Iron Bones

I nearly walked straight past it. You’re on the South Bank, dodging cyclists, and there’s this railway bridge overhead that most people treat as a ceiling to hurry under. But look up and the underside of Blackfriars Railway Bridge is a riot of riveted iron girders fanning out like the ribs of some enormous mechanical whale. I switched to black and white because the colour version was fighting the composition; stripping it back let the geometry do the talking.

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#2025 #Abstract #Architecture #BlackAndWhite #Blackfriars #iron #London #Photo #Photography #railwayBridge #rivets #SonyA7RV #StreetPhotography #urbanDetail #VictorianEngineering

Two in the Market

I caught this one from barely a metre away. It was close enough to count the grey in his beard, close enough that the glass roof of Spitalfields Market softened into geometry behind them.

It was early in the morning and the market was still being set up. I wonder if they were tourists in the area just like me.

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#2025 #Candid #couple #London #Market #People #Photo #Photography #portrait #shallowDepthOfField #SonyA7RV #Spitalfields #StreetPhotography #UnitedKingdom #urbanLife

Steel and Storm Over Bishopsgate

We’d come out of the train station at Liverpool Street earlier in the morning but when I walked past here, I stopped dead on Bishopsgate, tilted the camera straight up, and watched three towers race each other into a sky that looked like it was about to pick a fight. The central building’s white steel exoskeleton catches what little light the clouds allow through, while its darker neighbours absorb everything else. Glass, steel, and corporate ambition stacked floor after floor.

The bright yellow Liverpool Street sign is almost the only colour in the scene. What does that say about office work in the modern world?

TIL that the distinctive diagonal-braced tower at the centre of this shot is 100 Bishopsgate, which at 172 metres tall, is one of the City of London’s tallest buildings. Bet there’s a nice view from the top floor!

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#2025 #Architecture #Bishopsgate #CityOfLondon #dramaticSky #LiverpoolStreet #London #lookingUp #Photo #Photography #skyscrapers #SonyA7RV #StreetPhotography #UnitedKingdom #urbanPhotography

Between the Columns on Threadneedle Street

I’m not sure what was so engrossing on that phone but I suspect it was a review of images, especially outside the Bank of England in London and those enormous Portland stone columns. A perfect place for a dramatic photoshoot.

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#2025 #Architecture #BankOfEngland #Candid #CityOfLondon #London #People #Photo #Photography #SonyA7RV #StreetPhotography #summer #ThreadneedleStreet #UnitedKingdom #Urban

Northern Lights Over North Cork

You don’t expect to stand in a field north of Blarney and watch the northern lights, but here we are. Last night the aurora put on a show visible well into southern Ireland. Bands of pink and magenta hung across the sky, bleeding into that unmistakable green glow along the horizon. To the naked eye nothing could be seen, but the camera pulled out colours that made the whole scene look otherworldly.

A passing car lit up the bare trees on the ridge at just the right moment, backlighting them with a warm glow that played off the green aurora behind. It was one of those happy accidents you couldn’t plan if you tried. Even the electricity poles added something, a reminder that this was a country road in Cork, not the Arctic Circle. These events have become more frequent as we near solar maximum, so keep an eye on the Kp index and have a dark-sky spot in mind, because the next one might be even better.

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#2026 #astrophotography #aurora #auroraBorealis #Blarney #Cork #geomagneticStorm #Ireland #nightSky #northernLights #Photo #Photography #ruralIreland #SamyangAF24mmF28FE #SonyA7RV #stars

Golden Hour on Lough Aderry

I think this is my first or perhaps second time stopping at Lough Aderry, just outside Castlemartyr in Co. Cork. I’ve passed by there many times but in the evening when the light is good it’s always with the aim of getting home after a possibly long day away.

This evening I did stop as there was a nice sunset. The sun had dipped below a cloudbank just as we arrived but there was still a glow in the air. I was delighted to see swans swimming and feeding in the cool evening air!

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#2026 #Birds #Cork #goldenHour #Ireland #lake #LoughAderry #muteSwans #Photo #Reflections #SonyA7RV #sunset #swans #wildlife

An Fear Marbh Through the Storm

On a calm day you can sit on Clogher Beach and see An Fear Marbh lying peacefully on the horizon, its profile supposedly resembling a body laid out in repose. On a day like this, though, you’re lucky to see it at all. The swell was stacking up in layers, each wave tall enough to swallow the base of the island entirely, leaving just the dark ridge floating above a wall of spray and foam.

That golden light breaking through the cloud behind it was almost unfairly cinematic, the kind of scene where you fire off a dozen frames and hope at least one captures what your eyes were actually seeing. The Dingle Peninsula has no shortage of dramatic viewpoints, but Clogher looking west towards the Blaskets in rough weather is hard to beat.

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#2026 #AnFearMarbh #AtlanticWaves #ClogherBeach #DinglePeninsula #Ireland #Kerry #Photo #Photography #roughSea #seascape #silhouette #SonyA7RV #WildAtlanticWay

No Swimming. No Kidding.

A storm was blowing on to Clogher Beach recently. Waves so high they’d go over your head. You definitely did not want to drive down there or swim.

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#2026 #AtlanticOcean #beachAccess #ClogherBeach #coastal #DinglePeninsula #Ireland #Kerry #Photo #Photography #roughSurf #SonyA7RV #Water #wildSea #winterBeach

Cobh Lights Up for St. Patrick’s Night

Cobh put on a cracker of a display tonight with fireworks over the harbour. We headed across to the Haulbowline Island Recreational Park to photograph the show and we weren’t disappointed.

However, the barge launching the fireworks drifted further along the water than anyone expected, which meant a scramble to reframe shots and swing tripods mid-display. I’d love to know how it looked from the Cobh side. Usually the barge loops back and forth in a fairly tight arc, but this time it had other ideas and kept wandering off down the harbour!

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#2026 #celebration #Cobh #Cork #CorkHarbour #fireworks #Ireland #LongExposure #nightPhotography #Photo #Photography #Reflections #SonyA7RV #StPatrickSDay #waterfront

Storm Brewing Over Dingle

Dingle Marina sat there looking calm and civilised. Boats were tucked in, masts upright, everything in order while the sky overhead threatened rain and hid any chance of a sunset from my vantage point.

Luckily, it didn’t rain. The sky just got darker and darker as the sun slipped further around the Earth. The low cloud was not illuminated by the magnificent sun as it descended so I made do with what I had.

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#2026 #clouds #Dingle #DingleMarina #DinglePeninsula #dramaticSky #harbour #Ireland #Kerry #moodyWeather #Photo #sailboats #seascape #SonyA7RV #stormClouds #WildAtlanticWay