The waves at Couminole

Waves about to crash down on the nearby rocks at Couminole Beach on Slea Head, Co. Kerry.

Originally this was in colour but it lacked punch. Converting it to black and white and slightly overexposing the blue channel created this dramatic scene.

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 125mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/320s

Windswept grass and fence

The tough grass by a beach in Kerry grows thick on this hill, bounded by a wire fence to keep curious people like myself at bay!

This is an experiment for me. I thought the b/w treatment would work well as the image is full of texture, lines and shadow. What do you think? Another similar one to follow tomorrow.

Aperture ƒ/6.3
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/1250s

Shih Tzu playing ball on the beach

Our pet Shih Tzu, Oscar with a tennis ball in his mouth on Garrettstown Beach a few weeks before Adam was born last April.
He loves running after the ball, but the poor little doggy is a bit lame right now. We took him to the vet who couldn’t find anything wrong. This has happened before and he recovered so fingers crossed he gets better this time too.
The strange thing is, it only affects him when he’s walking on pavements or roads. On grass he’s almost fine, and at home you wouldn’t know it from his running around! Dog psychology?

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 225mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/1250s

A child playing in the sand

This little girl was playing in the sand on the beach as we walked past. Plenty of toys about, but I don’t think she had built a sand castle yet. It’s lovely to see children playing in the sand. It’s an age of innocence and (sometimes) simple joy that we forget as adults.

A few weeks before Adam was born we went down to Garrettstown Beach in Co. Cork. The sun was shining, it was warm and the beach had a good number of people on it. Beautiful day!

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 265mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/1000s

California Sunset

On the way to the Automattic beach houses last night we drove along the famous road that featured in Basic Instinct. I opened the window on Toni’s car and took a few photos of the sunset. I hoped for it to happen, but I was very lucky that the sun was blocked out by the signpost.

What are we doing on day one? Robert Hoekman, Jr is talking to us about "Designing the obvious" and expanding on his talk from the first day at WordCamp. The talk is going great, and generating lots of chatter and ideas!

Aperture ƒ/16
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 21mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/500s

Beach in the evening

Inch Strand in Co. Kerry as the sun shines over the water and the tide comes in.

Aperture ƒ/20
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 72mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/1000s

G-BKSP on Inch Strand

Another shot from our few hours at Inch Strand in Co. Kerry last September. This is G-BKSP waiting on the beach to fly. Unlike the glider I posted earlier I saw this plane fly. Unfortunately conditions weren’t suitable for flying the gliders before we had to head home to Cork.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/800s

Lifebelt in the grass

A lifebelt lay in the grass at a beach on the Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry last September. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, beautiful clouds contrasted with the deep blue of the sky and a light breeze blew off the sea.

We were just going back to the car after a nice stroll on the beach. I had just taken footprints in the sand down on the beach when I looked back one more time and saw this striking scene in front of me.

The clouds were perfect, the sun was shining on the beach, the far away hills were in shadow and light. Perfect moment!

Aperture ƒ/13
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/400s

EI-128 ready to fly

Here’s another shot of EI-128. Following my last shot I moved to the other side of the glider to capture some of the beach and hills behind.

This was originally shot at an angle to get as much vertical space in but I rotated the image and filled in the sand and background as well as I was able. Sand is usually quite easy to fill in because it’s so uniform but there was a gradient of shade according to how damp it was that made things harder.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/400s

EI-128 on Inch Strand

Last September a large group of glider enthusiasts spent a weekend at Inch Strand in Co. Kerry. They were from two clubs, one in Dublin and one from further north I think. I took down their details but that scrap of paper is long lost at this stage.

Conditions weren’t the best on the day we passed the beach. It was a beautiful sunny day, but the wind wasn’t blowing in the right direction and the only aircraft I saw flying was a powered one. We were on our way home so couldn’t wait around unfortunately. I still got some nice shots. Hopefully I’ll find time to work on them over the next few weeks!

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/250s

Kilbrittain 6 miles

A sign points to Kilbrittain in Co. Cork near the beach at Garrettstown.

Has it been 2 years already Ryan? My Flickr account expires in February 2008 so I have a bit more time on my hands. It’s been well worth it however!

Aperture ƒ/14
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/400s

Waves crash at Garretstown

Waves crash onto the beach at Garretstown last April.

Ryan has put his photos of the Irish Blog Awards online. Great shots!

Aperture ƒ/10
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/400s