Cork on a cold, grey, rainy day. I have included it here as an example of how interesting images can be found even under the most discouraging circumstances. This photograph was taken in the central highland area of Ethiopia in 1992, just after the fall of the Mengistu government. This is the “Roof of Africa, and is over 9,000 feet high. Just over the ridge where the people are standing is a minefield left over from the civil war, through which I had walked on the previous day. They only told me after I had got through. more » This picture was taken at the World Youth Rally in East Berlin in 1964. The East German leader Walter Ulbricht has just arrived in the covered stand on the left hand side of the far side of the stadium that carried his name. more » This is a picture of the little inner quay in Ballydehob. It was a very calm winter’s day, and the water was like a mirror. The vegetation in the distance has appeared very light, as the picture was taken on my infra-red adapted camera. Vegetation reflects a lot of infra-red, and water and sky very little. The highlights have a slightly blurry effect; you never know exactly how an infra-red photograph is going to turn out. When preparing the photograph for printing I isolated the sky using “polygonal lasso” and “select” in Photoshop, and darkened it slightly to even up the tonal range. I like the square crop for this picture, and the mooring lines lead your eye to the boats and the building, and emphasize the perspective. I added a narrow black border, I find that this improves the look of most black and white prints. When printing this picture I give it a slightly cool tone, to enhance the wintry feel. Taken on a Canon G12 modified for infra-red. Photographer’s tip of the week: Always back up your photographs; when you download your shots onto your computer, make a dvd copy before you do any processing, then you have a “digital negative” that you can archive. Chris O’Dell BSC is the senior tutor at the Wildlife Film School (www.thewildlifefilmschool.com) where you can join him and others on exciting digital photography courses in West Cork. You could get from one side of the water to the other by using the beautiful arched bridges; one of these can be seen in the far distance. The city is also famed for its picturesque gardens. This photograph is entitled “Cobh Waterfront”. It was taken a few years back from the afterdeck of the old Swansea-Cork ferry, quite late on a summer evening. I had just obtained my first digital camera, a Fuji “bridge” camera with a completely incomprehensible instruction manual and impenetrable menus. The original photograph was quite flat and lacking in vibrance. These clouds are relatively rare in global terms, but are not uncommon here. They form when wet Atlantic air flows across Mount Gabriel from the West, but usually disintegrate before they get to Roaring Water Bay. Lenticular means “lens shaped”, like lentils. But they might just as well be called “flyingsaucercular” with their strange extra terrestrial form. more »
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This photograph was taken on the Reading main line platform in September or early October 1959. more »
This photograph was taken on the little pier at Lateranvally near Lisheen, West
This photograph was taken in Soochow (now Suzhow), China, in about 1983. Soochow is called the Venice of China as it is criss-crossed with canals broad and narrow.
THIS photograph is called “Lenticular clouds sailing over Foilnamuck, Ballydehob, West Cork”.
