Creedons Hotel
This was my first night in an Irish Bar. A group of us flew out to Cork in November 2006 to meet up with some university friends and to celebrate their joint 50th birthdays. We stayed at Creedons Hotel in Inchigeelagh.
The first thing to say is that the quality of the photos is pretty poor. Although it was new and considered pretty good at the time, the Canon EOS 20D I was using struggled in the dim light even though I had pushed the sensitivity to the maximum. I had 2 lenses with me, the 50/1.8 and the 24-105/4; the 50/1.8 was probably a bit long in the cramped confines of the bar and to be honest I never liked that lens and especially not the awful background blur. I don't think I used it at all on this trip. Given the general noise of the images, I've converted them to BW.
The evening started off fairly quietly with a pint and a seat by the fire and then we waited for our friends to gather.
Some had made it over from Germany and there were a fair number from the UK. Mid evening, some of the local people turned up and the musical instraments came out and we were trated to an evening of very good music.
I don't know the significance of the children dressed in masks and I can't remember what term was used to describe them, but they all piled into the bar, played music and then the food was served.
The celebrations went on well into the night and the next morning we had breakfast in the bar before heading back to Cork airport.
I didn't photograph him, but the same man who was at the bar when we arrived the previous lunchtme was sitting in the bar at breakfast time with his pint.
It was a very good evening and all the better for being among friends and for being a complete surprise.