Moya Brennan at Cork Opera House
The news broke this morning that Moya Brennan passed away yesterday, and this photo has been on my mind ever since I heard. I took it at Cork Opera House on the 2nd of March 2020, during Clannad’s Farewell Tour. What a strange, loaded date that turned out to be. Barely a fortnight later the…
Sant Martí from the Side Street
Several years ago I’d been wandering around the narrow streets of Palafrugell’s old town when I came across the Sant Martí de Palafrugell and I loved to see it in the early morning light. The sky was perfectly clear which isn’t great but the surrounding streets were quiet and it seemed appropriate. Everything was still….
Gold on the Mountain at Gougane Barra
The cloud had been sitting on the mountains all morning like a hat pulled down over its eyes, and then for about fifteen minutes the sun broke through low and side-on and set the entire rock face above Gougane Barra on fire. The golds and ambers were almost absurd. It was the kind of light…
The Most British Office in London
Someone chose to put two Union Jack armchairs and an exercise ball in their office window for all of London to see. I spotted this walking past an office block and the arrangement stopped me mid-stride. The chairs are proper wingbacks, upholstered in full flag regalia, flanking a slightly deflated-looking exercise ball that’s doing its…
Masked Normality: Life in Cork One Year After COVID-19
A year after COVID-19 hit Irish shores and people were still being extra careful, even wearing masks outside where there was little risk of infection. Better to be safe than sorry. Here we are in 2026, and people are still denying that COVID-19 was a problem, while there’s a screenshot going around of a tweet…
Nollaig Shona Duit
“Nollaig Shona Duit” through the years, from 2022, 2024 and 2025. From one end of St. Patrick Street to the other.
Racing Through the Dandelions
Horses charge past at the Dawstown Point-to-Point in 2018, County Cork.
Marching for Housing
Protesting the housing crisis in Cork in 2019. We still have a housing crisis.
Surfing in Munich
Surfers on the Isar or Eisbach canal in Munich, Germany. It was bizarre seeing people surfing in the middle of a city but the river was perfect for it. Unfortunately, the wave seems to have disappeared recently and they don’t know why.
We’re Always Connected
A woman completely absorbed in her phone, standing directly beneath a massive Vodafone billboard promising “Always Connected Technology”. I guess we are always connected. Even if alone.
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…
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.