Bicycles and Banter on Castle Street

I interrupted a conversation in process when I took this photo, as the man on the bike noticed me. I don’t think I’ve seen his since I took this photo in March, 2021.


Apertureƒ/3.5
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length24mm
ISO250
Shutter speed1/500s

The seaweed bicycle

I spotted a bike for hire that must have been dumped in the river for quite some time before being returned to the lock area. It was underwater so long that seaweed grew on it and tiny seashells grew on the pedal!

I presume it’ll be picked up, and hopefully cleaned up or recycled.


Apertureƒ/8
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length24mm
ISO2000
Shutter speed1/500s

No Parking Here

Parking in front of a no parking cone must have seemed like a good idea at first. I bet the rider was just popping into the nearby duck shop.

The bike was soon taken away and chopped up for parts and exported to Ireland, where it was used to build a submarine.


Apertureƒ/4
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length24mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/800s

The bicycle butterfly

A bicycle tied to a post on Patrick’s Street, Cork late last November.

I’m heading to London later today for my brother Donal‘s stag. Yes yes, wild weekend, etc etc. I’ll have my camera too of course and I’m staying next to King’s Cross Railway Station so I thought it would be great to go photograph the area. Unfortunately it seems that photography in railway stations and the undergroundrequires a permit. In fact, photography in the UK has become a lot riskier in recent years unfortunately:

For an individual like myself a permit would cost £30 but such a permit requires up to 2 weeks notice. I wonder if they can charge me if I use a telephoto lens from the street when someone opens the front door?

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 40D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 400
Shutter speed 1/250s

Tour of Ireland

The Tour of Ireland bicycle race passed through Blarney on it’s way to Cork City this afternoon. There was a sprint to the finish line in front of the local Catholic church before the cyclists made their way down the dual carriageway to Cork and up Patrick’s Hill, twice!

I was there ready to shoot the participants, but I was overwhelmed by their speed. It only took the main group about 11 seconds to come around the corner at one end of Blarney and disappear through the other end. I’m kicking myself I shot in Programme mode when I should have been in Aperture Priority mode, but I did get a few nice panning shots that froze the rider while the background blurred into smudges and streaks of colour.

The Canon 40D performed admirably. ISO was set to 100 because it was a bright day, AI Servo focus to track the riders and keep them in focus, and high speed continuous shooting mode which delivered 6.5fps. It was all over so quickly I barely had time to take a breath. I shot around 230 images while waiting and during the short time the racers were in Blarney. I knew I’d go a little mad with the shutter button, so I preselected Jpeg mode rather than my usual RAW mode.

Here’s a transcript of the commentary during the race. This bit, while serious, made me smile:

13.10: The race leader has been to see the race doctor, who reports a very unusual injury. He had a thorn embedded in his tongue – presumably from an overhanging branch, or perhaps even some dried fruit he ate – which was removed by the doctor. The thorn, not his tongue.

Hope you like the gallery, hopefully some of these shots will be posted here in single posts during the week!

Aperture ƒ/7.1
Camera Canon EOS 40D
Focal length 106mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/200s

The Bike at the Library

Cork City Library on the Grand Parade used to have railings in front for locking up your bike. Those railings disappeared a few months ago but people still leave their bikes there.

The library itself will soon be the subject of a major facelift as a developer expands it into a new block of retail units and apartments as well as library.

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 400
Shutter speed 1/80s