Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since I last wrote, and boy, have we had some weird weather – I think some of us are still recovering from Storm Darragh! I am, however, very pleased to see that we finally had an outing go ahead as planned and the weather stayed kind for the Cork Christmas trip. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it, but I am happy that Mary could write a few words for us, accompanied by some photos of the day from Mary herself, and Keith and Eric – thanks to Keith for the Headline photograph!  It looks like a very colourful time!!!  Over to you Mary …:

Hi all, Mary here – so Keith led our Cork City outing last Saturday afternoon and evening with Ann, Yvette, John, Iryna, Eric, Seamus and Denis.  Whilst the others stayed around the city centre, Ann and I went down to the marina markets on the quays; it’s an old warehouse with many different vendors, including plenty of food and cake stalls. At this time of year, there is also an ice rink for the fit ones – our excuse not to have a try was the fact we had our expensive camera equipment with us!!! 

We met up with the others at the Ferris wheel 🎡 on Grand parade at 2.30pm, and we took lots of photos of the Ferris wheel from all sorts of angles and shutter speeds – looking at the photos below, there were some great shots taken!!!  We were lucky to meet up with Rodney O’Callaghan, who gave us a few tips and tricks to try out!!! When it got darker, we tried our hand at some light trail photography. 

This technique created some amazing photos which gave the impression of motion and speed.  To get some shots from up high, we hiked up to the top of the city car park. From here, it was wonderful to see Cork City all lit up.  Our next stop was Oliver Plunkett Street, where the Christmas lights were superb.  Even Santa 🎅 was brightly lit, and it was delightful to see adults and children alike having their photos taken in front of him.  

Our last destination was the City Hall which was adorned with blue lights (sadly they must have run out of red Cork lights 😳 😎).  It was getting close to time to head back to Killarney so after some shots of the bridge, we gathered our equipment and made our way home.  Check out some of the other photos from our day below:

A great day was had by all! I want to say a big thank you to Keith – you are wonderful for organising such a fantastic trip and for sharing your knowledge of the best places to take our photographs. Christmas is such a magical time of year, and it was wonderful to spend this time with you all taking part in our favourite pastime – I want to wish you and your families  a very Happy 😊 Christmas to everyone, Mary xxx

Thanks Mary for the fabulous report!!!

So what’s up next? Well, unfortunately, Terry is unable to rearrange his outing to Rossbeigh Beach before he heads away on his next van adventure but we will try to find another leader to do the trip late winter/early spring. He is, however, looking to do a zoom presentation before he goes away on his trip to France so watch out for the emails from Marie on this. Please keep an eye on WhatsApp & Email as Nikki is hoping to do a “From Dawn to Dusk” day out over the Christmas break but just to warn you arrangements will be very last minute!!!! Our next planned outing will be led by Seamus to Black Valley possibly on Saturday 18th January, we will advise you as we sort out the arrangements and confirm dates. If you are interested in coming along then please let us know.

Just to keep you reminded, next year our annual exhibition will be in Killarney House and Gardens for 2 months so to celebrate this, our theme will be Killarney National Park – please bear this in mind when you are out and about taking your images. For those that are unsure of what is covered by the national park check out https://www.nationalparks.ie/killarney/.

I’ll see you next time and if you have any photos from your week that you want to add to these updates and reports please do send them to me, cheers for now!

Next in person Club meeting is in the new year on Thursday, 16th January at 7.30pm when we will be setting up some still life photography options. As mentioned above the Thursday before this meeting, Terry is hoping to do a zoom presentation on the evening of Thursday 8th January on his recent Campervan trip to Brittany. Watch this space, emails and WhatsApps for notifications.

Please note all our outings are for members only. If you’d like to join our club please contact our club secretary on secretary@killarneycameraclub.ie