Girl and the bear A young girl greets a bear on Patrick’s Street, Cork. Shopping is in full swing but it’s the small things like the smile of a child that bring light to the world.

I look good! A street performer from Cork Circus, a street theatre company, poses for a photo on Patrick’s Street, Cork. That reminds me, I must email him the URL of this blog as he was interested in photos!

Shopping Expressions Worried looks accompany the average male during the Christmas shopping season. While this was taken at the end of October I bet that young man is still walking around with the same harried look. My quest for a graphics tablet is complete. The Wacom Graphire4 arrived yesterday from Pixmania. As I promised to…

Oh those lines! Pedestrians gather at the traffic lights on Grand Parade and wait to cross a busy city-center street. Yes I got a few funny looks as I crouched down with my camera but I’m used to it by now! This was a construction site a few months ago but work is progressing well…

The Stars and Stripes on Alcatraz The flag of the United States flies over Alcatraz Island on a windy August day. This was originally a portrait shot but I squared it off to emphasize the vertical and horizontal leading lines. The hydrant is much more prominent in the foreground too. The red rusty texture beloved…

Up up and away Yesterday the Elysian’s tower reached the 18th floor, 72m above sea level and one of the tallest buildings in the country. Apparently St Finbarre’s Cathedral is 75m to it’s central spire but there won’t be a 2400sq ft penthouse at the top of that! While we Irish congratulate ourselves on building…

Post no bills Post no bills on the wooden boards surrounding the building site on Cornmarket Street. The red brick wall is the front of the old Guy and Company building. It looks like the builders are going to incorporate that into their new building which is great – mixing old with new. See map…

Buildings in the sky I live in a city where the tallest building is one that will be 17 floors high so when I travel to far off lands it’s always great to see tall skyscrapers looming over the streets. This might bear a striking resemblance to a previous image but it is a different…

Bike Lane Riding a bike anywhere on today’s streets is almost a suicidal pursuit but bike lanes help. Here a bus drove past as I took this shot in an urban tunnel in downtown San Francisco.

Ready to go! You better be good at hill starts if you live in San Francisco! I presume it’s slightly easier with an automatic transmission rather than manual? Highly processed image via multiple tools in the GIMP until I came up with an effect I liked – multiple layers, b/w, gaussian blur, layer modes and…

Parking for the Guinness Look up for unusual perspectives on ordinary scenes. I was quite happy with this image of a lamppost in Parnell Place, Cork when I took it. The signs are clearly visible and the upside-down Guinness logo catches the eye! You have to wonder, what’s more important, Guinness or parking?