Caught motionless in time, a young man is forever riding his motorbike on a city street at night.
| Aperture | ƒ/1.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 75mm |
| ISO | 8000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Wait For Green
ESPERE VERDE! Wait green! On a street in Valencia I saw the white bars of the pedestrian crossing, a “safe zone” to cross the road for pedestrians. Then I noticed the person crossing the road, their clothes neatly matched the bars of paint.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1000s |
Yet another shopper
Frozen in motion
I was out walking in Valencia and spotted a cyclist headed in my direction at speed. That’s not so uncommon, but he was cycling really fast through the area.
He caught my attention, I photographed him. High ISO FTW!
| Aperture | ƒ/2.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 12800 |
| Shutter speed | 1/320s |
Fishing at sunset
The Blue Lagoon in Iceland
In March 2012, I visited Iceland with my team from work and for our activity day we went to the Blue Lagoon for a swim. It was March and, as illustrated by the photos above, snow blanketed the ground, and it was freezing! The water was lovely and warm, and you’d be fine as long as you kept as much of your body in the water as possible!
I’m revisiting this trip today because of the concerning news from Iceland. There have been numerous earthquakes, and magma is building up, only 800m underground and very close to the Blue Lagoon and the Svartsengi Geothermal Power Plant. The ground has risen by 8cm because the magma is pushing it up. The nearby town of Grindavik has been evacuated as a fissure runs through it. Earthquakes have already caused serious structural damage to buildings there.
Data shows the “magma tunnel is significant, and it is approaching the surface” according to this video. The tunnel is about 15km long. It seems likely there will be an eruption very soon.
Edit on December 19th: it finally erupted. You can see it on this live cam. This video shows the vantage point from a helicopter. The erupting fissure is 3.5km long!
| Aperture | ƒ/9 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 18mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/200s |
The Gorilla in Valencia
A Western lowland gorilla from the Republic of the Congo sits on the ground outside a viewing area where humans gaze at him.
He lives in the Bioparc in Valencia, Spain, and I think his name is Mambie. He was born in 1991 and is a beautiful animal, but when we were there, he charged and rammed into the glass windows twice. The Wikipedia page for these gorillas describes that behaviour as stereotypic behaviour, or abnormal or compulsive behaviour. It’s easy to imagine that he’s not happy there, but he is hand reared, as he was born in a zoo. This life is all he knows. These animals are endangered, and there’s a population of 500 living in zoos worldwide.
I was sad to see him in captivity. Valencia Bioparc is small, compared to wildlife parks like Fota in Co Cork, but the larger animals had room to roam about. At least, as much room as a 10 hectare site will allow.
It is definitely worth going to visit if you’re in the city. Just don’t eat in the overpriced restaurant.
| Aperture | ƒ/3.5 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 1000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/60s |
A stag and his grass
A stag buries his head in grass, to decorate his antlers and make himself more attractive to female deer.
Killarney National Park, October 2023.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 514.7mm |
| ISO | 1250 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
The Caminito del Rey Bridge
If you do the Caminito del Rey hike, you’ll come across this bridge at the end of your journey. The old bridge isn’t used any more as a modern suspension bridge has been built right next to it.
It’s still quite a sight as you walk over it and definitely not somewhere to go if you have a fear of heights.
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 23mm |
| ISO | 125 |
| Shutter speed | 1/160s |
it’s in here somewhere
“Well, it is in here somewhere. I’ll find it eventually.”
“Oh sure, you forgot it, didn’t you?”
“Give her a chance. It probably fell between the seats.”
“OK, GOT IT!”
| Aperture | ƒ/2.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 160 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Have a seat on the bridge
In Valencia, Spain, they rerouted a river that ran through the city, making a very long park through the city. The Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, the science museum, is behind me, nestled in the space the river once took, while in front is the Pont l’Assut de l’Or. It’s a beautiful bridge spanning the gap over the old river.
In the background is the Caixa Forum, and further on, out of view is the Museu Oceanogràfic, the fabulous aquarium in the city.
All along the old river run paths and play fields, grassy areas, trees, and benches for sitting on. It’s a wonderful place to visit if you’re in the city. Bikes can be hired too, but I found it stressful because there were so many people around. Getting the bus is easier.
The photo above was shot before sunrise, when the only people around were joggers and people working in the local area. Lovely and quiet!
Unfortunately, there’s a bin at the end of every bench. Not much I could do about it. I wanted to remove it in Photoshop, but I appear to have this bug where no tools work. Uninstalling and reinstalling did not help. 🙁
| Aperture | ƒ/10 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 2.5s |
Palestinian Rallies in Valencia and Cork
We happened to come upon a rally in Valencia while we were there recently. A large crowd gathered in a circle around a speaker. I didn’t understand a word they said, but the anger was obvious.
I was in Cork on Saturday and heard a rally announced by a loudspeaker on a van driving down Patrick Street, so I went along to see it.
There was a huge crowd, again. I was near the front of the crowd and watched them display the photos of children killed. Horrendous. It’s barbaric what’s happening in Gaza. What happened on October 7th was terrible, but what’s going on in Gaza is so much worse.