I was there too
On our way back to Baltimore after a nice visit to Cape Clear Island the ferry passed by the Baltimnore Beacon.
I heard that the Beacon had been built by the father of a man who perished on the cliffs where it’s built but it’s origin is rather more mundane. The British Government ordered it built in the mid 1900’s. However I did know it was known as “Lott’s Wife” or the “Pillar of Salt” locally.
More on Wikipedia here and here. Casey’s also have an informative page.
The remains of a World War One Lee Enfield rifle found somewhere in France or Belgium. It’s heavily corroded and the wood used in it’s construction is almost completely gone. I dread to think what action it saw or what happened to it’s owner.
This was on display at the military show in Cork City Gaol today. I took many more photos but I chose to post this one because the Lee Enfield will be well known to many gamers. If you’ve played Red Orchestra 2 you have definitely used it.
I also chose it because of my reawakened interest in history. Check out r/AskHistorians where there are always interesting answers and specific to this picture, there’s r/WWI. I also started listening to IWM Voices of the First World War podcast. Listening and reading about a subject is one thing but to see artefacts from the period is another.
The Wikipedia page for the Lee Enfield rifle is well worth a read.
Rain falls on one of the tables in the grounds of The Anglers Rest, Co Cork. After the roasting sun of a week or so ago the country has been deluged with sudden and heavy showers, thunder and lightning and in some areas flooding.
A few weeks ago we couldn’t go out because it was too hot, now the weather has done an about-turn and it’s unpredictable!
Martin O’Brien who runs The Old Grainstore at St. Mullin’s, Co Carlow posed for a photo after we chatted with him outside his café. It was a glorious day and the place was busy with people eating lunch, swimming and walking about. It’s a beautiful location I want to return to again.
St Patrick’s Street, Cork during the Street Performance World Championships yesterday. Does anyone know who this performer is?
I can’t really comment on any of the performers unfortunately as I was only there for an hour with a bored six year old who had a fixation on buying an Angry Birds hat and balloon animals. There were huge crowds too which meant kids had to at the performance before it started to get a place in front.
I’m glad I caught this moment.
Yesterday evening in Crosshaven, Co Cork. It was a beautiful end of the day. Not quite as hot as other days which I was thankful for but many people out and a good atmosphere in the town.
Edit: here’s the original photo!
From left to right: Barbarito Torres, Omara Portuondo and Papi Oviedo.
On Monday night I went to see Buena Vista Social Club in Cork Opera House with my wife Jacinta. We had a blast there and the crowd loved them, even if they did drag out the musician solos a bit too much. There’s only so many minutes you can hear the same set of notes repeating before it gets monotonous.
Regardless, there were lots of fans in the audience. The band barely spoke a word of English throughout which certainly helped the atmosphere. I unfortunately have barely a word of Spanish so I would look blankly at my wife!
When Omara Portuondo came on stage the audience erupted. Even at the age of 82 she moved about the stage and sang many songs, extolling the audience to stand up from their seats. Soon everyone was dancing or at the very least rocking from foot to foot in the stalls!
More to come..
The Shaky Bridge, Or Daly’s Bridge, spans the River Lee near Fitzgerald Park in Cork City.
Today was Family Fun Day in Blarney oraganised by Gaelscoil Mhuscrai. It threatened to rain several times but besides a few drops it stayed dry and everyone had fun!
A trip into town is always complicated when you have kids with you. Shot on Emmett Place, Cork last weekend.
Graffiti on a St Patrick Street, Cork. A couple embraces and kisses forever lost in each other.
First time shooting on the street with the Canon 6D. I set up C1, one of the custom settings with the following:
1. Enable auto ISO and limit it to 100-128000.
2. Set the minimum shutter speed to 1/125.
3. Use medium RAW.
This should help me get sharp images, at the expense of more noise. It helped sometimes but at other times shooting from the hip was too much and the swing of my arm didn’t help matters. I culled about half of the images I took and I’ll probably delete more as I go over them again tomorrow.
Blarney House, an impressive building on the grounds of Blarney Castle in Co. Cork, Ireland. It’s a private residence but during the summer there are guided tours every half hour.
