I was there too
I love the murals around Cork City, and the mural on Sullivan’s Quay is particularly eye-catching. Ordinary life continues on, but at least we’re treated to the gorgeous colours whenever we pass by.
| Aperture | ƒ/9 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 77mm |
| ISO | 1600 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
The Queen tribute band, Qween, played in the Cork Opera House on Saturday night to a packed audience and they were so great!
Check out this video from the gig. Go see them if you can!
| Aperture | ƒ/3.5 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 25mm |
| ISO | 2000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Was it yoga, or was there another dog just out of frame and this Irish Terrier wanted to be friends?
Irish Terriers are one of the oldest terrier breeds and are nicknamed “daredevils” because of their famously spirited and fearless temperament. During World War I, Irish Terriers were used as messenger dogs in the trenches, carrying communications between units under incredibly dangerous conditions. They were so effective and brave that they earned widespread admiration. One officer wrote that they were “extraordinarily intelligent, faithful, and honest, and a man who has one of them as a companion will never lack a true friend.” That stretching behaviour you see in the photo? It’s actually a natural “play bow”. Dogs use it not just to stretch their muscles but also as a social signal to other dogs (and sometimes humans) that they’re feeling playful and want to engage. So this little terrier might just be inviting passersby on Oliver Plunkett Street to join in the fun!
| Aperture | ƒ/9 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 160mm |
| ISO | 1000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
The sun had set behind the distant hills and the exposure times went up when I took this photo, but that’s what I wanted as the sea was rough and I wanted to make it silky smooth and misty at Owenahincha Beach last August.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 50 |
| Shutter speed | 8s |
This small garden caught my eye. It would be a nice space if not for the obligatory bins that every household must have. The left wall is a lovely deep blue, matching the colours of the flowers there.
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 6400 |
| Shutter speed | 1/125s |
Parking up by Charles Fort is always easier than trying to get through Summercover near Kinsale. The road is very narrow and steep, both ways, if you’re trying to the to the Bulman Bar.
Those yellow diamond-shaped road signs are actually part of Ireland’s relatively recent road signage system. Before the 1970s, Ireland used the older British-style circular and triangular signs, but when the country adopted the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, they switched to these diamond-shaped warning signs, making Ireland one of the few English-speaking countries to use this continental European style. The “10%” gradient warning means the road drops 10 metres for every 100 metres travelled horizontally, which is steep enough that most driving instructors would consider it “character building” for learner drivers!
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 110mm |
| ISO | 2000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/250s |
Waves broke on the rocks at the edge of Owenahincha Beach a month ago.
| Aperture | ƒ/7.1 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1.3s |
We took ourselves to Kings Yard near the Galtees today, and walked up a nearby trail next to a river. It was lovely there, so quiet except for the sound of the rushing water! There weren’t many mushrooms around yet but we spotted a bunch of them near the end of our walk and I was delighted to get a few photos of them!
Did you know, false saffron milkcaps are mycorrhizal fungi, meaning they form symbiotic relationships with tree roots, particularly spruces and firs? The mushroom helps trees absorb nutrients from the soil while receiving sugars in return. This partnership is so specific that finding these mushrooms often indicates the presence of healthy coniferous woodland ecosystems, making them useful indicators of forest health.
| Aperture | ƒ/5.6 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 90mm |
| ISO | 4000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/200s |
The ELO Experience played in Cyprus Avenue in Cork last night and they were fabulous, playing many deep cuts as well as The Electric Light Orchestra’s greatest hits. The crowd thoroughly enjoyed the night and they announced their next gig there in May next year!
| Aperture | ƒ/1.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 75mm |
| ISO | 1250 |
| Shutter speed | 1/125s |
It was one of those mornings where the sun shone on the clouds from below the horizon and filled the sky with fiery colours!
I’ve been working on a WordPress plugin called Cloud Cover Forecast. It will show you the low, mid, and high clouds for a particular location in a block on your site. It’s inspired by Clear Outside. If you have a blog, take it for a whirl and let me know if it works for you! It’s not on WordPress.org yet, so you’ll have to install it manually by uploading the zip file.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 41mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
The bike might be a little small but it got him to Monkstown in the end, I hope.
| Aperture | ƒ/5.6 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 55mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/25s |
Twenty two years separate the two images here. The first one is a photo of the old radio antenna tower in Mahon and it was taken in 2003. Back then cattle grazed in the field the tower stood in. That tower was dismantled around a year ago. There’s an interesting Reddit thread here about it. The second photo was from earlier this year where a smaller tower with familiar equipment for what is probably mobile phone cell reception.
It’s an old AM / Medium Wave radio tower that used to carry RTE Radio Cork / Radio 1 and at one stage even a relay of 2FM on medium wave, for those who liked their music crackly. It hasn’t been on air rather a long time an I think RTE has a number of transmitters being demolished. They’re doing it as a single contract.
As far as I’m aware that site was decommissioned in the early 2000s, before RTE finally switched off the main Medium Wave (AM) site in Tullamore. The transmitter itself is long gone. All that’s there is the mast.
There’s no prospect of that mast ever being used again.
Old AM sites typically use the whole structure of the antenna as the transmitter. They often sat on an isolated base and the tower height is half the wave length. So you can’t even easily retune them for an alternate AM frequency and they’re relatively useless for mobile phone gear as they are somewhat flexible and move in the wind.
Basically it would cost RTE a fortune to maintain it, even if it’s a local landmark. They’re not going to pay for ongoing maintenance and they’re quite complicated structures with guy-wires and aircraft hazard lighting and all that stuff.
| Aperture | ƒ/4.8 |
| Camera | FinePix2800ZOOM |
| Focal length | 22.4mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/550s |
