Day 212

Celebrate! This party's over! I'm going home......................

Day 211

Back to work, early on a Sunday morning, and the sun was belting down Baggot Street when I got there.

Day 210

Last morning of the holidays: I'm back to work tomorrow. A night in the Mustard Seed in Limerick was an ideal way to finish my time off, and this morning the sun was streaming through the sash windows.

Day 209

It's not hard to articulate exactly how I feel about this house. It's an empty manor in Curraghchase National Park, and I fell in love with it when I first saw it a few years back. I feel that in many ways it's my ideal house, right down to its "needs some work" nature.

Day 208

Time for an after Christmas trip, and tonight we're in Adare Manor. This ruin of a cottage is on the grounds; it may have been a gatehouse, but the consensus is that it's too far from the gate. Either way, I love it, especially the windows and door.

Day 207

Off to the sea for today's photo: Furbo beach to be exact. The light was a bit funny today and the wind was wild, and within minutes of taking this picture the deluge was upon me and I was soaked to the skin. Christmas in Galway indeed!

Day 206

Christmas Day, and with my new Canon I can finally take a photo of the moon. It's not the greatest shot, but as first shots go I'm very pleased with it.

Day 205

Sunny but wet today, and a lot of the countryside looked grim as a result. A couple of shots that I wasn't too happy with, then on the way home the evening sun was shining through the trees, and the Christmas Eve photo was decided.

Day 204

Just arrived in Galway, and what a beautiful and cold night it is. Sadly the moon is too high to feature in my shot, but there's still plenty of light from it.

Day 203

A day spent shopping, snoozing on the couch, and then in the cinema for The Hobbit. Dundrum shopping centre is all done up Christmassy, which given the season, is nice!

Day 202

Last day at work today: Christmas holidays start here!

Day 201

Although I love my Leica, I've been frustrated by its low light level performance, and its maximum exposure time of 30 seconds. My new Canon has a bulb setting, so I can now work with longer exposures. Tonight I was shooting the M50 motorway at exposures of ninety seconds and very narrow apertures.

Day 200

Two hundred days in, and tonight I took my new 7D out for a test run. A flying visit to Dun Laoghaire allowed me the opportunity to shoot a long exposure of the marina. Funnily enough, so used am I to the fixed lens on my X1 that I forgot I could reframe using the zoom lens.

Day 199

First day with my new Canon 7D and macro lens, and already it's paying dividends. Although there's still a few niggles to work out, this big close up of my Christmas tree ornaments is a step in the right direction.

Day 198

Sitting eating breakfast this morning I noticed that the sky had gone crazy. Quickly I grabbed my camera, took three shots, and then the  moment was gone and the heavy grey clouds had blotted out all the colour again.

Day 197

First proper day off in a long time, and there was even some winter sun, albeit for quite a short time.

Day 196

I had a photo from the Aviva stadium for today's blog, but after Leinster losing to Clermont it didn't feel right. So, instead, I decided to post a pic of our newly decorated Christmas tree: an altogether more cheerful sight.

Day 195

We've quite a nice office at the moment: a first floor room in a Georgian terrace on Baggot Street. The only real drawback is that we've the world's coldest kitchen. Today it was actually colder than outside, which really contravenes at least one law of physics. The only redeeming quality is this rather quaint iron window frame; having said that, it may also be a contributing factor to its incredible cold.

Day 194

Today was bitterly cold, and I didn't manage to get out of the office in daylight to take today's photo, so I took a slightly different route home along the canal. I took this on a thirty second exposure at a narrow aperture, and then corrected the orange cast in post.

Day 193

It's work work work these days. Monday morning I had four projects on the go: mercifully that's down to two today. Still, that's a lot of work!

Day 192

What a beautiful morning: cold, crisp and frosty. The Dodder park was still covered in frost when I passed on the way to work, and the colours in the trees were incredible. A wonderful way to resurface after the madness of the last fortnight.

Day 191

To be honest, I'm still not back to normal after Other Voices. I'm not sure what day it is, and I'm still due a long lie in. The only thing I'm certain about is that I'm back in Dublin, and that it is cold and clear by the canal.

Day 190

A few hours working in Dun Laoghaire this morning, so I took the opportunity to walk down as far as the sea wall. A lot of boats out sailing today, despite the cold winter conditions.

Day 189

Sitting down at home, watching the rugby, about to have dinner, and drinking a beer. Bliss!

Day 188

Today was a good day, but it was a very long day. It started with delivering one project to be mixed and played out, it continued with another project that's nearing completion, and it ended with talk of exciting new projects that are in the early stages if development. Still, I'm so glad to see the Luas that'll bring me home.

Day 187

It seems like there's been protests in Dublin every day for the last six months, and I've missed them all. Today I saw this placard discarded by Clare St: seems like the capitalists are finally making themselves heard.

