Something caught her eye as she walked along. I don’t know what. I took this photo in 2006, but only noticed it a few days ago.
Arrecife, Lanzarote. 2006.
| Camera | dDP series |
A tiny red car
Jagged Shadows
Tivoli Docks at Night
My 2020 Spy
Far back in time, to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, a film called My Spy was due to appear in cinemas on March 13th, 2020.
Unfortunately, the country went into lockdown on March 27th. This photo was taken in May that year. Adverts hadn’t been changed in most places. Hoardings still had the same slogan for months, buses were the same. The banners on the Cork Opera House looked the worse for wear. A surreal time.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 1/250s |
A Cork Fan and his Lolly
Robin on the Ground
A few weeks ago, I visited Blarney Castle to take some photos of the Autumn colours. Unfortunately the light was dull, and the ground was wet, but I had my tripod with me, so I set it up for some long exposure shots.
After a few minutes of that, I noticed a flicker out of the corner of my eye. I spotted a robin almost right in front of me! He was literally standing on the large log next to the mushrooms I was photographing. And of course, my camera settings were completely wrong to photograph him. In the 10 seconds it took me to swivel the camera around, fiddle with the settings and look up again, he was flying off to a nearby tree. This time I got a couple of shots of him, and then his friend approached and landed on the ground right by my feet! This time I was ready!
Why do settings change so much? In low light, you have to amplify the light hitting the camera sensor. Sort of like turning up the volume. You know how if you turn the volume up really high you’ll get distortion and crackling (and a headache and sore ears), the same thing happens with cameras. The best quality photo comes when the volume (called ISO for cameras) is turned down to a “normal value” but then it takes longer for the camera to “hear” an image. Damn, I’m straining an analogy here. For most cameras, that’s 100. This photo was taken at ISO 12800 and the only reason you don’t see lots of crackling (noise) is because of the magic of software called Topaz Photo AI. A previous ISO 100 image took a whole 1 second to make a photo. This robin photo was 1/160 of a second. He wasn’t going to hang around long!
| Aperture | ƒ/11 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 240mm |
| ISO | 65535 |
| Shutter speed | 1/160s |
Sparklers! 2 for €3!
A man selling sparklers on Henry Street, Dublin on Halloween this year. He promised that 2 for €3 was better than in the shops where they are 1 for €2, and he was right as we were in a Eurogiant later on!
We didn’t buy any sparklers. He had plenty left over when we passed him again.
| Aperture | ƒ/3.2 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 5000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Jokers & Witches
Slots
On the bike in Girona
What I saw of the old part of Girona is one long pedestrianised road like you see this photo. It’s a long straight part here but then winds around to the area of the Cathedral. I did see a small van drive down there but they were at least careful. Pedestrians were number 1.
Other parts are not so nice. A three lane street leads out of the city towards Barcelona.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 35mm |
| ISO | 4000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
The Northside Water Tower
The “futuristic” water tower that sits on Kilmore Road Lower in Knocknaheeny is seen from Bell’s Field in this photo taken in July this year.
It was completed in 1972 and Councillor Gerald Yael Goldberg (1912-2003) described the water tower as ‘futuristic’ but predicted that it would ‘fit into the landscape’. I’m not so sure. It’s in such a prominent spot it can be seen as far away as Blarney.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 600mm |
| ISO | 1000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1000s |