Market's over

Nurse Carl had been given the weekend off, and I actually had some work to do. That end of things hasn't proved to be very productive so far due to only managing short spurts of keyboard usage interspersed with periods of rest in between because of the stupid plaster cast on my working arm (I will be so glad when I get rid of the wretched thing -- hopefully on Tuesday).

I actually gave in at one stage during the afternoon and retired to bed for a while. A rude awakening at 6.00 pm brought home the fact that there was nothing in the blip bag for the day. I mulled over a quick wander round the immediate neighbourhood, thought of bussing or DARTing it a bit further afield, and finally decided just to go in to the city centre and see what the camera would see.

I was on the bus when I got a notion: try monochrome. So I found my way into the camera's Effects function and selected Black & White, something I've never done before (any previous b&w's have been by de-saturation after the event, usually because the subject matter suited or in an effort to rescue a shot which wasn't so good in colour).

I walked a bit aimlessly along O'Connell Street and Henry Street and Liffey Street and along the North Quays, trying to spot suitable subjects. The front of Arnotts department store looked promising (especially after a tad of processing back home). There was some nice grungey stuff in Harbour Court, a laneway which links Eden Quay and Lower Abbey Street (straight out of the camera apart from the crop). The soffit of the GPO (General Post Office) in O'Connell Street was spectacular, but really needed colour.

After much soul-searching trying to decide between the various candidates I opted for this shot of Moore Street, lonely- and deserted-looking without its street traders. I've shifted it slightly away from the pure black and white that came from the camera. Otherwise it's as shot, and I quite like it.