URBAN EXPRESSION AND DEPRESSION

Street Photography That Highlights Urban Life

pancake lens

CONSTITUTION HILL AREA

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CONSTITUTION HILL AREA – I USED A TEN YEAR OLD CAMERA

I was able to adjust in post but there was excessive purple fringing is some of the imigaes especially those that included trees.

Back in 2011 my plan was to gradually switch from Canon DSLR to Sony Mirrorless and to ease the switch I intended to employ a Metabones adaptor in order to use my Canon lenses which had cost me a lot of money. In reality the idea did not work so I bit the bullet and began to purchase native Sony glass.

Over the last five years I built up an extensive selection of lenses and my collection now includes a number of Voigtlander lenses one of which is a Canon mount that I purchased at an amazing price because my dealer could not get a buyer. All the Voigtlanders are manual. I also have all the Zeiss Batis lens but they are are auto-focus and stabilised.

Today I decided to see if the Voigtlander [LH-40N] Canon Mount lens would work with the Sony NEX-7 [now ten years old and not used for many years] and the Metabones.

Much to my surprise it worked very well which is a lot better than not working which is the outcome that I had expected. To be honest I was surprised that the NEX-7 had focus peaking.

DUBLIN STEIN

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THE STEIN OF DUBLIN – THE LONG STONE

The oldest Anglo-Norman records in Ireland frequently refer to an extra mural district, east of Dublin, denominated “The Stein” or “Steine”, a flat piece of land extending southwards from the strand of the Liffey to “the lands of the Rath”, and eastward from near the city walls to the river Dodder.

If you mention the “Long Stone” most people in Dublin will immediately think of a pub.

The Long Stone on Townsend Street was established in 1754 and has been a favourite of Trinity College, Dublin students for generations. Unfortunately the pub which traded for 264 years ceased trading in December 2018 before being demolished as part of a major city centre development.

The Steine sculpture was erected in 1986 and was sculpted by Cliodhna Cussen. It was removed for a few years because of construction works associated with the new Luas cross-city tram service. The original installation included a granite inscribed plaque and a bronze plaque on a circular shaft set into granite setts arranged in eight circular bands around the principal granite shaft. When I photographed it immediately after the restoration bronze plate was missing but as you can see it is now there but the original setts have not been restored.

The stone is erected on a site near which stood a famous Long Stone or Steine / Steyne standing 12-14 feet high and erected by the Viking inhabitants of Dublin in the 10th or 11th centuries.

The River Liffey was much broader then and the stone actually stood close to the shoreline and perhaps marked a landing place.

The 3.35m high granite shaft is carved with two faces, one of which represents Ivor the first Viking King of Dublin who ruled in the 9th century. The other face is that of a nun and commemorates the convent of St. Mary Hogges, which stood nearby in the middle ages.

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