Day 186

I had hoped to have left Dingle about four hours ago, but the graphics card had other ideas. So here I am, last man standing, watching the sun set, and hoping to be gone by dark.

Day 185

Today has been the closest I've come to not posting. Crippled I am with the tiredness, but the job is done for now, and I've got pizza and Sly Stone is on the stereo and life could be a lot worse.

Day 184

After a very long weekend Other Voices is over. as least as far as the church is concerned.

Day 183

Today has been all about the Other Voices live broadcast on RTE. That, and the rain!

Day 182

Another very very long day in Dingle, and the usual seat at the gig for me: behind the lighting desk.

Day 181

A cold night last night coming over the Connor Pass last night, all the more so as I spent ten minutes waiting for midnight to pass so that I could legitimately say that I took this today. A long exposure by moonlight, and a wide aperture, and amazingly the sky turned out blue.

Day 180

There's something quite beautiful about this photo I think. I took it while the car was moving very very slowly through traffic on the way home.

Day 179

Long day, long night, but a beautiful clear night, and a full moon to distract from the freezing cold.

Day 178

Beautiful day in Dublin, and almost at the last minute I made it in to Trinity to catch the last rays of sunset hitting the Campanile. I'd tryed a couple of times to get this sort of shot, so I was relieved to finally be successful.

Day 177

I had a pic that I took in the morning that I was reasonably happy with, but then I walked past Merrion Square and the sun was shining straight down past Government Buildings, and all thoughts of the cold wet morning were gone.

Day 176

Miserable day in Dingle today, but just at the death these rather interesting clouds made their appearance.

Day 175

Driving west this evening, and there was an amazing photo constantly out of reach. That's the problem with motorways: they're not great places to suddenly pull over and hop out to take pictures. I got off the motorway near Sallins, but the shot I was after proved too elusive. Instead I went up on the pedestrian bridge, and took this shot looking towards Dublin. I intentionally defocussed it and used a slower shutter speed, and I like the abstract quality it has as a result.

Day 174

A funny sort of day today as far as my blog is concerned: it felt a lot like I was tying up loose ends. I took more different pictures than usual: mainly things I'd missed, or shots that hadn't quite come off. I decided on this one in the end. The light pours through the blinds in my current office, but only for the first twenty minutes of the day. Today I was on the ball!

Day 173

Hard to write a long piece about today's photo: I went for a couple of pints after work, and that's about the strength of it!

Day 172

I love the shadows cast on this wall. I noticed them a few days ago, but it was a cloudy day, and in the thirty seconds it took to get out my camera they were gone. This morning I was more prepared.

Day 171

A bit of fresh air this afternoon, and a chance to wander as far as Trinity in search of a picture. A bit earlier and I've had been in time for the last sun of the day hitting the walls and windows, but it was almost dark by the time I got there. I did however catch the last glow of dusk in the window of the chemistry building.

Day 170

A walk along the canal to work this morning, and I stopped at the Patrick Kavanagh bench to take today's photo. There's a million photos of this piece of art, most of which focus on the whole thing, and few of which feature the amazing texture and detail. I opted for the road less travelled.

Day 169

A dark, cold, wet day, and a day that I'm not planning on leaving the house. I had an idea for a image in mind, but as often happens it didn't quite work, but then I saw one I preferred. It will now be clear that I like texture. Also, on closer inspection, that's a pretty shitty pointing job!

Day 168

First day off in a month today, and it is a beautiful, clear, cold winter's day. Funnily enough, because it is such a clear day, the big wide shots I took of the view over Dublin looked a bit boring: no clouds left the sky an amazing colour but without ant texture. This is a different take on the day.

Day 167

Once upon a time I judged the quality of an off-licence by how cheap the cans of Heineken were. That was a long time ago, and now my expectations are a lot higher. Not only does the offy near my current office have an excellent range of craft beers, it also does an amazing line in lunch too. Cheers to Probus wines!

Day 166

Another view of the Grand Canal today, only this time it's an early morning shot. In an attempt to differentiate it from Saturday's shot I turne din monochrome, with just the taste of a warm tint.

Day 165

One of my pet peeves, and I don't think I'm alone in this, is the incorrect use of the word "literally", so believe when I say that literally the second I pushed the shutter-release the lights on the Jeanie Johnston were turned off. So, I was forced to look east instead. Thankfully that view of the quays looks good at night, and the tide was nice and high which afforded some great reflections. I used a slow shutter speed which allowed me a narrower aperture as well as softening the reflections.

Day 164

Well, when the awards are handed out for "worst day of the year" I imagine that today will get quite a few gongs! I did however find that some slow shutter speed work on the way home helped my general demeanor. It's funny: I was thinking that this pic might be considered a bit boring, and then I remembered trying the same idea in 1989, and how exciting it was waiting for the often disappointing results. It's easy to forget that sometimes.

Day 163

Even though it was pitch dark on the way home the clouds over Foxrock looked mental, and so I decided on a long exposure looking over towards the racecourse.