I was there too
A few years ago, a small mural was painted on a box on Grand Parade, featuring Frederick Douglass. Google Maps shows it was still there in 2024, but I’m not sure about it now.
Frederick Douglass visited Ireland in 1845 and was warmly received, finding a sense of freedom here that contrasted sharply with his experiences in the United States.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 240mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
I love this mural of Frederick Douglass. It’s painted on a wall of the small avenue going up to the Unitarian Church on Princes Street. I think the church has been closed for quite some time, but I’m glad this area is maintained.
The history of the church here is fascinating too.
After a fire in January 2024 destroyed the interior of the chapel, Cork Unitarian Church was left without a home and with little hope of continuing. Some of the church’s lay leadership believed that there was a future if the model for running the church radically changed. The church now operates as a Limited by Guarentee corporation – independent of external ecclesiastic governance (e.g. ordained ministers, synods, etc.). This is more in keeping with the model of most Unitarian Universalist (i.e. UU) church congregations in the EU (see: EUU). The Cork church congregation no longer has a permanent building to maintain. All of the energies of the church go to meeting the needs of the congregation, not preserving historically significant architecture.
While the Cork congregation has moved on to a different way of doing “church”. The congregation still has an affection for its former Princess street home. We also have an interest as Corkonians in seeing that the asset of the building, with all of its historic and architectural significance, is preserved. Cork Unitarian Church supports effort to donate and repurpose the Princes Street building as a publicly held asset – revitalising Cork’s City Centre and providing social and cultural benefits of the entire Cork community.
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 1000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Two young men decorate the underpass on the Line in Blackrock this evening with spray paint. There are fabulous murals on both walls of the underpass!
Fun fact: spray paint, the tool of choice here, was invented in 1949 by Edward Seymour, on the suggestion of his wife, Bonnie.
| Aperture | ƒ/1.7 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 6.3mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/60s |
In Warsaw, there’s a striking mural of Polish athletes, and the first I saw of it was when this man was walking towards a stairs leading down to the open area in front of it.
The mural is sponsored by Adidas and created by Jakub Podlodowski. He has written about it on his Facebook page here.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 240mm |
| ISO | 160 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Visiting the Mural Room in the Courthouse of Santa Barbara was a treat I was not expecting. The murals depict the history of the region, sometimes inaccurately, as they include Peter Pan, Robin Hood and Errol Flynn!
| Aperture | ƒ/2.2 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 2.2mm |
| ISO | 500 |
| Shutter speed | 1/30s |
A man walking past the site of the old tax office on Sullivan’s Quay in Cork, last July.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 75mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
A mural on a wall in Santa Barbara shows George Floyd, and his words, “PLEASE, I CAN’T BREATHE”.
The mural was painted by Griffin Lounsbury and Chad (Chadillac Green) Westmoreland. Here’s an article about the mural by a local newspaper.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 32mm |
| ISO | 1600 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Wheels is a mural made by artist, Anne Marie Karlsen from ceramic on 2nd Street in downtown Santa Monica, but I didn’t know that when I saw it. The vibrant colours and design caught my eye, framed by the trees and a parked van. More about it from here:
Anne Marie Karlsen created Wheels, an ambitious and vibrant ceramic tile mural that adorns the west-facing wall of Parking Structure 8 on 2nd Street in downtown Santa Monica. The artwork reveals different compositions depending on one’s vantage point and the wheel motif is loosely inspired by the structure of the recently retired Pacific Wheel on the Santa Monica Pier. Upon closer examination, viewers will discover that the abstracted shapes in the circular forms are in fact, photographic images the artist took of the Pacific Wheel in motion. The composition is meant to create the sort of whirling, topsy-turvy effect that one experiences on an amusement ride. The artwork acknowledges a part of Santa Monica history, while simultaneously becoming a bold new design for the future.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Chatting next to a mural in Malaga, Spain.
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 160 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
I spotted this mural being painted in Malaga a few weeks ago. A few people gathered around to watch. The mural is a striking painting of a woman in a blue dress, sitting in front of a landscape and a sunset.
The painting is called, “Brisa Estival” or “Summer Breeze” by the artist, Lalone, according to this report.
Brisa estival es el título de esta segunda obra creada por el artista Lalone, un especialista en murales urbanos, y que se integra dentro del proyecto Atardeceres Larios. El artista propone una interpretación contemporánea de la obra Días de verano realizada por el pintor Vicente Palmaroli en el año 1885 y que se expone en el Thyssen malagueño.
(Brisa summer is the title of this second work created by the artist Lalone, a specialist in urban murals, and which is integrated within the Larios Sunsets project. The artist proposes a contemporary interpretation of the work Days of Summer by the painter Vicente Palmaroli in 1885 and which is exhibited in the Malaga Thyssen.)
The translation above was done by Firefox, but Google Translate translated the name of the mural differently. You can find the painting, “Summer Days” by Vincente Palmaroli here.
It’s a fabulous mural. If you visit Malaga, it’s well worth seeing.
| Aperture | ƒ/1.7 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 6.3mm |
| ISO | 10 |
| Shutter speed | 1/250s |
I wonder if this man checking his phone noticed the mural behind him in Bishop Lucey Park. In this fragment of the mural you can see the old Roches Stores building, Mangan’s Clock and Shandon Bells.
You won’t see that mural there now. This is a snapshot of it from 2015.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 6D |
| Focal length | 105mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/320s |
The centre of Cork City will become a traffic free zone this Saturday for a few hours. The area visible in the photo above will still have cars in it, but it’ll be interesting to see what effect this will have on the day.
Visible in the background, of course, is “What is home?” by Dublin-based artist Asbestos.
This photo makes me feel uneasy.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 75mm |
| ISO | 1600 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
