera to aperture priority mode, set it to f/22 and wait for a carto come along!
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Links Of The Day
- John Hooton – I went to the Mallow Camera Club on Monday night. John is one of the senior members there. His photos are very impressive!
- Photoblogs Discussion – want to get traffic to your blog and learn more about running your own photoblog? This is a good starting point.
- Colorize black and white photos – this works rather well. I tried it on yesterday’s image and all the houses were coloured in!
- You’re not allowed take photos in the Sistine Chapel, but some people have managed to evade security long enough to make a few images: Herman, Flickr set, Private Tour, Journeys
- Improve your Photography without using your Camera – examine other photographer’s images. Where did they get their light? (via)
- Homemade Bounce Flash Toys – I spent so much on my flash that I went and splurged on an over-priced bit of plastic to sit on top. Looks nicer than bubble wrap, but expensive.
- See Saw Magazine
- Pseudo Lith Prints on your PC
- Focus on Composition – nice ideas.
- Top ten tips for great photos – you’ll be able to say you’re really good when you know when to break these.
- Photo Articles
- small budget photography – yes, I’ve been collecting links for the last few weeks!
- Retouched Portfolio – another before and after gallery
- Flickr FS
- Cork Surf
- dpchallenge – great photos and a competition to push your skills.
- Nice processing effect to isolate your subject.
- Outback Workflow
- Some Artists – Irish artists and news.
- Photography is dead – seeing has never been believing. Photo manipulation has been around a lot longer than digital photography has. Interesting read however.
- Getting Digital Files Home Safely
- To Full-Frame or Not To Full Frame? – considering the price, I think I’ll be staying with my 20D for a few years!
- budigitalized – Budi has some great photos on his wordpress.com blog!
- Smooth Skin
- Winkflash Pricing – looks very reasonable. Anyone experience with them?
- Canon Forum
- Rob Galbraith Forums
- Ron Bigelow writes about photography – white balance, sharpening, composition and more. Good stuff!
- Photo Tips – really good, the article about passion made me ponder my own motives.
- Sports Illustrated Photo Canon 20D Settings
- Pixel Impact – nice photo blog, but suffering from some php errors right now.
- 25 more lessons I’ve learned
- Eclipse 2005
- Tips From The Top Floor – audio broadcasts of photography tips.
- Brenda Dada – nice photos
- Focus Pocus
- Thomas Hawk is defending himself from Jill Greenbe
- Shoe Shopping (2007)
- McCarthy’s Garage, Schull (2008)
- Youghal Post Office (2009)
- Ship Leaving Cork Harbour (2015)
- London Street Photography (2016)
- Foggy Trees (2017)
- Battle of the Dogs (2018)
- In the Lanzarote Sunshine (2021)
- Can I have a doggy bag? (2022)
- Flying over fields (2023)
- The Rocks of Ballycotton (2024)
- Helios in the Cathedral (2025)



















