Cobh Train Station

Cobh Train Station, taken just before closing many months ago. It’s a long exposure shot of the interior of a fine building on the quay-side.

“The Queenstown Story”, a museum in the background of this shot is worth a visit and tells the story of the port of Cobh as the last place 3 million Irish people saw before they sailed for the United States. Some of those sailed on the ill-fated Titanic.

The Queenstown Story on virtualtourist.com has more reviews, and pictures of the museum if you’re interested.

Techincal details:

  1. Duplicate Layer
  2. Brighten new layer with Curves tool.
  3. Blur with Gaussian Blur and a radius of 15 pixels.
  4. Black/White conversion with channel mixer.
  5. Change layer mode to Grain merge, 82.5% opacity.
  6. Resize and unsharp mask the lower layer.

I like this: Shandon Tower.

Aperture ƒ/16
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 8s

A Golden Glow over Cobh

Last night we went down to Cobh to walk around and lucky for us the rain disappeared as we approached the town!

It was strange. There was lots of localised rain yesterday. Blarney was mostly dry, the roads were dry as we drove down but as soon as we crossed the bridge off the main road a steady drizzle enveloped the car.

I gloomily predicted that we’d spend our time in the Cobh in the car or sheltered under an umbrella but just as I parked the car, the drizzle let off and a little blue sky and sunlight peaked through the grey clouds! We had a nice pleasant walk after all!

This was shot at the end of a private row of houses that look on to the harbour. There’s a high chimney near the end of the road that I’d like to find out more about. I’ll have to do some research later on.

I like this: Wyre Wreck #5 – nice use of HDR to create a dramatic image.

Aperture ƒ/7.1
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/100s

Cobh Peoples Regatta – Flash Harry

Flash Harry, a Queen tribute band played to the crowd at the Cobh Peoples Regatta last weekend after the fireworks. They were great, driving the crowd wild!
*phew* This post took ages to do, had to get up early to work on this one. Hope you enjoy the photos!

You can find out more about Flash Harry on their website.
Sorry if you’re on dialup, this may take a while to download!

Cobh Peoples Regatta - Flash Harry
Cobh Peoples Regatta - Flash Harry
Cobh Peoples Regatta - Flash Harry
Cobh Peoples Regatta - Flash Harry
Cobh Peoples Regatta - Flash Harry
Cobh Peoples Regatta - Flash Harry
Cobh Peoples Regatta - Flash Harry
Cobh Peoples Regatta - Flash Harry

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 125mm
ISO 400
Shutter speed 1/60s

Cobh Peoples Regatta Fireworks

I went down to Cobh to see the end of the Cobh Peoples Regatta on Sunday night. I met Donal and Celine down there and a great night was had by all!

The Regatta is a weekend long festival which I found out about last year, watched the fireworks and the band that played. This year’s band was Flash Harry, a Queen tribute band. Photos of them to appear tomorrow!

Cobh Peoples Regatta Fireworks
Cobh Peoples Regatta Fireworks
Cobh Peoples Regatta Fireworks
Cobh Peoples Regatta Fireworks
Cobh Peoples Regatta Fireworks

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 1600
Shutter speed 1/6s

Hungry Caterpillar

A caterpillar munches on flowers by the bird sanctuary in Blarney, Co. Cork a few weeks ago.
No SF photos today, need to recharge my batteries!

Update on 2015-08-11 – I re-edited this photo in Lightroom and uploaded a larger version! You can find the original photo here!

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera DMC-FZ5
Focal length 6.4mm
ISO 80
Shutter speed 1/160s

Cork College of Commerce

The main entrance and sides of the Cork College of Commerce on Morrison’s Island, Cork.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/320s

Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church on Fr. Mathew Quay, pictured from just outside a side gate on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

The church and attached friary are run by the Capuchins who have been in the city since at least 1637. The church above dates from early eighteenth century.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/500s

Middle East War Protest

On Saturday afternoon, Cork Alliance Against War held a protest against the war in Lebanon.

After reading this story about the Kudsi family I have a lot more sympathy for them. Their house was bombed early one morning and most of the household was wiped out.
“In the early hours of the next morning, as Rayan, 30, slept near her daughters Alice, 6, and Celine, 3, an Israeli warplane dropped two one-ton bombs on their house in Hoshe, a village south of Tyre.

Rayan, her girls and her 78-year-old grandmother Um Zuheir were killed, probably when the first bomb struck the villa’s concrete roof just after 4.30am. The family’s tenants, a United Nations official from Ghana and his wife, also died.”

Branedy says it better than I could. Israel really has lost the war.

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

Three Daisies

Daisy Daisy,
Give me your answer do!
I’m half crazy,
All for the love of you!
It won’t be a stylish marriage,
I can’t afford a carriage,
But you’ll look sweet on the seat
Of a bicycle built for two!

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera DMC-FZ5
Focal length 6mm
ISO 80
Shutter speed 1/400s

Ladybird’s spots

Oh so high! When you’re tiny a few inches off the ground can appear like a huge drop to you.

The ladybird scurried away after this shot to get some peace and quiet from the camera toting freak in the garden! 🙂

Aperture ƒ/4.5
Camera DMC-FZ5
Focal length 6mm
ISO 80
Shutter speed 1/400s

Lady in the grass

A ladybird in the grass of my back garden.

Taken with my Panasonic FZ5. Almost run out of pre-prepared images. I’ll need to fire up the GIMP this weekend.

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera DMC-FZ5
Focal length 6mm
ISO 80
Shutter speed 1/400s