I was there too
The sun rose this morning a few minutes after 7am, but this is what the sky looked like about 8 minutes before. There was a glorious orange glow and the clouds were lit up from underneath by the sun coming around the globe and shining through the atmosphere.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 26mm |
| ISO | 500 |
| Shutter speed | 1/125s |
A hand raised in greeting, with a smiling face, or is it a hand raised in anger?
Luckily, it was the former, with the smiling face of a friendly man just out of the shot greeting his friend in the plaid hat.
| Aperture | ƒ/1.7 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 6.3mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1500s |
If you don’t like crowds, you should avoid Valencia during the Fallas festival. I rarely saw any trouble. The crowds were almost always in good mood or, at the very least, resigned to not moving very fast. It appears that moving fast can be accomplished if you hire someone in a high-vis vest who will barge through the crowd, dragging a well-dressed family behind them to the front of the crowd. I saw that once as I waited for the Mascletà one bright sunny day last week.
| Aperture | ƒ/1.7 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 6.3mm |
| ISO | 10 |
| Shutter speed | 1/230s |
If you visit Valencia during the first 19 days of the month of March you’ll be bombarded by the loud bangs of bangers going off, and fireworks every day. You’ll also come across elaborate Falla, or statues, dotted around the city.
In the past, they were built of papier mache, but these days the main construction material is styrofoam. On the 20th of the March, all the Fallas in the city are burnt to the ground, with only one item from each saved.
The best Falla in 2025 was the one built at Jerusalem Convent-Matemático Marzal, and luckily, I was staying about 100m away. In reality, that didn’t help much because the crowds visiting there during the day meant it was almost impossible to walk past it quickly. The only time the streets were nearly empty was at 5am one morning when I was going to take sunrise photos.
Here’s only a small selection of photos from that area. There’s more to come, mostly of crowded streets, but the Falla will feature again, probably.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.4 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 7.9mm |
| ISO | 50 |
| Shutter speed | 1/125s |
Wikipedia says, “A mascletà (pronounced in Valencian: [maskleˈta]) is a pyrotechnic event characterized by the achievement of a noisy and rhythmic composition that features, particularly during daytime, in street festivities; it is typical of the Valencian Community (Spain). It gets its name from the masclets (very loud firecrackers) that are tied by a wick to form a line or firework display. These are usually fastened at a medium height with ropes or raised by cannons.”
They are LOUD. The sound reverberates around the city centre, and you can feel it shake your body, and even into your legs. Quite an experience!
I did try to protect my ears, but it’s two days later, and there’s a remnant of the mascletà still ringing gently in my left ear since this morning when I woke up. Only time will tell if that is permanent.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 640 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1000s |
A glass fronted building on Wilton Terrace is reflected in the waters of the canal in Dublin earlier this month. I thought it might be the Canadian Embassy, but Google Maps shows it’s a slightly different building.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.2 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 2.2mm |
| ISO | 1600 |
| Shutter speed | 1/8s |
I spotted this fascinating looking fungus growing out a dead tree trunk last weekend. I’d no idea what kind of fungi they were until an AI identified them as a Polypore.
This is a good sign, for that small forest I found them in, just outside Kenmare:
Polypores have been used as indicator species of healthy natural forests or old-growth forests in Europe. They are good indicators of invertebrate diversity on dead wood and include many endangered species. Polypores make good indicators because they are relatively easy to find – many species produce conspicuous and long-lasting fruiting bodies – and because they can be identified in the field.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 240mm |
| ISO | 800 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Another one from that walk in Kenmare a few days ago. I spotted this couple walking by with their dog, and then they stopped a distance away with the dog exploring the shallows. I love silhouettes, so this photo came to be.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 240mm |
| ISO | 125 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
A small bench is nestled among the trees in Kenmare, on the shores of Kenmare Bay. What caught my eye immediately were the three trees surrounding it. They frame the bench in a pleasing way, the bare branches providing a skeletal, natural, surrounding to the man made bench.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 94mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/200s |
I spotted this little fella down in Kenmare, County Kerry the other day. A Robin, bold as brass, perched right there on a dead branch, posing like he owned the place.
He stayed there for a few minutes surveying the area, and let me get a little closer for a photo.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 240mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
The bench here at the end of a spit of land near Kenmare, Co Kerry has a plaque that says:
HE NEVER LOOKS FOR PRAISES
HE WAS NEVER ONE TO BOAST
HE JUST GOES ON QUIETLY WORKING
FOR THOSE HE LOVES THE MOST
OUR DAD
The pillar has a plaque that has some writing I forgot to photograph, but the heading says, “Ode to Lem” which may be this song.
A lovely spot to contemplate the world.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/320s |
I think there might have been something special in that paper bag and that husky wanted it. 🙂
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 125 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
