Merry Christmas to everyone from all at Rob Lamb Photography
May you have a joyful and restful Christmas and a prosperous New Year
Frozen Out
By all accounts, it is a long time since the Lough froze over. The best estimate I have had so far is 26 years.
Another cold night is upon us, take care out there if you have to travel. Personally, I’ll be finishing off my Christmas cards by the fire.
A Grand Stretch in the Evening
With the Winter Solstice yesterday, technically the days are getting longer. Winter is receding.
I know it is hard to believe with the sun setting over the airport as I type this at 16:03.
However it will only be a matter of days before one of my in-laws tells me that there’s a ‘grand stretch’. It started innocently enough but seems to have become a sort of running joke as to who can be the first one to say it as soon as mid-winter has passed.
Maybe I’ll get there first this year!
Ice in the City
OK so it is cold, but it is beautiful out there. We rugged the kids up and went out to find some ice in the garden. We probably hadn’t been out there since the great floods so all the vessels we had left for rain water collection were still out there – only now they had a sheet of ice on their surface up to an inch thick in places.
We found a few interesting things trapped in cold storage:
All the kids enjoyed themselves but let’s just say that I’m glad I’m not a Barbie in our house. It seemed a little cold for ice skating…
First Family Portrait
In the last few weeks the White House released the first official portrait of the Obama First Family. I’m not sure I have rights to publish the picture (and I wanted to keep all the photos on here my own) but it is available on the White House Flickr site.
In keeping with previous administrations, Annie Leibovitz was asked to take the picture.
Hang on Annie, call that a family portrait? No white background? No selective colouring? No crazy jumping around the place?
No gimmicks, no nonsense, just classic portraiture. A portrait in any medium is more than a simple likeness: it conveys some element of the character of the subject.
Liebovitz has shown us a father, a mother and two daughters, distinct characters but united as a family. Even in this most public of families, in the face of all we know about the ability of the Administration to spin and manage presentation, the image is credible.
Annie Liebovitz’s own problems have been well documented recently but her ability as a portrait photographer is unchallenged.
Tea and Cameras
Thanks to the ladies of Togher ICA for their hospitality on Wednesday night. We had a bit of fun talking about cameras and taking photographs.
Hopefully everyone got something interesting from it. We even did some practical ‘arranging a group’ in the small space that was available in the Community Centre.
In response to a couple of people asking, I put together a couple of pages on my experience choosing a digital point and shoot camera for my 8 year old this year. I have now added it as a page on the blog for anyone interested in my version of how to choose a basic camera. Any questions, let me know…
Back on tap
OK, so the water is back, we’re not smelly any more.
In fact our proximity to St Finbarr’s Hospital probably brought it back to us quicker than most – although I was informed we were ‘borrowing’ our water from Rochestown. What was frustrating was not really knowing whether we could trust it as drinking water or not. Finally, in a total auto-pilot moment, I brushed my teeth with the tap water and slowly kind of started to use it from there.
However the small fella is still turning on the bathroom tap and saying ‘it’s working!’ – he doesn’t forget too easily.
I haven’t yet gone as far as emptying the water butt. You just don’t know when you might need 132 litres of rain water…
You saw it here first
Once again, Cork City proves itself to be ahead of the rest of the world in all things cultural.
Way back at the start of the blog (almost exactly a year ago) I posted this picture of a knitted sock monster thing on the South Mall.
Well I passed it again yesterday and it is still there but it is not much more than crumpled lump of wool at the bottom of the post.
But this week, the BBC’s Oddbox features Yarn Bombing in Canada (number 7 in the list of 10 if you watch the video). What can I say? Where Cork goes, others follow.
So to the Cork Yarn Bombers – whoever you are (no-one I know came forward, though I still suspect the Cork Textile Network) – let’s have more of it and show these Canadians!
PS: A quick google uncovers a whole underground movement which is obviously only just making it into the media.
PPS: Cork Textile Network opened their annual exhibition in the School of Music on Monday called ‘The Long Note’. I had the pleasure of doing their publicity shots on Monday. Excellent work as usual, it is well worth a look if you’re passing good luck to all the members of the Network.
Let Mr Blue Sky In Revisited
This looks like the best of the videos of the flash mob thing on You Tube:
There are loads more personal clips people have uploaded on there too.
Augustine’s now @ the Clarion
I have heard a lot of good things about Augustine’s when they were on Washington Street but last week they opened at their new, bigger restaurant at the back of the Clarion.
The new place looks fantastic and they have high hopes of continuing the recognition the Washington St restaurant received from the critics (including a few more visits from Mitchelin).
Brendan made the Examiner this week and there should also be a feature in the next issue of Food & Wine.
Good luck lads, all the best.
PS: Their website, is due an update for the new location but Brendan’s Bio gives you a bit of an idea where they’re coming from.