A horse flies through the air following another horse at the Dawstown Point to Point earlier this year.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 150mm |
| ISO | 500 |
| Shutter speed | 1/2000s |
Tag Archives: Photo
Bishop Lucey’s Pigeon
If there’s one thing that was a constant in the old Bishop Lucey Park in Cork it was the pigeons. They swarmed over the old city wall where humans were denied because of a fence around it. Sometimes the wall was thick with them, waiting for a child to come along and scream and laugh at them as they flew into the air in panic.
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Mobile Appetite
One of the food trailers at the Skibbereen market on the day I visited in 2019 was “Little Green Shoot”. They’re on Facebook, but haven’t updated since 2020 so they may not be operating any more. A lot has happened since then.
| Aperture | ƒ/4 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 160 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Bye Bye Hoppy
We said goodbye to our dear cat, Hoppy today. She was 18 years old, and the last of her family that was brought into our lives by their mother many years ago.
She was an adorable cat. She would accept rubs and loving ear scratches for as long as you’d do them. She only ever tried to bite me once and that was a couple of weeks ago when she suffered a seizure outside my home office. I have learned since that you should keep your hands away from a cat when that happens as they’re scared of what’s happening.
The last of her family: Mommy Cat, Patches Senior, Patches, Sooty and Hoppy. I can’t believe we cared for 5 cats at one time. Apart from the mother, they all had the same gentle nature.
I don’t think anyone besides my immediate family have ever rubbed Hoppy. She was wary of strangers and ran a mile when anyone called to the house. That’s the thing with cats. Unless you’re calling to someone’s home you may not even know they have cats!
When Hoppy’s family first joined us we already had a dog, Oscar. They got on ok. She *loved* to rub up against him and sometimes slept on the same bed as him.
She’s been through many changes in our home, due to renovations and upgrades. When work men were about, she’d disappear into the ditch behind the house.
There was further upheavel in her life when Diego appeared. I remember Mommy Cat and Hoppy hissed and arched their backs at this tiny puppy I had on a lead. Diego is excitable, but for the most part they got on ok. He accepted her and Mommy cat as part of the household. Just yesterday evening I went out in the back garden with Diego and Hoppy followed us out too. Diego just walked back in past her without a look. He’s not so accepting of any other cat, unfortunately.
She went downhill a lot in the last year. It was a few months ago when I realised I hadn’t heard her meow while she waited for me to feed her in the morning. She seemed to have lost her voice, but the vet had observed she was short of breath and gasping all the time. It didn’t stop her purring, and that was lovely.
This morning she hopped slowly from her kennel outside to the kitchen door. She wasn’t that interested in food, looking down at the mashed sardines I put in her bowl for a while. She ate, but she appeared listless to me. She didn’t drink water either which was most unlike her.
I’m also sad because Hoppy was this one connection we had to her family and to Oscar and Diego. Such a long life. She was well cared for.
Tomorrow will be the first time in almost 2 decades that I come down to the kitchen in the morning and there won’t be a cat to feed. It’s a head wrecker.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.4 |
| Camera | SM-G998B |
| Focal length | 9mm |
| ISO | 320 |
| Shutter speed | 1/35s |
Big Generator: Cobh’s Night Electric
Big Generator rocked Cobh last August during the Cobh People’s Regatta. They played in the band stand in the park and even later in the evening after the fireworks there was a large crowd dancing and enjoying the music! Look out for them as they play around the country.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 124mm |
| ISO | 12800 |
| Shutter speed | 1/80s |
Woodstock Dreams in the Hall of Bones
Two visitors to the Natural History Museum in London admire the huge skeleton in the main hall.
The Natural History Museum’s most famous skeleton used to be “Dippy,” a diplodocus that dominated that main hall for 112 years. In 2017, it was replaced with a blue whale skeleton (which is what you see here). Dippy wasn’t actually a real skeleton though; it was a composite cast made from plaster and steel. The irony? For over a century, visitors thought they were seeing an actual dinosaur when they were really looking at a rather elaborate replica.
| Aperture | ƒ/1.8 |
| Camera | SM-G998B |
| Focal length | 6.7mm |
| ISO | 50 |
| Shutter speed | 1/100s |
The Bright Side of the Streets
I have a good reason for photographing this perfectly ordinary scene. Over the years I’ve taken photos of men sitting on that electricity box, and this just adds to that collection.
First there was this photo of Liam Foley, an elderly man enjoying a cigarette. He passed away 2 months after that photo was taken. I was glad I could pass on that photo to his family.
Then a few years later, yet another photo of a man enjoying a cigarette.
And now, many years later, a photo of a man about to roll a cigarette.
I like what they did with the door and the mural. Lovely to see the colour there.
| Aperture | ƒ/5 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 62mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Benion makes a save
It was October 2007, and I was in Cobh to photograph the game between Cobh Ramblers and Dundalk FC. The visitors were beaten 1-0 but Chris Bennion stopped this attempt on goal.
I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve photographed a football game, but this was the first one, a long time ago!
| Aperture | ƒ/5.6 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 300mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
The Perfect Angle
A selfie at Cork Pride last August on Kennedy Quay. I wonder if this selfie is on Instagram somewhere?
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
The new Bishop Lucey Park
I’m not a big fan of brown, and there’s a lot of brown in the new Bishop Lucey Park. I do really like what they did with the old wall. That’s the slightly rough-looking grass bit in the second picture of my gallery. The old park had this cut off from the public behind railings, with stagnant water collecting at the bottom. Now, it’s an area where people can sit on steps and walk around.
I love that the old entrance is still there and that they removed the railing running around the outside.
It’s disappointing to see that gravel was used so much. I imagine it has something to do with maintenance, but it would have been nice to see more grass. However, as it is now, there’s huge scope for holding open-air events there that aren’t beholden to the weather and wet grass.
It will look nice in the warmer months when leaves return to the trees. It was a missed opportunity to use more colour. What would a dash of colour do to the mood of the park?
I don’t hate it.
Look for it on Facebook and you’ll find nothing but complaints unfortunately: Echo Live 1, Cork City Parks Sport and Recreation, Cork City Council, Echo Live 2.
| Aperture | ƒ/9 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 3200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/125s |
A Bridge to Wandesford Quay
Cork’s newest bridge is a new pedestrian or cycle bridge that spans the River Lee from Wandesford Quay to Lambley’s Lane. You’d be forgiven if you’re not familiar with either area, as they aren’t exactly the most trafficked areas in the city.
If you’re curious, Lambley’s Lane is off to the side of the old Beamish & Crawford brewery, and the bridge is worth a look at night. Henry shared a photo of the bridge a couple of days ago. Thank you, Henry, for pointing out where it was. I had no idea.
If you look carefully, you can see all the way down Tuckey Street to Oliver Plunkett Street. During the day, you might even see down to Parnell Place, maybe?
Here’s the latest news from Cork City Council about the bridge and the newly reopened Bishop Lucey Park. Photos of that to come…
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 4s |
London Market Trading in Full Swing
A slice of life in Spitalfields Market, London, last July. If you want a hat, go to the guy wearing a hat!
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 12800 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |