A slightly abstract photo of the Galway Hooker sculpture in Eyre Square, Galway. The sculpture on its own looks odd, just a load of red/orange metal bits stuck into the ground. But when you realise that it represents the sails of a boat/ship then it’s something that you can put into context and it stands on it’s own as a piece of art representing old Galway.
This is my favourite photo from my recent street photography adventure in Galway City. I asked him could I take his photo and he didn’t mind at all. He seemed very content; sitting outside a pub on Quay Street with a pint and a fag just watching the world go by. The album title Smokers Delight jumped into my head.
I posted two photos; one showing his pint and cigarette smoke, the other one cropped tighter. I prefer the un-cropped one. How about you, which do you prefer?
I think I like this street photography lark; it’s different than ‘normal’ photography. You don’t get time to compose, take multiple photos, check settings etc. It’s more off the cuff and it’s exciting to look through the photos at home with anticipation to see if I got any good photos. (Sad, aren’t I?)
Smokers Delight is a deliciously relaxed album from 1995 by Nightmares On Wax (a.k.a. George Evelyn or DJ EASE)
Some more photos from my recent street walking adventures around Galway City. I found that sometimes if people notice me with my camera they keep looking at me, others ignore me and some walk away. This lot ignored me (thankfully).
Browsing through my photographs recently I realised how few photos of Galway City I have despite the fact that I live in Galway. So I’m going to make a concerted effort to publish more photos of Galway; Galway City sights, Galway life and Galway people.
I’ve been reading and looking at Street Photography recently (Wikipedia:Street photography is a type of documentary photography that features subjects in candid situations within public places such as streets, parks, beaches) and like Eric Kim (http://erickimphotography.com/blog). So these some of my attempts of the people of Galway. The woman in the first photo is a known character around Galway, she ‘chased’/followed me after I took her photo and rambled/threatened me. It’s a bit blurry but still a ‘keeper’.
I suppose any photo with a person in it (especially when they’re not posing) is like a snapshot from a story and the viewer gets a first impression of the person and even make assumptions as to what they’re like and up to.
You can read more about the characters around Galway onEoin Molloy’s website
The G hotel is Galway’s only 5 star hotel. It was designed by Irish milliner Philip Tracey it oozes of luxury, modern design and is great to relax ‘away from it all’.
One of their main features in the hundreds of metal balls hanging from the ceiling in the main lounge room. It has floor to ceiling glass and overlooks Galway Bay. These are what I focused on here but I had to throw in one colour photo to show how loud, in-your-face one of the other rooms is (I call it the Alice In Wonderland room).
A man relaxing down by The Claddagh in Galway City. I’m beginning to convert a lot of photos to black and white, sometimes I wouldn’t have even thought about it if a photo is good but often they just look nicer in black and white. Maybe because there’s less colour to ‘distract’ your eyes.
Most photos I don’t frame online but this one just seemed nicer in a frame to me…
On the top of Shop Street, Galway there’s statue of Oscar Wilde, sitting on a bench in conversation with Estonian writer Eduard Wilde.
This is a copy of a statue that stands in Tartu in Estonia, and was presented to Galway to mark the occasion of Estonia joining the EU in 2004. The two men are unrelated and never actually met, though they were contemporaries.
A lot of tourists sit on the bench between them to get their photo taken, some ‘hobos’ like to sit there too and drink their tinnies.
I’ve often walked past this music store in Galway City and thought to myself that the guitars sitting in the window would make a nice photo. So last week I popped in and asked the owner of this music store could I take some photos in his store. He said no problem and I spent a while snapping away.
My last set of photographs from The Galway Races Summer Festival 2011, some more portraits again.
Included is a funny one; a man with a kilt sitting down with his legs wide open giving a give under the kilt.
Chris Weld, son of Dermot Weld, Winner of the Chanelle Leading Trainer Award on Sunday at the Galway Races.
It’s all over for another year…
2nd set of photos from the Gawlay Races Summer Festival (the leftovers?)
The title taken from They Might Be Giants song. In case you haven’t noticed all photos have a musical related title.
In between races at The Galway Races I took some photos of the people attending. The fact that I had a 70-200mm f2.8 lens helped me get close up shots without annoying people. Sunday at the Galway Races Summer Festival is the last day of the races and a lot of locals go, most of the tourists are heading home.
The guy on the left in the last shots looks like Victor Meldrew from the tv show One Foot in the Grave. He’s even got a sad/angry face on him.
Here’s some photos from the Galway Races Summer Festival. It was only my second outing with my Sigma 70-200 f2.8 sports lens so I’m still getting to grips with it.
They’re far from great, not even that good. I was there for 2 races only (free in for last two races) so I didn’t have much time to plan where to stand etc. So most of the photos are from the same vantage point.
The Galway Arts Festival is running at the moment. There’s a good range of entertainment at the Galway Arts Festival with the highlight (for me) being Misterman, an Enda Walsh one man play staring (Corkman) Cillian Murphy. The musical line up this year was uninspiring I though but I also heard that the budget has been reduced massively. (Two years ago Spiritualized supported Primal Scream!).
I made a collage but also added the photos individually as I think the motion effect is seen better in the larger photo.
If you’re visting Ireland during July it’s worth a trip to Galway for the Galway Arts Festival; the whole town is in party mode.
Blue Room is a song title from The Orb
I did my first photo shoot last Saturday for my local hardware store. One of their attractions for the kids was Aslan, ‘the’ Dulux Dog instore. Kids had their chance to get a photo taken with him. I was surprised by the amount of people that turned up to get their photo taken; over 200. It was a relentless but fun day and I was getting a little bit worried that I’d run out of space on my 2 memory cards. But all was okay in the end. Here’s a few pictures of the start attracion- Aslan.
The Old English Sheepdog is the brand mascot for Dulux paint. The dog was first introduced in advertising campaigns in 1961. Since then they have been a constant and highly popular feature of Dulux television and print adverts wherever the paint is sold. So much so, that many people in those markets refer to the breed as a ‘Dulux dog’ rather than a Sheepdog.
Some photos form a building site in Parkmore Business Park East, Galway City. It’s right opposite where I work so I’m going to try to go back and take another bunch of photos there as soon as I get my new camera body. I sold my Pentax K-X and bought a K-7 but won’t have it for another few weeks.
I like the idea of a ‘photo-essay’ blog post, it turns a post into a kind of ‘story’ and I’d imagine gives the viewer more of an insight into the story behind the images
It’s game over man, it’s game over
It's the first time Emma (3 and 1/2) has seen snow. She was delighted
to build her first snowman
We normally don’t get much snow in Ireland, in fact we normally get no snow in Ireland. The winter of 2010 was different, we got so much snow that roads and schools were closed.
This was the first snowfall in Ireland of 2010. It began up north on Friday, 26th of November and covered most of the country by Saturday.
People often say one of the downsides to living in Irlenad is the weather- a fair bit of rain and not much sun or summer heat. While that’s true we also don’t have people dying in heatwaves or snowstorms like other countries. And Bill Bryson, the humorous travel author said if Ireland had good weather the place would be too crowded with tourists.
A beautiful orange/golden sunset near Claregalway in Galway. The foreground has flooded fields an electricity pylons and poles. Much of east Galway was flooded in the winger of 2010 and the sunset reflects of the water.
A Jaguar hood ornament from a classic Jaguar car, taken at Lackagh Heritage in Galway.
I tried to step away from the standard (plain) car shot and shot from a different angle.
There were a number of classic cars on show (and one shiny red Massy Ferguson tractor too)
* I have to explain that the picture title is the title from a song by The Smiths and no bad intentions on the kids.
A swimmer getting ready to stop and change over for the cycling leg of the Galway Triathlon.
No pain, no gain
Howdy Partner A spectator at the Tug of War
HDR is (not my cup of tea) a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminances between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. This wider dynamic range allows HDR images to more accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to faint starlight
Title taken from the album Blue Sky Mine by the Australian Band Midnight Oil.
subliminal advertising but not as intended- Change a child’s future now…or do nothing.
Galway’s famous bustling market has been trading in Church lane by St Nicholas’ Church in the centre of the city for literally centuries. The market is open Saturdays and Bank Holidays from 8am to 6pm and Sundays 2pm to 6pm. It’s a small, tight market but still there’s a great variety of food available, Madras curry, Crepes, Japanese Sushi, handmade chocolates among many others .
Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon
I was at the Galway Greyhound track last night. It”s very hard to get a good shot of the dogs (they”re so quick and I didn’t have a fast zoom lens). These are my best shots from the evening. I’ll go back again once I have an (expensive) fast zoom (70-200 f2.8 hopefully)
A tourist in Galway city enjoying a leisurely afternoon sitting outside a pub. Galway has a nice laid back, relaxed vibe to it. It’s not a large city (more like a big town) but it’s a place I love.
I was driving through Lackagh when I saw this cyclist coming towards me from out of the fog. I quickly pulled over, grabbed my camera and managed to snap him before he cycled past. I like the atmosphere that the fog adds to the picture.
Boats resting at low tide next to a colourful row of houses at the Spanish Arch, Galway, Ireland.
When the streets are cold and lonely
And the cars burn below me
Are you all alone
Are you made of Stone?
A house reflection in the river Corrib, Galway and a house in a puddle.
This is just a model of the Claddagh in the Galway Museum. I just added it in as an example of what old Galway was like.
I drive past this field every day and always think that theres’s a good picture to be had. This is my favourite one.
