Back Gardens in Bantry

Bantry town is built on the hills surrounding a natural harbour so it’s a hard slog with a buggy if you want to go anywhere. Shot this from the road overlooking a few houses. You can see the local hospital in the background too I think.

Hope everyone at WordCamp in San Francisco has a great day today!

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/100s

Allihies Countryside

The road to the beach at Allihies in West Cork branches in two a few miles from there. This was taken on the scenic route where the road comes out between two hills and you see this beautiful expanse of hills and grassland spread out before you. It’s quite a sight.

My poor photo does little to capture the real splendour of the area!

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/200s

Bridge the gap


A public walkway over the railway tracks in Cobh, Co. Cork.

Walking down by the quay in Cobh is a nice relaxing way of spending an evening, at least before it gets dark. Despite the presence of the nautically shaped Garda station close by it’s a bit too secluded and remote for my tastes. I do love the old red brick of the train station and the supporting structure of this bridge. I know I have a few shots of it somewhere that I simply have to dig out.

Lots of dodging the burning in this shot, as well as some brightening in Bibble Pro and b/w conversion of course. Took quite a bit of time to come up with the finished product.

Aperture ƒ/5
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/80s

Field of flowers

Floods, hailstones, cold. Another typical Irish summer but thankfully it’s nice ad bright here in Blarney. Here’s a shot I took down at Allihies in West Cork back in April. It’d be perfect if the flowers were more in focus but I still love it.

Aperture ƒ/7.1
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/125s

Cloudy Carpark

A lone car parked on the top floor of the carpark at Paul Street in Cork. Black clouds hovered ominously but the rain held off!

Aperture ƒ/7.1
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/125s

The rolling hills of the Irish countryside

People come from far and wide to see the beautiful Irish countryside and it’s no wonder. There’s such a wide range of different scenery that you could spend many a day discovering new beauty spots.

This was shot near Dunmanway in West Cork. If you look very carefully you can see the wind power generators on the horizon but what attracted me to the scene was the gently rolling hills and changing light. Really beautiful part of the country.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 106mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/250s

The National Monument

The National Monument, Grand Parade Cork was erected in 1906 to commemorate those who died in uprisings against the British in 1867 and 1798.

It’s one of the few parts of the Grand Parade that hasn’t changed much despite all the redevelopment of the city.

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

Directions to Ballygarvan

Ballygarvan is 1 mile that way. Shot up by Cork Airport while trying to get a decent shot of a plane landing or taking off. I eventually moved to the other end of the air field where I got the shots I posted last week!

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 125mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/250s

How to (not) shoot a solar eclipse

I went searching and found a few pages describing how to shoot the sun during a solar eclipse. All warned against looking at the sun directly.

So, I ignored all that advice and got out my 75-300mm lens and grabbed a couple of shots of the sun with a chunk bitten out of it by the moon. Thankfully the clouds provided a bit of a filter but my eyes are still watering a bit. Worth it?

With hindsight, what the hell was I thinking? I’m lucky my eye is fine, but if you’re going to shoot a solar eclipse, don’t look through the viewfinder. Set your camera up on a tripod and project an image of the sun on a white sheet of cardboard and then press the shutter button. Much safer than actually looking..

Aperture ƒ/45
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 300mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/8000s

Looking for a parking space

You’re in town and desperately looking for a parking place. Where do you go? All the on-street parking has either been removed because of road works or taken by everyone who went shopping at 9am. Just look up. There’s a multi storey carpark somewhere near you. Probably.

Front of the car park on The Grand Parade. Shot after I said goodbye to Phil and the others a few weeks ago.

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

Western Star Cork

The Western Star in Cork was a favourite haunt of UCC students for many a year but now it looks like it’ll be demolished! Looks like development has been on the cards for quite a while:

Permission was granted to Tom O’Riordan carry out development namely, permission for part demolition of existing public house and removal of existing timber outhouses, construction of 12 medical suites over 29 no. ground floor level car parking spaces and associated entrances, roadways and site works with vehicular access medical sites from the grounds of the Bon Secours Hospital at the Western Star, Western Road, Cork in accordance with plans and particulars submitted on 16/08/05; further information requested on 07/10/05; further information received on 04/04/06; clarification of F.I. requested on 26/04/06 and clarification of F.I. received on 31/05/06 Ref. T.P.05/30005

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/160s

Ryanair’s bumpy landing

Will Ryanair face a bumpy landing this year?

Shots taken at Cork Airport of a Ryanair flight coming in to land. There are two small cottages just down the road from where I stood with children playing in the garden of one. I guess you get used to the engine whine after a while.