A pint of beer and a newspaper

Sometimes it’s good to chill out, relax and step out of the rat-race, even for a few moments.
This scene was made on St. Patrick’s Street outside Le Chateau, a bar with seating in front of the building as most places do these days because of the smoking ban. Yet another of the advantages of that ban!

On a related topic, how does insurance work when you’re drinking and enjoying the facilities of an establishment outside the physical walls of the bar or restaurant? The bar doesn’t own the pavement. Also, it’s illegal to drink in public areas isn’t it? In front of a pub is a public area surely?

In other news, I’m now a paid up member of Mallow Photography Club! Despite driving from Kerry on Monday, and feeling the worse for wear, I went to the meeting that night. It was a portraiture night using studio lighting. Three local girls, only one of whom had any photoshoot experience were our models and did a great job, even with the gaggle of photographers busily snapping away! I got a couple of good shots of the girls, which may end up on my photoblog next week if they’re happy with them. No promises because it’s the first time I’ve done this sort of shoot and it’s more than a little intimidating for a newbie! I need to read and absorb more of Strobist.

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/1000s

Press the button and walk

A pedestrian traffic light on St. Patrick’s Street, Cork. The green man is strutting his stuff and people are walking across.

Does anyone else have a dislike for the design of this button? Sure, there’s a big arrow pointing to a large white dot, but it took several years for people to realise that they press the white button instead of the light at the bottom of the unit. The problem is that people are used to pressing a physical button, something that sticks out and can be pushed in. The white dot is flush with the surface of the unit, and people go to press the only thing that looks vaguelly button-like, the light. I still see people do it, and yes, this is one of my pet peeves, thanks for reading!

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/640s

Pleased to meet you!

A child greets one of the onlookers at the Cork Folk Festival after the “Christ Restoration Ministries Gospel Choir” have sung and danced. There were lots of kids about and they were all having a great time!

I love this photo because the parents look so happy, kids are drinking their water and watching, the expressions on people’s faces as they see this small child come up to an adult, and of course the expressions of those who are oblivious to what’s going on. So much happening in one scene.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 144mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/250s

Balloon Boy

A boy is dragged by his mother up St. Patrick’s Street at the Ceili Mor. He was playing with a balloon by punching it continually. I saw him approach and as luck would have it, err, I mean, I quickly composed this shot. I love the expression on his face and I’m very happy that I caught this moment!

Aperture ƒ/6.3
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/100s

The road to Ceili

People stroll along the closed off St. Patrick’s Street to the Ceili Mor.

Technique: I had to rotate the photo and crop it a small bit to get a straighter horizon, then some dodge/burn to bring out the contrast, and fired off the GIMP lomo plugin that creates two layers – one to highlight the centre, and the other to provide the vignette. I added a layer mask to the vignette and by using a gradient knocked off the top half of the vignette.

Aperture ƒ/9
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/160s

Looking out for the kids

A wary father carries his son on his shoulder at the Ceili Mor as his photo is taken on St. Patrick’s Street last weekend. Looks like his passenger is enjoying the festival!

I like this: State of Emergency – pictures from Vogue of models and Police. They’re scanned from Vogue Italia so buy the magazine if you see it and enjoy this photo essay.

Aperture ƒ/6.3
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/200s

Girls dancing on the street

People of all ages joined in the fun dancing on St. Patrick’s Street last weekend at the Ceili Mor, but there was a noticeable lack of male participation. Any man out there had his pick of the women! Are guys too shy, or are women better dancers?
Me? I was taking photos! If I didn’t have my camera I’d have been out there like a shot, yes sir, definitely, no doubt about it at all…

Aperture ƒ/7.1
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/250s

Pure joy! A child on drums!

Can you imagine the noise? Well, don’t worry, it was in the middle of the street! A child took control of the drums while the adults took a break during the Cork Folk Festival.
From the programme I guess the group singing and dancing with accompanied drums and music were the “Christ Restoration Ministries Gospel Choir”. A large crowd gathered around so it was difficult to get any shots of the dancing, not surprising really because they were very good.

I like this: Battersea Power Station and Grosvenor Bridge because the photographer, Dave Gorman, had a positive experience with the police. (via)

Aperture ƒ/10
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/400s

All the fun of the Ceili Mor

The Ceili Mor on St. Patrick’s Street, Cork, last weekend. Last year the Ceili Mor attracted 8,371 people who broke the world record for the largest Irish dancing event!
This year was a more modest event but still the people showed up and joined in, slowly at first, but there was a decent crowd out enjoying themselves later!
Photos from last year: part 1 and part 2.

I forgot to mention. I saw so many people with cameras that I’m surprised there aren’t a lot more Cork-based photoblogs. I’m not talking about parents with a compact camera and kids in tow, I counted at least 5 solitary people silently working the crowd and the dancers with everything from bridge cameras to Digital SLRs and zoom lenses. I really need to get business cards printed and spread the word about WordPress.com

Aperture ƒ/7.1
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 28mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/80s

Princess Jacinta

Royal Sedan Crew Portrait

Princess Jacinta was formally announced to the populace of Cork as she rode a sedan car up Saint Patrick’s Street in Cork. She was regal in stature, enjoying every moment of it, and alighted outside Boots Chemist on the thoroughfare where she was presented with a flower as a token of gratitude from a happy populace. She ended her reign shortly afterwards and is at home with me now. The experience hasn’t changed her at all.
“Your highness, is that ok?”

Members of Cork Circus took my wife Jacinta up the main street in Cork City. She recognised one of the group as the Midleton Princess I photographed last week and after speaking to her, they persuaded her to ride in their sedan car. She was embarrassed at first but what fun is life if you can’t do crazy things every now and again eh?
We were in town enjoying the festivities of the Ceili Mor and the Cork Folk Festival.

Aperture ƒ/9
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/250s

Waiting for Passengers

People wait expectantly in San Francisco International Airport for the first sight of someone they know to appear in the crowd off a plane.

Toni, Andy and I were there to meet Podz off his plane. I had flown in earlier in the day and was almost asleep on my feet but I managed to make this hand held long exposure shot!

I like this: Daft Punk at Marley Park because I wanted to go, heard that they were brill in Scotland, but Donal didn’t think much of their gig in Dublin. Nice shots of their light show though!

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 800
Shutter speed 1/8s

Midleton Princess

Adding a bit of humour ot the Midleton Food and Drink Festival, this princess was just on a break but kindly posed for the camera after I asked.

Sorry about the blown out detail on her hand – the sun was behind her so I had to fill in the shadows with flash. Unfortunately her hand was sunlit and the camera just couldn’t take it.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/250s