The tree on the ridge
I took this from the Coachford Greenway, shooting through the ditch instead of over it, which is why you’ll see the frame of dark leaves and grass. The sky was flat grey and heavy. A few minutes later it started raining, but I had an umbrella, and I had a couple of nice photos. Worth…
Feeder traffic at Carbery Cottage
The feeder at Carbery Cottage Guest Lodge on the Sheep’s Head is inside a rusted steel cage, so I couldn’t get a single photo without bars in it. It also stops crows and larger birds getting at the food! The great tits were juveniles, still yellow in the cheek and a bit ragged about the…
Working the Façade
The manager had the best spot on the street: feet planted, hand on hip, watching three other men do the actual work. Two were up in a green cherry picker prodding at the glass of the HSBC building, and a third leaned on a rail inside and watched them. That’s two layers of supervision for…
Casting Off the Pier
Two anglers cast off the end of Ballycotton pier as the sun set. The harbour crane stood black against the sky, and one man’s rod bent back mid-cast, blurred by the long exposure. The cloud broke into pink and orange over the headland to the west, with the houses along the shore already lit. It…
Evening Sails at Kinsale
A grey evening in Kinsale, with a fleet of small boats out on the harbour for what looked like club racing. Most of them carried red sails, Squibs I think, a class Kinsale Yacht Club is well known for, with a few white ones mixed in. The water was almost flat, and the crews sat…
The Boats of Ballycotton
Ballycotton harbour late on a summer evening is one of those places that is rewarding to visit. The working boats had all come in, Atlantic Chief, Excelsior and Prolific were rafted tight against the wall, hulls bobbing in calm waters. The setting sun cast long, side-on shadows and clouds streaked across the sky.
Nobody’s Buying Peanuts Right Now
The nut seller had clearly decided the crowd could wait. Some behind him caught his attention and the crowd passing in front wasn’t buying his roasted nuts.
Boardwalk to the Last Light
The boardwalk pulled me straight in. Those weathered planks running across the dark volcanic sand towards a sea gone smooth from a long exposure, like the Atlantic had decided to hold its breath for me. Playa de Ajabo at dusk is a different beast to the postcard Tenerife of packed loungers and factor-50. This was…
The Glass Cathedral of Work
A wall of glass tilt over your head and you start to feel very small, very corporate and very much in need of a strong coffee. This is the WeWork office in London. Look closely and there’s one warm pendant lamp glowing in a window, a tiny pocket of cosiness in a tower of cold…
Perched and Patient
A heron perched on a boat in Kinsale harbour last year. Patient and watching.
A Quiet Bench in a Busy City
Early morning in Spitalfields, near the market and I spotted a man enjoying a moment by himself in the nearby green area.
Low Tide on the Thames
Pull the river back a few metres and London grows a beach. I caught this stretch of Thames foreshore at low tide, the water was a proper builder’s-tea brown, the City stacked up behind like someone had emptied a box of glass towers. I love springer spaniels, so I had to photograph this.