I was there too
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 |
The wide pavement of McCurtain Street is where I spotted a young woman putting the lead on her patient Golden Retriever. He sat there patiently as she fixed the lead in place and continued on their way down the street.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1000s |
A customer in the food market in Malaga talks to a vendor before filling his order for olives.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 31mm |
| ISO | 5000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
A woman watches the tram I’m travelling on pass by her on a narrow street in Lisbon.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 320 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
We were in Youghal recently on a cold and blustery afternoon, and so were lots of others with their dogs. Not in this photos is Diego, but he was keeping a close eye on the other dogs!
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 800 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
This woman was screaming into a microphone on Grand Parade, Cork, for the last few years. This is a photo from 2022, but I remember seeing her in late 2024 too. I could never make out what she was saying as the sound was distorted so much by the volume on her speaker.
I hardly ever saw anyone talking to her. I wonder how effective this sort of preaching is?
| Aperture | ƒ/2.8 |
| Camera | DSC-RX100M4 |
| Focal length | 25.7mm |
| ISO | 125 |
| Shutter speed | 1/640s |
Jaysus, I nearly dropped me phone when I spotted this scene in the Musée d’Orsay like. There’s your man on the left, pure glued to his iPhone, probably updating his Insta or whatever, and the other fella hanging on to some pamphlet or other. And there in the middle, this massive marble yoke, probably worth more than me gaff, just sitting there being completely ignored. Had to grab the shot with the camera – savage composition altogether. It’s gas when you think about it – here we are in one of the fanciest museums in Paris, and the only one paying attention to anything is yer man in the statue. Reminds me of walking down Patrick Street, with everyone’s heads buried in their phones while the city’s gorgeous architecture looms above them. Mad stuff altogether, boy.
(A bit over the top, but that’s how Perplexity thinks Cork people sound like. Accurate?)
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 26mm |
| ISO | 10000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
There’s something delightfully peculiar about finding a cat on a lead. I spotted these two characters taking a break near Camden Town in London. The scene just screamed to be photographed. The smoke caught in the sunlight and the cat’s nonchalant pose, how could I resist?
It’s a candid shot, of course, and as the photo was taken in 2022. I wonder if they were and are still living in London?
I searched and found this TikTok video from later in 2022, so they were still around there in October that year!
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 1000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
If you visit the Acropolis in Athens, be prepared to join the crowds of other tourists visiting at the same time. There’s an insatiable interest in the area, of course, because it’s so well known.
First you walk up the side of the Acropolis hill, and enjoy nice views of the city, including the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, and the modern buildings surrounding it, and then the crowd bunches up as you enter the ruins, with tour guides holding flags up and lots of chatter from everyone.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I got up there. The smooth cement ground pictured above continued through the middle of what turned out to be a massive construction site, with scaffolding around a few of the buildings. Those paths made the site more accessible for everyone, which is to be commended.
Walk to the side, and you were on rougher ground, on gravel and bare rock, with construction materials and tools seemingly left unattended, within roped off areas.
If you’re hoping to get photos of the site without other tourists, you’ll probably have to go early in the morning, with a tripod to take multiple photos of the same photo and remove people digitally.
This is a long exposure shot of the Parthenon temple. There were loads of people around. A huge group was congregating to the far left of this photo, and another group was heading over from the far right.
On the way out, when I wanted to take a photo of the Erechtheion, a smaller temple apart from the Parthenon, someone else wanted to pose. Our bus was waiting for us below, so there was no time to waste. Afterwards, I liked seeing the human element in this photo.
If you’re visiting Athens, a trip to see the Acropolis has to be high on your list of things to do. I only had an hour or so there, but I’d love to return and spend more time there taking photos.
As an aside, I find it funny that the Unesco ID for the Acropolis site is 404. No chance this place will go missing.
This is the last post of the year 2024 here. The Acropolis has been around for thousands of years. What will human civilization look like in another two thousand, five hundred years? What will happen to all our digital records? Who or what will be remembered of us in that era? Not much survives over those time periods.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1000s |
Barbed wire along the edge of a field on Valentia Island is knotted to make sure the barrier holds.
I remember hearing a podcast about the use of barbed wire in the US, how, in the 19th century, it helped white farmers control herds and easily fence their territories.
The wikipedia page is quite interesting.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 105mm |
| ISO | 125 |
| Shutter speed | 1/200s |
What caught my eye when I saw this in front of me in Bishop Lucey Park, was the man leaning against the railing seemed to mirror the pose of the figure in the large mural on the wall.
The park itself is closed off now. This is a picture of a bygone era. Can’t wait to see the new layout of the park!
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 26mm |
| ISO | 320 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
