Tag Archives: Architecture

Urban Geometry in Valencia

An interesting building that caught my attention on the C. del Mar in Valencia. Just around the corner from the Placa de la Reina.


Apertureƒ/2.8
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length24mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/500s

Next Stop: Shopping in Cork

Three women wait at the traffic lights on Grand Parade. They’ve all been shopping in NEXT.

It’s odd what Lightroom sometimes does to a photo when you correct for lens distortion. 🙂


Apertureƒ/4
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length16mm
ISO160
Shutter speed1/500s

Plaid Hat Diplomacy in Valencia

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.


Apertureƒ/1.7
CameraGalaxy S23 Ultra
Focal length6.3mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/1500s

A Slice of Life in Bantry

We visited Bantry recently, on Valentines Day, and the town was buzzing. The square was taken over by the market, which is always worth a wander around. As we ate our burritos, I spotted the sun hitting the street nearby, leaving one side in shadow, and also illuminating the countryside rising up out of the background.

It’s a busy scene, and the van in the foreground is distracting, but that’s life. Everything’s messy, and then we went for coffee and scones in the community café. Yum. 🙂


Apertureƒ/6.3
CameraILCE-7RM5
Focal length184mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/1250s

Ballysaggartmore Towers

One the two Ballysaggartmore Towers in Co Waterford. They are regarded as follies built no later than 1834. From the Wikipedia page:

“They were constructed for an Anglo Irish Landlord, Arthur Keily-Ussher no later than 1834. He held an estate of approximately 8000 acres, the majority of which was rented to tenant farmers but he retained approximately 1000 acres as a personal demesne. The lodges were constructed on the main avenue leading to the family’s residence; Ballysaggartmore House. The house itself was large but of a very plain design, which was in obvious contrast to the lodges. An account from 1834 indicates that a main house predated the lodges. This account also reports that they were built from designs by the head gardener; John Smyth and that the main entrance gates were forged locally for the sum of about £150.”

I took quick photos of the other Tower but we were drenched by a sudden cloud burst of rain so we were pretty miserable and just wanted to get back to the car.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera ILCE-7M3
Focal length 16mm
ISO 1000
Shutter speed 1/125s

Unwrap the Building

The new Windsor Hotel on McCurtain Street was still wrapped up last October when I took this photo of the building.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera ILCE-7M3
Focal length 16mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/500s

Going for a cup of cha?

You might go to this cafe in Porto, Portugal for a cup of tea. I always thought “cup o’ cha” was a Cork or Irish slang expression but a quick Google shows it used in the UK too.
In Portugese the word “chá” means tea so when I saw this cafe that sign was the first thing I noticed!

Maybe I was just thinking of Cha and Miah..

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera ILCE-7M3
Focal length 35mm
ISO 500
Shutter speed 1/500s

The MacCurtain St Construction Site

If you’ve driven along MacCurtain Street lately you’ll have noticed a few lanes are blocked and York Hill is completely closed. A 73-bed “micro-sleeper hotel” is going in there which I presume means rooms will be a little bigger than the capsule hotels in Japan..

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera ILCE-7M3
Focal length 16mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/160s
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