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On this day in 1702, Upon the death of William III of Orange, Anne Stuart, the sister of Mary, succeeds to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland.

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On this day in 1989, A 4,400-year-old mummy was discovered at the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.

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On this day in 1932, George Eastman, the founder of the Kodak company, committed suicide.

It’s been many weeks (33 days) since I temporarily abandoned my commitment to this blog, however, like the promise of a warm Summer, I hope to return. It is unlikely that my contributions will be daily but I’ll do my best, I’ve already resigned myself to forking out for dinner at the end of this 365 period (my 6 co-blog conspirators will know what this means!). It’s been an interesting interlude for me, I’m still working, taking pictures and traveling. The country has seen changes, but I’m not getting into that now. It’s a bright morning and a time to be optimistic, I hope this finds faithful followers well.

Photo: Taken during a recent trip to Italy, not a photographic excursion but sometimes it’s hard to resist. I had no tripod here, I simply placed the camera on an overflowing rubbish bin and used the self-timer. Rome is a stunning city but (for me) not the most visually interesting at night, there is an abundance of yellow halogen lights that contaminate the atmosphere and low cloud cover. This can play havoc with white-balance issues, but I wasn’t overly concerned, I’d been to Rome previously and taken all the predictable photos of the landmark architectural features. This is simply one of the few photos I managed to take.

ISO 100. 25 second exposure @ f/8.

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On this day in 1977, Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" was released. Extra.

Oh for a quiet life! Believe it or not, this is a snap shot of one aspect of Irish life today, a scene that probably looks the same now as it did a couple of hundred years ago.

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On this day in 1979, "YMCA" by Village People peaks at #2 on pop singles chart. 

Is it any wonder that the school desks I remember as a teenager were made of the finest and most durable of native Irish timber with the abuse they received from the generations of youths who sat in them listening intently to teachers rant on about theorems reckoned by mathematicians that died thousands of years ago! It never made any sense to me. I spent a lot of time drawing in the margins of my books or whittling away with a pen or compass on the desktops of Muredach's College when I was supposed to be listening to the teachers. God bless them, they done their best but I was bored to tears most of the time. That said, I guess even then we were conscious of the passing of time. We knew our time at school was short and we were anxious that while we were there, we would make our mark as many had done before us. Isn't it the human thing to do after all ... and weren't our arses red if we were ever caught! We developed a code so they wouldn't know, "not me Sir" ... but the mark was made and some day, like the deciphering of hieroglyphics, we'd be identified and remembered for ever.

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On this day in 1901, Queen Victoria's funeral takes place.

This shot was taken at the back entrance to Dublin Castle at Ship Street. It's a busy day, there's a lot of running about, there's bits and pieces of everything started but nothing is finished ... sound familiar?
I'm very fond of this lane and hope to use it for a shoot some day when the right job comes along. I love it's orientation towards the sun, the arched opening fills with light in the early morning this time of year. I spent almost 30 minutes leaning against the wall, waiting for something to happen in the framed archway, something ... anything! However, I was a little disappointed. I managed to catch a few silhouettes to generate a point of interest against the backdrop of the stepped lane.

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On this day in 1900, Eastman Kodak Co. introduced the $1 Brownie box camera.

In 1900, the Eastman Kodak Company introduced a low-priced, point-and-shoot, hand-held camera, called the Brownie. The Brownie camera was a simple, black, rectangular box covered in imitation leather with nickeled fittings. To take a "snapshot," all one had to do was hold the camera waist height, aim, and turn a switch. The Brownie camera was very affordable, selling for only $1 each. Plus, for only 15 cents, a Brownie camera owner could buy a six-exposure film cartridge that could be loaded in daylight. Kodak promised to develop the film for the camera's owner, rather than the owner having to invest in materials and a darkroom.

No longer was taking photographs just for the professionals and only of grand events, the Brownie camera allowed the capturing of birthdays and other family events. In fact, for the first time, in front of the Brownie, people smiled and said cheese. In just the first year, the Eastman Kodak Company sold over a quarter of a million Brownies, forever changing the future of photography.
Text courtesy of 'About.com'.

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On this day in 1893, the trademark "Coca-Cola" was first registered in the United States Patent Office.

