Frederick Douglass Inspires in Cork City Centre

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.


Apertureƒ/4
CameraILCE-7RM5
Focal length24mm
ISO1000
Shutter speed1/500s

Last Minute Shopping at O’Donovans Butchers

O’Donovan’s Butchers on Princes Street is long gone but back in 2002 I took this photo on Christmas Eve of shoppers getting food for their dinner the next day. 19 years ago to the day.


Apertureƒ/2.8
CameraFinePix2800ZOOM
Focal length6mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/20s

Montague Burton the Tailor of Taste

Like the stone laid by Barbara Jessie Burton in 1927, this doorway probably goes unnoticed by most people on Prince’s Street. It’s right next to the stone linked above, but the door is usually closed.
I spotted this colourful mosaic out of the corner of my eye and recognised the Burton name from my previous post.

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 1600
Shutter speed 1/320s

Barbara Jessie Burton 1927

This foundation stone is set into a building at one end of Princes Street, Cork. I never noticed it until the day I took this photo and a quick search for Barbara Jessie Burton returns information and pictures of foundation stones laid by her in the years following 1927:

Does anyone know anything else about Barbara Jessie Burton?

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/25s

Walk this way

Pedestrians in Cork walk up and down Prince’s Street. One person has to be different, the odd one out eh?

Grrr. Flickr’s Post by email function is broken.

Aperture ƒ/13
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 400
Shutter speed 1/320s

The Lady Smiles

On her lunch break she smiles instead of smoking, at least for a moment.

This is the second and final image of the Lady on her break series. If you look very carefully at the window you’ll see my face, my hand, and the back of Jacinta’s head as we walked past. Thanks for the comments yesterday!

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/80s

The Lady smokes

On her break, she lights up a cigarette to relax. Who did she see?

The Magnum Blog has been running for a few weeks. I blogged the original opening of the site ages ago, but it wasn’t ready for prime time and it made it’s debut a short while ago. A few days ago, A faked portrait of my generation explored some of the issues surrounding street photography. A legal case in Quebec in effect made street photography illegal in Canada.
Here in Ireland, photographers do have the right to photograph people, but if the subjects have an expectation of privacy then you’re not allowed photograph them. That could include a couple talking on the street. That’s only the opinion of our Minister For Justice but unfortunately many of my street photos could be on shaky ground if that really was what the law said.

Oh, another photo of this girl tomorrow!

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/80s