Playing with the sea lions on Pier 39 A girl clambers over the statue of two sea lions on Pier 39, San Francisco. This pier is where people embark on the journey to Alcatraz Island and it was packed with tourists. Luckily Toni booked our tickets a few days previously and we were able to…

Rusted and abandoned An old oil drum stands on the quay at Ballycotton rusting away as the exposed metal is beaten down by the elements. Technique: I increased the saturation of the reds to bring out the rust of the drum. I desaturated other colours so the drum would stand out. I then duplicated the…

The lone daisy A solitary daisy grows in front of a small house in Fountainstown. This was an interesting photo for me to take. I spotted the daisy while walking out the road but I didn’t stop to shoot it until returning. I’m glad I remembered it! I’m really happy with the way this came…

Gone fishing Two fishermen enjoy the sun while a huge container ship, the Maersk Derince, passes by in the background. You can see they’re very busy. Even the gull that has landed close by is watching intently. It’s another hectic day in San Francisco. Technique: I wasn’t sure what to make of this photo. I…

Naturafit at the Cork Modern Homes Exhibition A young visitor to the Modern Homes Exhibition in City Hall Cork flings himself enthusiastically on the very comfortable Naturafit bed covers while Naturafit representative Kurt Gamper looks on in amusement. We bought one of those bed covers a few months back and it’s great. It helps keep…

Rain drops on my flower Rain drops on a flower pictured in Fountainstown, Co. Cork.

Shel Israel in the People’s Republic of Cork Rick Segal Shel Israel and Rick Segal joined members of the Cork blogging and business communities for dinner in Taste of Thailand last night. They spent the day talking to business people so I’m sure the dinner was a welcome end to the day. Pat ordered one…

Seating and the Bay Bridge Public seating near the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. I shot this on the first evening after getting to the city. Matt, Andy and I went for a walk down the street and I got my first sight of downtown San Francisco. Technique: I cropped the photo to a 1×1…

Steps down to the river Steps lead down to the River Lee in Cork City. Railing stops people going down them but in times past fishermen and other boat users hauled goods up these steps onto the quays. This was taken a few yards up the quay from a previous shot. Technique: To increase the…

Have bike, will travel As you can imagine, I was quite tired by the time I got to San Francisco! Picture above was taken just down from my Bird flying by photo. I know there are lots of awkward lines in this shot but the line of the Golden Gate Bridge is just about horizontal….