I am regularly surprised by some of the images captured by my digital camera and have occasionally got myself into hot water in certain circles by proclaiming that a 'proportion' of some 'art' photography today is more a gift of the 'medium' rather than the product of the genius of the photographer. I've had many heated debates on this issue with colleagues and peers and struggled, like generations before me, to explain why certain types of photography is called 'art' and others, not. I have no intention of getting into this debate here, it resurfaced today when I was deleting some images from a compact camera I use for teaching. I discovered I'd taken some photos a while ago with the camera in 'manual mode' using long exposures and exaggerated camera-shake. The above is one from the set. I'm not trying to say that this is art but it is a good example of a gift of the medium for me. Firstly the colour, not enhanced in PS by-the-way, but the result of a long exposure taken hand-held in tungsten lighting. I love that deep red and warm yellow mix. The ghostly figure is my daughter peering into the camera lens but not staying still long enough for clarity to be established. I have dozens of this type of image and I am not promoting them as samples of creative photographic practice, however, I'm reluctant to subject them to the delete button treatment. They have their place and they have their value.

Photo: Taken with a Canon G9 compact camera.

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On this day in 1997, It was revealed that French national museums were holding nearly 2,000 works of art stolen from Jews by the Nazis during World War II.

This, taken today in Dublin standing on the LUAS platform in front of BusÁras. I stood at the end of the platform and 'framed-up', waiting for something to happen in the viewfinder. This was a famous Cartier-Bresson tactic on the streets of Paris in the 40s and 50s. He had been a big-game hunter and was used to waiting for and stalking his prey. He often used the same approach in his photography. Unlike Cartier-Bresson however, my prey never really materialised so I had to be content with this mouse instead. I simply liked the way the various elements came together in the frame and the combination of colours on this otherwise dull and colourless day, were visually appealing. I was waiting for an interesting subject to diagonally cross the track towards me to complete the composition, but it was not to be ... maybe next time.


Photo: Hand-held, single frame. It was late afternoon and the light was very poor, a dull and cloudy day, I thought it might even rain, thus ISO 400. 1/100 @ f/3.5.

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On this day in 1998, President Clinton says "I want to say one thing to the American people I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky"

4pm Train from Connolly Station, Dublin to Sligo. Somewhere in Leitrim! I'm settling nicely into my now routine commute by train. It's great having the facility to be productive with my time compared to the daily 200 mile drive by car. This could be a critique of Irish Rail if I thought anyone was interested but I'm in a good place today and in a more positive and optimistic frame of mind.

Having no image for Wednesday and an empty carriage to play in, I set up this shot between stations. Without the assistance of flash, I was forced to use ISO values of +2500, and that with the aperture fully open on a 2.8 lens. The constant vibration of the train did little to contribute to image sharpness. In the end, I resorted to flash, bounced off the ceiling. I was able to drop ISO to 400 but the result is less than satisfactory and still lacking the sharpness I've come to expect from my gear. I put it down to the fact that the camera was simply resting on it's bag and not secure. I'm sure I would do much better with a hand-held shot. I like this angle, shooting between the seats reflects that 'people watching' thing we do when standing at bus stops or looking out a cafe window. In any case, do say hello if we meet on the train.

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On this day in 1533, England's King Henry VIII secretly married his second wife Anne Boleyn. Boleyn later gave birth to Elizabeth I.

Took a group of aspiring photographers onto the streets of Dublin recently to capture images based on the theme 'City Folk'. After spending some time discussing the work of the great street photographers like Cartier Bresson, Garry Winogrand, William Klein, Tony Ray-Jones, Joel Meyerowitz and Martin Parr we unleashed our open lenses on the city. The objective for the evening was to 'get closer!' In doing so, these are some of the techniques employed; camera around neck on self-timer or cable release pointing at unsuspecting subject (as in the above shot). Ask permission or be cheeky, take the shot and run. Another favourite is to use a wide angle lens and frame the subject out at the side. It was not our intention to be rude but there is no doubt about it, this kind of photography is invasive! I'm just posting one from the set here because I later helped the nice lady from the tram with her bag.

We also spent some time editing with an emphasis on processing in black and white and how to increase drama by playing with dynamic range, distortion, motion-blur and grain.

Overall, a very successful evening.

Original shot straight from camera.

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On this day in 1965, Winston Churchill died at the age of 90.

Something about this scene caught my attention, I'm still not sure why I photographed it, but the more I look at it, the more I'm liking it.

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On this day in 1989, Surrealist artist Salvador Dali died in Spain at age 84. Check this out.

