Here are some photos I took this year. 2020 wasn’t a year for travel, so most of these shots were taken in or near the 5km zone around the house. Inevitably, I kept on returning to the same subjects: Ballycotton and Garryvoe in County Cork. This reduced range forced me to consider new ways of looking at the same things. It was also the year I got a 400 mm lens, giving me much more visibility of objects in the far distance.
Wishing you all a better year ahead. Stay safe.
We have had a few bad storms already this year, but last night was the worst so far. The town of Midleton was badly flooded, sections of the N25 were rendered impassable and parts of Garryvoe beach practically wiped out, with rubble strewn across the car park. Here are a few pictures I took today.
Midleton Main Street flooded.
The Midleton river burst its banks, flooding the area around the distillery.
Things were not much better by Bailick Road.
Garryvoe carpark has been covered in rubble again.
Much of the beach seems to have disappeared.
The carpark is inaccessible from the hotel due to heavy flood waters.
When we were leaving, attempts were being made to reduce the flooding by constructing a new channel to the sea.
A contrail from a passing plane casts a shadow high in the sky.
Click on the photo to enlarge.
Posting a few photos from recent weeks that I’m happy with. I’m learning to use Affinity Photo (a Mac version of Photoshop) so it’s something of a learning curve.
This is a photo of my two boys running on the beach in Garryvoe.
Some more photos soon.
Ballywilling Beach, close to Garryvoe but far more isolated and deserted, is a marvellous place to go for walks, relaxation and photographs, particularly as sunset approaches. Here are some of the photos I have taken there over the past few weeks. I really like how many of these shots came out. I first shared a few of them on Instagram, but I’ve gone back and re-edited them from the originals to see what I can do with different software.
We had a anxious time earlier this week. One of our cats hitched a lift in my car when I was heading to work on Monday morning. The cat made a run for it about 100 metres from the house, but did know how to get home. That evening, despite frantic searches all around the neighbourhood, the cat was still missing. 
The following day, we decided to concentrate the search in the area she went missing. Almost immediately we heard her calling out and within minutes she was safely back home.
While conducting the second search, I filmed this time-lapse. It was a beautiful evening, with a fog bank swirling close by Ballycotton island.
Yesterday, we had strong showers and hailstorms, so I set up another time-lapse as a fairly intense system passed us by in the distance. Luckily, our cat didn’t have to face that.
I took a short walk down to Garryvoe beach today. It was a calm, cold October day with plenty of sunlight bouncing off the sea and the shoreline.
The red and white stones, sandstone and limestone, make Garryvoe a favourite of Cork daytrippers.
We had to walk quickly as the approaching clouds heralded a big change in the weather. As I am posting this entry it is raining furiously outside.
Passive Impressions 
