This is my first upload for the year 2024 and it is also my birthday. I wish everyone a wonderful New Year.
I had intended to devote about four hours to photographing the streets of Trim in County Meath. After about two hours the weather became so bad that it was impossible to use my Canon 5DIII and I decided to walk back to base but I decided to use my iPhone 12 Pro Max but after about twenty minutes not even that idea was practical so I had to phone for a taxi.
The term “High Street” usually referes to the primary business street in a town or city. The name likely originated from the fact that these streets were often built on higher ground than the surrounding areas, providing a vantage point and making them prominent locations for commerce.
The term High Street is far less commonly used in Ireland than Britain [I am not sure about Northern Ireland]. Here, like in the United States, Main Street tends to be used instead. Neither of Dublin’s two main shopping streets (Grafton Street and Henry Street) carry this name, for example, nor does its main thoroughfare (O’Connell Street).
While Dublin has a street named High Street near Christchurch, formerly the centre of the medieval city, it is not a shopping street. The city of Cork’s main shopping street is St Patrick’s Street. The city’s oldest streets are named North Main Street and South Main Street. Limerick’s principal thoroughfare, like Dublin, is also O’Connell Street (the name is used in a number of other Irish towns in honour of Daniel O’Connell).
The term Main Street (Irish: An tSráid Mhór, literally “The Big/Great Street”) is used across various types of settlements; from densely populated inner suburbs of Dublin such as Ranelagh, to satellite suburbs of the capital such as Swords, and also in villages and small towns throughout the country. For example, the OSI North Leinster Town Maps book lists sixteen “Main Streets” and only two “High Streets” in its thirty-town index of street names. Similarly, the OSI Dublin Street Guide (covering all of Dublin City and County Dublin) lists twenty “Main Streets” and only two “High Streets”.
Some Irish towns do have a major shopping street named High Street (Irish: An tSráid Ard), including Killarney, Galway, Wexford, Ballinrobe, Westport, Bagenalstown, Macroom, Tuam, Wicklow, Trim, Monaghan, Kilkenny, and Kilrush.
Bantry, County Cork is an interesting variant; the main shopping street is called High Street in its western part and Main Street in its eastern part. The same is found in Athlone and Birr, County Offaly.
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TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND PHOTOGRAPHS – NOW I NEED TO SIT DOWN AT THE HUNGRY TREE AND REST
I wish you all a Happy New Year a few hours in advance.
My birthday is on New Year’s Day and for the second year in a row I have had to cancel my birthday celebration at the Hungry Mexican Restaurant on Aston Quay.
Today 31 December I posted my 200,000 photograph on Flickr however I have published about one million photographs, in total, and many have appeared in books, book covers, magazines and elsewhere. Recently. Google informed me that one of my photographs has been viewed 160,000,000 times which would have been impressive if I had been paid.
When I started the “Streets Of Ireland” project back in 2005 my aim was to publish 100,000 photographs by the end of 2015 but with no real expectation that I would ever achieve such a target.
When I published photograph number 100,000 in November 2914 I was a bit surprised but more than a little bit pleased.
I published my first digital photograph via Flickr in January 2006 the camera used was a Canon IXUS i. At that stage I had been using the IXUS for about three years. I cannot remember why I used the Canon for my first Flickr photograph as my day-to-day camera at the time was a Sigma SD9. The SD9 ,on a good day, could produce some wonderful images but in general it was no at all suitable for street photography so in July 2006 I switched to a Canon 5D which was an amazing camera and was my favourite camera until I got a Sony NEX-7 towards the end of 2011.
Because of the floods in Thailand the NEX-7 was in short supply until 2012 but I was one of the lucky few who managed to get one in 2011. However, when I got it I was unable to source a suitable selection of lenses until 2012. Just before Christmas 2011 I discovered that the Sony VG10 Camcorder came complete with an 18–200 mm E-Mount lens that was compatible with the NEX-7. The 18-200mm lens was to retail, as a stand-alone lens, in Ireland at €1200 but would not be available for at least six months but as I was offered the complete camcorder kit at €1600 I decided to purchase the NEX-VG10E. Since then I have purchased a Sony A7RII, A7RIII and currently my main camera is the Sony A7RIV. I still use the VG10E.
However, in later 2021, because of Covid-19 restrictions and because I wish to avoid attraction unwelcome attention I now use an Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max which produces acceptable images.
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