Argentique

There is a mystique surrounding film photography that digital cannot achieve.

The sharpness in photos taken with my old Pentax continue to amaze me, when compared with the syrupy digital look of my Canon.

I have to admit that I really buzzed up the saturation in some of the Italian shots. Capturing the sense of a place is as important as recording exactly what is there...

45,000 +

Tracking is now a gentle hobby for Winter days. The Flickr account hit a milestone recently... over 45,000 hits.
Interestingly, Flick manages to block hits from the owners site, so that the results do actually record genuine outside visitors. I'm aware that the Blogger counter on "My Profile" goes up a notch every time I visit that page, so the record is less objective.

Since I posted my Flag Counter here and there on the net, it has started to record more hits.
Just goes to show...

Water... but not quite everywhere...

This morning a new experience...

Water in our tap ran a sandy brown, doubtless thanks to the night-time restrictions that have been imposed on the city of Dublin.

It is not ours to question why, etc.,...

There are some wags who have suggested draining the Shannon basin, or at least diverting the water from that source for the use of the great washed of the capital. Chance would be a fine thing. We have a rainfall that would be the envy of any dry part of the Planet. Water falls, day and night, on our little green island.
Perhaps it's about time we just captured it?

Dreamy County Meath

I grew up and attended primary school in County Meath.

It is a fabulous county and has many historic sites.
Somehow, the roadside gates always attract my attention...

Roma Eterna

I have very much enjoyed listening to "I, Claudius" which has been dramatised for Radio Four. It set me thinking about our visit to Rome last Winter and how relaxed we found this beautiful city.

Breaking news, however, shows rioting and police everywhere. It seems that Europe cannon settle this year and that we may as well get used to street encounters that are frightening in the extreme.

There is one question that has been raised by all this activity. What would it be like to spend time studying alongside people whose methods for getting their own way are so heavy handed?

Will the hoodies who rampage through the street settle into academic life and set to writing papers that analyse contemporary society reasonably?

It's worth recording that everyone I know in Ireland paid uni fees and that we took work abroad for months so that we could buy books and not be a drain on the people round us. It offered opportunities that would never have been available at home. I worked for some weeks as a "femme de service" which sounds dramatic but which actually just means "wardsmaid". It was an eye-opener as I had no experience up to that time of hospital life.

Such experiences were not tested in final exams, but they have turned out to be much more useful when it comes to real life. Nobody ever asks me about my opinion of Ronsard. Medical questions turn up all the time.

Anyways... I find that I am going back to sociology books, notably Giddens to try to make some sense of current affairs.

Let's hope amicable resolutions can be found to all the problems that the news reports every day. Otherwise we are going to have a fairly horrible 2011.

Street Photography

Melbourne comes even more to life during Chinese New Year.

Everybody eats out and follows the lively processions of drummers and musicians who fill the city centre.

In a Garden

Wishing Seats by anouilh on Zooomr