The London Eye as seen from below with my wide angle lens. It’s quite a sight to see but there are always long lines to ride it.
| Aperture | ƒ/10 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/200s |
Tag Archives: Black and White
To home on the bike
To say there are many motorbikes in Marrakesh is an understatement. We arrived at dusk and watched shell shocked as small motorbikes wove back and forth between traffic and around corners with little evident care for safety. As a pedestrian here you must have eyes in the back of your head!
With that sorted out and explained the picture above might not be too surprising and it’s a not an uncommon sight to see 3 people on a motorbike. It looks like three generations here: son leaning forward on the handlebars, mother driving and grandmother sitting on the passenger seat.
We haven’t seen any accidents yet but this old post from 2009 says accident rates are rising.
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 21mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
Hot Air Ballooning over Marrakech
Yesterday brought the news that 19 tourists died in Egypt when their hot air balloon crashed. It almost made us rethink our activities today because we were planning to go up in a balloon here in Marrakech! The chance that our balloon would crash just because a balloon in Egypt crashed is minuscule. They’re unrelated events but I guess it was a reminder that the activity is not without risk. Many people did cancel their trips yesterday and our pilot thanked us for not doing the same.
It was a wonderful experience, spoiled slightly by the low hanging clouds but floating through the clouds was surreal for a few moments. Then the wind blew us towards Berber villages as we descended. People watched and children ran as we eventually came to ground. The wind had been carrying us towards the mountains and we’d pass above powerlines that snaked across the valley so the pilot took us down about 200 metres from those cables.
Definitely worth trying out!
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 21mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1000s |
Reykjavik Trawler
A trawler leaves port in Reykjavik, Iceland last year while I was there on a Polldaddy meetup. As you read this now I’m in a much warmer part of the world on another meetup!
Iceland was great to visit. It was cold there of course but we weren’t there in the dead of winter so it was manageable. The weather was completely unpredictable however. In one hour you’d get the four seasons; rain, sun, snow and cutting winds within minutes of each other. Quite remarkable and something I haven’t seen anywhere else in the world (says me, the world weary traveller, not!)
| Aperture | ƒ/11 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 144mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/400s |
Four legged Traffic in Marrakesh
I’m here in Marrakesh, Morocco with the rest of Polldaddy for a week. This photo of a man on a donkey and cart was taken on the streets of the medina during a lull in traffic. After driving here I’m quite certain you could handle driving anywhere as buses, cars, vans, motorbikes and bicycles jostle for the same space in often narrow streets!
| Aperture | ƒ/14 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 21mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 1/400s |
El Puerto de Santa Maria: The snail seller
Anyone for snails or should I say escargot? A man selling snails wasn’t doing much business when we walked by in El Puerto de Santa Maria in Spain last March. I wasn’t going to sample any of his produce, have you tried snails? What do they taste of?
There’s a really interesting page on escargot on Wikipedia. Still won’t get me to eat them..
Snail shells have been found in archaeological excavations, indicating snails have been eaten since prehistoric times.[3][4] A number of archaeological sites around the Mediterranean have been excavated yielding physical evidence of culinary use of several species of snails used as escargot.[5] The Romans, in particular, are known to have considered escargot an elite food, as noted in the writings of Pliny. The edible species Otala lactea has been recovered from Volubilis in present-day Morocco.[6] This archaeological recovery is from an era of Roman Empire occupation of this provincial capital, which site was known to embody a very highly developed ancient civilization since its days as a Phoenician and Carthaginian colony.
| Aperture | ƒ/4.5 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 28mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 1/160s |
To Kiss the Blarney Stone
If you ever wondered where the Blarney Stone was just look up. This shot was taken from a balcony looking into the exposed interior of Blarney Castle. The people at the top of the building are standing around the Blarney Stone and it looks like there’s one brave soul yet to perform the deed. The other two are Castle employees.
You see, you have to lie flat on the stone walkway high above there and lean out backwards while holding on to two railings and then kiss the stone just below floor level. Don’t worry. There are bars below you. I’ve never heard of anyone falling to their death! One of those guys holds on to you while you kiss the Stone and the other takes a photo.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 21mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
Barren and Snow
This private road up to Blarney Castle was covered in snow, the trees were bare and every inch of grass wore the familiar white coat of a recent snow fall.
Taken yesterday morning while the snow fell. It’s -3C here in Blarney this morning and feels even colder! Brrrrr
| Aperture | ƒ/5 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 21mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/50s |
Blarney in the Snow
It started to snow this morning in Blarney shortly after 6:30am and it has snowed continually for the last few hours. There’s a nice white coat on the grass and trees but the roads have turned to slush making them somewhat treacherous. They’ll be a lot worse if the snow freezes so I hope it all disappears nice and quickly!
| Aperture | ƒ/5.6 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 21mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/60s |
Water Tyre near Inchigeelagh
Inchigeelagh, Cork, Ireland. June 2012.
After a trip to Gougane Barra where I photographed the usual suspects we stopped in Inchigeelagh and took a walk by the river. Near the end of the walk this tyre hangs from a tree into the river where I presume kids jumped into the water when the weather is slightly warmer than it is now.
This’ll be my last post of 2012 so happy new year! I took over 10,000 photos this year which is a recent record. If only I could find time and motivation to work on more of those photos so they’ll see the light of day..
| Aperture | ƒ/5 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/50s |
I enjoy reading
A man reading in the first floor window of a building on MacCurtain Street, Cork. May 13th, 2012.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 200mm |
| ISO | 800 |
| Shutter speed | 1/80s |
No Hotel
Moore’s Hotel on Morrison’s Quay, a former hotel that is now up for rent. I’d never been in there when it was a hotel but did meet an interesting man who worked there. The woo was strong in that one!
Edit: mouse over the image. Trying to do a before and after thing. Do you like it?
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/80s |