Armed Soldiers patrol around Montmartre

Four soldiers climb the steps of Montmartre up to the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre on a warm August afternoon. They slowly walked up the steps, without comment or conversation. Walked around the fountains above and up the steps to the Basilica.

It was unnerving, but months later, tourists were being stabbed and violently robbed in Dublin, and I remember people were calling for better security on the streets of the city. Some used Paris as an example and asked why armed soldiers couldn’t patrol the streets.

I think a better way of solving this issue is to make Dublin into a proper living city, with actual local people living in the city, not tourists in an Airbnb. Some chance.

David McWilliams called it, “People Before Bonnet” in the latest episode of his podcast. Worth a listen.


Apertureƒ/8
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length16mm
ISO250
Shutter speed1/500s

Steps down to the river

Steps lead down to the River Lee in Cork City. Railing stops people going down them but in times past fishermen and other boat users hauled goods up these steps onto the quays.

This was taken a few yards up the quay from a previous shot.

Technique: To increase the dynamic range of this photo I made copies of the original layer. The bottom of the photo was quite dark and that had to be brightened and the sky was too bright so darkening that helped significantly. I used layer masks to isolate my changes to those areas of the photo that needed it.

The new Digital Journalist is out!

I like this: Ramadan in Beaumont. Love the second image here.

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