This was twenty years ago on St. Patrick Street, Cork. Not in December obviously, but in May when children all over the country were celebrating their first communion.

If you’ve ever wandered down to the Claddagh in Galway, you’ll know the swans are less “graceful wild creatures” and more “assertive locals who know exactly when the bread’s coming out.” That’s what happened on this day in 2005 when we visited and saw a young woman feeding those swans. Other birds wanted crumbs of…

Do you remember when the Grand Parade had motorcycle parking down the middle of the street? That was twenty years ago! See there’s no mural on the wall behind? This photo was taken on Christmas Eve 2005.

Twenty years ago Emmett Place in Cork was full of skateboarders jumping over ramps and very very close to a couple of photographers like me. I got some nice shots of them that have appeared here over the years but I missed this one, somehow! Twenty years ago. Cork in 2005. I wonder where they…

On a warm August day in 2005, you’d find plenty of lads fishing in Cobh, including this bunch who were brave enough to fish from a crumbling pier. Another photo from that evening shows a disturbance in the water at the mouth of Cobh harbour, where I presume sprat are desperately trying to get away…

The bike might be a little small but it got him to Monkstown in the end, I hope.

Remember Cork before The Elysian was built? It’s almost 20 years old now, so there are many people around who never saw Cork City Hall like this, without the tower block behind it. Cork City Hall, completed in 1936, was built to replace the previous City Hall that was destroyed during the Burning of Cork…

A pair of Eircom phone booths on St. Patrick Street, Cork, pictured in 2005. The phones were there until at least 2022, but Eir announced a few years ago that they’d be removing their public phone booths, so away they go.

Chicago in 2005 was a city in flux, and nowhere was that more obvious than at the Trump Tower construction site, right on the banks of the Chicago River. I was walking at the edge of the site and took a bunch of photos, some of which I’ve posted over the years. What you see…

I last visited Chicago in 2005, when I took this photo of the Wrigley Building, and this “We’re glad you’re here!” banner. Did you know the clock faces of the Wrigley Building are each almost 6m in diameter? The two towers of the building were completed just over 100 years ago!

Twenty years ago today, I was walking up State Street in Chicago when I spotted a duck robbing an unsuspecting woman on the street. I was horrified and, of course, immediately took a photo of such a strange incident. Turns out, it was some sort of advertising photoshoot for Western Union, but the original photo…

Twenty years ago, I visited Baltimore in Co Cork and photographed these people coming from a boat in the harbour. They were in great form, with smiles all around. 🙂