Cork Before The Elysian

2005 photograph of Cork City Hall with its distinctive green dome reflected in the River Lee, showing construction cranes and the area before The Elysian development and modernisation, with swans visible on the calm water
2005 photograph of Cork City Hall with its distinctive green dome reflected in the River Lee, showing construction cranes and the area before The Elysian development and modernisation, with swans visible on the calm water (1/3)
2005 photograph of Cork City Hall with its distinctive green dome reflected in the River Lee, showing construction cranes and the area before The Elysian development and modernisation, with swans visible on the calm water (2/3)
2005 photograph of Cork City Hall with its distinctive green dome reflected in the River Lee, showing construction cranes and the area before The Elysian development and modernisation, with swans visible on the calm water (3/3)

Remember Cork before The Elysian was built? It’s almost 20 years old now, so there are many people around who never saw Cork City Hall like this, without the tower block behind it.

Cork City Hall, completed in 1936, was built to replace the previous City Hall that was destroyed during the Burning of Cork by British forces in 1920. The building’s limestone facade and copper dome make it one of Cork’s most recognisable landmarks. This 2005 photograph predates the construction of The Elysian apartment tower, which began in 2006 and became Ireland’s tallest residential building when completed in 2008. The development of The Elysian and surrounding high-rise buildings fundamentally altered the skyline visible from this vantage point, making this image a valuable historical record of Cork’s urban landscape before its dramatic transformation during the Celtic Tiger era.


Apertureƒ/3.5
CameraCanon EOS 20D
Focal length18mm
ISO200
Shutter speed1/320s

Picking up the pieces on St. Patrick’s Day

Workers collecting the fencing after the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Cork in 2004.

Notice the lack of clear lines on the road surface of the South Mall, and the boarded up construction site in the background. The buildings might look much the same, but the roads are clearly marked out now.


Apertureƒ/4
CameraCYBERSHOT
Focal length19mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/320s

St. Patrick’s Day 2022

The first St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Cork since 2019 and the rain held off for most of the day and a great parade was put on by the city.

The photos above don’t do it justice. I couldn’t include every group but hopefully it will be an indication of the effort put in by a huge number of people. Well done everyone who took part!


Apertureƒ/8
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length54mm
ISO1000
Shutter speed1/500s

The Peace Park

Many Cork people think the Peace Park is Bishop Lucey Park on the Grand Parade but it’s actually at the top of South Mall next to the Electric bar. It’s hard to blame them. If you do a search for cork peace park the first link goes to the Wikipedia page for Bishop Lucey park but at least the first paragraph there explains the mistake.

Pictured is the World War I memorial on the site.

Parked Cars on South Mall

Cars parked on South Mall, Cork. The financial district of the city.

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 40D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/80s

Patrick’s Day Crowds

Enthusiastic crowds gather on South Mall in Cork for the St Patrick’s Day parade this year. As you can imagine it was pretty awful trying to see the parade with such a large crowd.

The hands at the bottom of the frame are those of a tall man who stood right in front of me. Lucky for me I stretched higher to get my photo!

Aperture ƒ/10
Camera Canon EOS 40D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/250s

Internet Cafe

The Internet Cafe is that way.

Sign is on The South Mall in Cork.

PS. GIMP 2.4.1 was released yesterday. It’s a bugfix release!

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/500s

Parked Motorbikes

Two motorbikes parked on the South Mall attracted my attention especially as a strong sun reflected off the clean chrome.

Yes, I know there’s a weird diagonal, yes it is distracting. Yes, it is intentional. Enjoy!

Aperture ƒ/4
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/200s

Leading lines and bright lights

Studs on the ground lead down to the traffic lights on the South Mall, Cork.

In this long exposure shot a couple of cars passed by providing a nice light trail in the background. The twinkling of the street lighting is from the narrow aperture. Setting the aperture as small as possible is definitely the best thing you can do when making long exposure shots at night.

This was taken while out with Mallow Camera Club last December. More to come from that night too!

Aperture ƒ/16
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 10mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 10s