Some new images of Dublin City. This one from the Docklands. I know there's been much written about the abandoned building sites across Ireland these past two years by people much better at words that me, so I'm not going to go on about it. The docklands area has some of Ireland's finest contemporary architecture and has benefited from massive development since the early 1990s. That said, it's a pretty lonely place at the moment, despite the fine blocks of apartments and extension to the urban rail system that connects 'The Point' with Connolly Station. This particular structure caught my curious eye and the scene pretty much reflects what it looks like today and how I felt about it.

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On this day in 1666, Shah Jahan, a descendant of Genghis Khan and Timur, died at the age of 74. He was the Mongul emperor of India that built the Taj Mahal as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz-i-Mahal.

I've had my eye on this Dublin street for some time now, but have never been able to capture it in the right light as it lies on an East/West axis that never seems to catch the sun when I'm about. This was another one of those days. Like hundreds (thousands!) of my images that never make it to a public space, this would have been confined to the abyss were it not for the grief and bull-shit I had to put up with to take it. For all you aspirational 'Street Photographers' - beware!

I inadvertently took the 'Point' train (Luas) as opposed to the 'Connolly Station' train on my way home the other day. Realising my mistake, I got off at the next stop, it being George's Dock ... grand job, a short walk back to the station will do me no harm. En route, I took out the camera (always make the most of a bad situation) to take a shot and looked back the length of the street towards Lower Mayor St ... the view you can see in the shot here. In doing so, I was tapped on the shoulder and told by a civilian that I was not allowed to take photos at that spot! ... Say What??? I informed the gentleman that I was just after getting off a public train and standing at a public train stop on the public footpath, etc. However, I was informed that the area about the Financial Services Centre was a Private Space and No Photography allowed! This was a red rag to a bull to which the gentleman concerned abruptly realised as I had told him how I had just come from the gates of Dáil Éireann and the 'flapping about politicians'. I'd also been told that my salary would probably be about €300 down at the end of the month and that my kids will still be paying for the mess the bankers and Financial Services people made for the rest of their lives!! And this as***** was telling me I couldn't take a photo of an empty street!!! With foam starting to flow from my mouth, I also took a photo of the fat arsed financial services civilian briskly making pace away to alert the nearest security guard ... but I preferred this shot and decided to post it instead.

Please excuse the rant!! Politicians beware, if ye come near my house without the winning numbers to Lotto, I'll set the dogs on ye!!

And I will go back and photograph this area when ever I f****** feel like it!!

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On this day in 1978, Bee Gees' "Saturday Night Fever" album goes #1 for 24 weeks.

Shot on Dame St. Dublin, Wednesday. For a short while I was reminded of the Final Act in 'Goodfellas".

Photo: ISO 100. 1/800 @ f/2.8. Light texture added in PS.

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On this day in 1942, Nazi officials held the Wannsee conference, during which they arrived at their "final solution" that called for exterminating Europe's Jews. And on this day in 1944, The British RAF dropped 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin.

Pulled in at Drumgilra Lough this evening after the sun had set behind the Masonite factory between Drumsna and Aghamore on the N4. The light was fading fast and changing by the second. I raced to get this shot before the light bled from the sky. There was a slight fog developing which is responsible for the lack of detail on the horizon but I particularly like the definition of the fence and it's reflection - foreground right and the horse-shoe vapour trail.

Photo: 10 frames, Multiple in-camera exposure. ISO 200. 5 seconds @ f/8. (equivalent to a single 50 second exposure).

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On this day in 1793, King Louis XVI was tried by the French Convention, found guilty of treason and sentenced to the guillotine.

Tenor - Peter Walls in Dublin today. More from this shoot HERE.

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Today, Taoiseach, Brian Cowen survived a vote of 'no confidence' in his leadership of Fianna Fáil and will lead his party into the next General Election. 

Like many others, (by coincidence) I was at Leinster House today to see the politicians flapping about to see if the current Taoiseach would capitulate to the overwhelming demand for him to step aside ... alas, 'twas not to be.

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On this day in 1997, a court in Ireland granted the first divorce in the Roman Catholic country's history.

One from a shoot for Breathing Water with Jarlath Tivnan. More details HERE.

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On this day in 1920, Prohibition went into effect in the U.S.

My longest absence from this blog in a while. Back with an oldie from a year ago, recently printed large for a friend as a C-type which looked really well, so decided to post here. Taken in Dublin ... Duke St. I think, or somewhere near by. I just loved the signage.