The road beyond Fountainstown

Have you ever gone beyond the beach at Fountainstown in Co. Cork? I’ve been visiting that beach all my life but I had never walked up the road until a week ago. I’m glad I did because it’s very nice up there, and coupled with a setting sun I went a little mad with the camera! Expect a few more shots from here over the week.

I like these: New terminal at Cork Airport and great child portraits.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/250s

Lady at the lights

If looks could kill! I don’t know who she was looking at but she doesn’t look happy!

Pictured on the corner of Washington Street and Grand Parade a few days ago while we waited for the traffic lights to change. Finn’s Corner, a sports clothes shop, has been on that corner for years and St. Augustine’s Catholic Church is visible just down the road. I’ve never been in that church despite it’s central location. It’s so well integrated into the street scape that it’s easy to forget it’s there.

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

Girls Talking

Girls seated on the side of the pavement and on the road deep in conversation at the Ceili Mor in Cork a few weeks ago. Despite the noise of people dancing, an announcer and music playing I think a meaningful discussion was had!

Looks like I’ve made it. One of my photos was used on the snopes.com messageboard without linking back to me or crediting me. I shouldn’t be surprised I suppose, but I am a little angry at the original poster. Thankfully someone linked to it further down in the conversation. Thanks Kathy B.

Snopes.com have now published the picture and the joke description on a separate page linking to this blog. Thank you!

Read what Chris Weeks writes about copyright. I wonder what he has in mind. On a related note, the Orphan Works Bill is dead! This law in the US would have meant that “images on the web in particular as fair game for unauthorised (and thus unpaid) use, as it requires only rather nominal checks to be made to establish the owndership of copyright before material can be freely used.” I like the way Peter Marshall solved unauthorised commercial usage of his images. He sent an invoice and a polite letter to the offending company!

Aperture ƒ/6.3
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/250s

Happy child in the water

A very happy boy runs through the incoming tide at Inch Strand, Co. Kerry. The tide came in suddenly forcing all the adults back but it brought a big smile to this youngster’s face!

Originally shot in colour with the sun behind the boy, I had to brighten the image significantly to get any detail in the boy. That blew out the brighter parts of the image so I made it into a black and white image and I’m very happy with the result.

It was competition night in Mallow Camera Club last night. The standard was amazingly high, but then again, a number of old hands, and pros are members as well as newbies like myself. I had to select 15 images for entry and with some difficulty whittled 30 images down to that number. After all that, there was some mix up with the projector and my images weren’t shown anyway. I don’t mind because the deadline for digital images had been during the week, not on the night, and I think images had been copied into the wrong directory. This photo would have been one of those images shown.

Just got an email from Shutterstock, my check’s in the post! Woo!

Aperture ƒ/13
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 48mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/320s

Keep a lookout

A father and two sons on St. Patrick’s Street, Cork. I presume they’re waiting for someone from what I heard of the dad talking on his phone as I passed.

Blown out details are on purpose to give it a slightly edgier effect. Hope you like it!

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/1000s

A pint of beer and a newspaper

Sometimes it’s good to chill out, relax and step out of the rat-race, even for a few moments.
This scene was made on St. Patrick’s Street outside Le Chateau, a bar with seating in front of the building as most places do these days because of the smoking ban. Yet another of the advantages of that ban!

On a related topic, how does insurance work when you’re drinking and enjoying the facilities of an establishment outside the physical walls of the bar or restaurant? The bar doesn’t own the pavement. Also, it’s illegal to drink in public areas isn’t it? In front of a pub is a public area surely?

In other news, I’m now a paid up member of Mallow Photography Club! Despite driving from Kerry on Monday, and feeling the worse for wear, I went to the meeting that night. It was a portraiture night using studio lighting. Three local girls, only one of whom had any photoshoot experience were our models and did a great job, even with the gaggle of photographers busily snapping away! I got a couple of good shots of the girls, which may end up on my photoblog next week if they’re happy with them. No promises because it’s the first time I’ve done this sort of shoot and it’s more than a little intimidating for a newbie! I need to read and absorb more of Strobist.

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/1000s

Press the button and walk

A pedestrian traffic light on St. Patrick’s Street, Cork. The green man is strutting his stuff and people are walking across.

Does anyone else have a dislike for the design of this button? Sure, there’s a big arrow pointing to a large white dot, but it took several years for people to realise that they press the white button instead of the light at the bottom of the unit. The problem is that people are used to pressing a physical button, something that sticks out and can be pushed in. The white dot is flush with the surface of the unit, and people go to press the only thing that looks vaguelly button-like, the light. I still see people do it, and yes, this is one of my pet peeves, thanks for reading!

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/640s

Pleased to meet you!

A child greets one of the onlookers at the Cork Folk Festival after the “Christ Restoration Ministries Gospel Choir” have sung and danced. There were lots of kids about and they were all having a great time!

I love this photo because the parents look so happy, kids are drinking their water and watching, the expressions on people’s faces as they see this small child come up to an adult, and of course the expressions of those who are oblivious to what’s going on. So much happening in one scene.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 144mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/250s

Looking out for the kids

A wary father carries his son on his shoulder at the Ceili Mor as his photo is taken on St. Patrick’s Street last weekend. Looks like his passenger is enjoying the festival!

I like this: State of Emergency – pictures from Vogue of models and Police. They’re scanned from Vogue Italia so buy the magazine if you see it and enjoy this photo essay.

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

Girls dancing on the street

People of all ages joined in the fun dancing on St. Patrick’s Street last weekend at the Ceili Mor, but there was a noticeable lack of male participation. Any man out there had his pick of the women! Are guys too shy, or are women better dancers?
Me? I was taking photos! If I didn’t have my camera I’d have been out there like a shot, yes sir, definitely, no doubt about it at all…

Aperture ƒ/7.1
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/250s

Pure joy! A child on drums!

Can you imagine the noise? Well, don’t worry, it was in the middle of the street! A child took control of the drums while the adults took a break during the Cork Folk Festival.
From the programme I guess the group singing and dancing with accompanied drums and music were the “Christ Restoration Ministries Gospel Choir”. A large crowd gathered around so it was difficult to get any shots of the dancing, not surprising really because they were very good.

I like this: Battersea Power Station and Grosvenor Bridge because the photographer, Dave Gorman, had a positive experience with the police. (via)

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

All the fun of the Ceili Mor

The Ceili Mor on St. Patrick’s Street, Cork, last weekend. Last year the Ceili Mor attracted 8,371 people who broke the world record for the largest Irish dancing event!
This year was a more modest event but still the people showed up and joined in, slowly at first, but there was a decent crowd out enjoying themselves later!
Photos from last year: part 1 and part 2.

I forgot to mention. I saw so many people with cameras that I’m surprised there aren’t a lot more Cork-based photoblogs. I’m not talking about parents with a compact camera and kids in tow, I counted at least 5 solitary people silently working the crowd and the dancers with everything from bridge cameras to Digital SLRs and zoom lenses. I really need to get business cards printed and spread the word about WordPress.com

Aperture ƒ/7.1
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 28mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/80s