Reflections on Emmett Place
I was standing on Emmett Place with my neck cricked at an awkward angle, trying to work out where the real sky ended and the reflected one began. Two people passed by and I’m sure they might have wondered what I was photographing with my head almost stuck to the window. Well, I’d noticed the…
Red Hills and Yellow Flowers
I almost walked straight past this clump of yellow without looking down. The Mirador de Guise y Ayose pulls everyone’s eyes outward, across the rumpled red hills, all the way to the hazy Atlantic but the real show was happening at my feet, where a burst of wild mustard had punched up through the volcanic…
Ardmore from the Air
I didn’t plan this one, like the photos of Blarney from a few days ago. It’s the kind of shot you only get when you’ve nabbed a window seat and the cloud cooperates. We were somewhere over the Waterford coast when Ardmore slid into view below, the whole headland laid out like a quilt someone…
The Old Shop at Myrtleville
The red building does the heavy lifting in this one. Squat, breeze-block, with a corrugated shutter rusting at its own pace and a smear of white graffiti for company. It used to be a shop. Hard to picture now, with the shutter pulled down for good and the paint going chalky, but at some point…
Blarney from Above in 2016
Blarney, from the secondary school and Woolen Mills to the Castle Digging through the archive I found these two aerial photos of Blarney from September 2016, and the first one stopped me. See those fields that border the houses on 3 sides? They’re now Cluain Ard with houses, gardens, driveways, the lot. Back then it…
Horse, Dog and a Quiet Hour on Silver Strand
We visited Sherkin Island more than ten years ago and walked the narrow road to the other side of the island, to Cow Strand and then on to Silver Strand. I’ve been back a few times since but I think this is the only time I saw a horse on the beach. It was a…
Sunset arrival, weeks before the world stopped
A Jet2 737 comes in low over the beach at Playa Honda, undercarriage down, engines glowing pink in the dying light. The approach-lighting pier marches out from the lava coast like an unfinished bridge, each platform waiting to flash its sequence and guide the next arrival onto runway 03 at Arrecife. I took this in…
The wellness slogan and the whipped cream
I shot this on Princes Street in Cork back in 2016, and I had it filed in my head all this time as a Starbucks-versus-Starbucks gag. The wellness sermon in the window was contradicted by the Frappuccino in the hand. Turns out the window belongs to Rocket Man, a salad and juice bar, which means…
Eye of the Eagle
I spent a few minutes watching this white-tailed eagle do absolutely nothing, and it was riveting. It sat on its branch at Fota Wildlife Park like it owned the place which, fair enough, when you’re the largest bird of prey in Ireland, you probably do. The dark backdrop did me a favour here, throwing all…
Little Grebe, Smaller Grebe
I was visiting Fota Wildlife Park with Henry recently when he spotted these two in an enclosure and I genuinely cannot get over how small a little grebe chick is. It’s basically a wet pom-pom with an attitude. The adult, all chestnut throat and businesslike beak, was patrolling the surface and the chick paddled over,…
The Patient Hour at Santa Cruz
As I climbed up the rocks from the beach I spotted a lone fisherman in the distance. He hadn’t caught anything yet but in the bright sunshine I caught a nice silhouette. It was Santa Cruz in Portugal, and a lovely day to be beside the sea.
Dermot Henry at Cyprus Avenue
Dermot Henry @ Cyprus Avenue, Cork. I saw Dermot Henry perform at the Wavelength Rooftop Bar, attached to Cyprus Avenue, in Cork, last night. Folk music isn’t my usual cup of tea but Dermot’s got a great voice and judging by comments on his YouTube videos, a passionate following. The support singer was great too….












