When you can take the train, you should probably take it rather than flying.
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 17mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/5s |
Tag Archives: motion blur
Ghosts on the Millennium Bridge
The Millennium Bridge has always been a bit of a drama queen – first it wobbled so much they had to shut it down, and now it’s serving up some of the most atmospheric shots in London.
This long exposure captures something almost supernatural about the daily pilgrimage across the Thames, with ghostly figures drifting like spirits between the sleek modernity of Norman Foster’s steel and glass creation and the timeless majesty of Wren’s baroque masterpiece. The blurred pedestrians become streams of human consciousness, each person’s journey reduced to ethereal wisps against the solid certainty of St. Paul’s dome.
The Millennium Bridge earned the nickname “Wobbly Bridge” because it swayed so dramatically when it first opened in 2000 that it had to be closed after just three days. The problem was “synchronous lateral excitation” – when large crowds walked in step, their footfalls created a resonance that made the bridge sway side to side by up to 7 centimetres, causing people to walk in sync to compensate, which only made the wobbling worse.
Photography videos I’ve watched recently:
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 41mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 5s |
Sailing Through Time
Someone walking past a sail in Kinsale made for a nice slow-motion intentional camera movement photo.
| Aperture | ƒ/5.6 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 49mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1.3s |
Green Light Go
One more from last week. This time, the long exposure shot is of a bus heading to Parnell Place in Cork. The traffic light had just turned green, so the bus was driving slowly, accelerating as it went. It made a colourful impression on the digital sensor of my camera!
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 50 |
| Shutter speed | 4s |
A Blur of Hooves
Raw speed in a still image as jockeys rode past on their mounts at the Dawstown Point to Point in 2023.
| Aperture | ƒ/22 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 150mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/3s |
Tour of Ireland Leading Group in Blarney
Yesterday the Tour of Ireland rode (quickly) through Blarney village, but the main group was proceeded by these three cyclists by almost 4 minutes. Good thing too, good practice for when the rest sped through in front of us at breakneck speed!
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 28mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
Excavating
No comment, except he’s having a fine root around there …
| Aperture | ƒ/5.6 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 18mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/6s |
Tall trees in Oracle
These tall evergreens planted in front of a set of small houses in Oracle were almost gone before I saw them. The scene looked bizarre. Tall trees, tiny houses. I wonder who lives in them?
Here it is on Google Maps. Try the Street View, you’ll see two cars pulled up in front of the same house as in my photo. Spooky.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |