THE WATCH TOWER IN WATERFORD CITY [PHOTOGRAPHED MAY 2016]

The Watch Tower is a tower on Manor Street in Waterford. It is one of the six surviving towers of the city walls of Waterford. The cylindrical shape of the tower suggests that it was built in the 13th century. The arrow slit openings, or embrasures, with a gun loop at the bottom indicate that the tower was modified in the 15th or 16th century to facilitate artillery operations.

The tower does not have any windows on the city side; it was built solely as a defensive structure without a secondary use as a dwelling. At the rear of the tower there are two entrances, one at ground level and another at wall-walk level.

The Close Gate once stood on the western side of the tower, where the road now runs. It was demolished in the eighteenth century by Bullocks Wyse of the Manor of St. John to facilitate easier access to his estate. The other surviving towers are the Reginald's Tower, Double Tower, French Tower, Semi-Lunar Tower and Beach Tower

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Pet Paradise [65 O'Connell St, Waterford]-120896

FILM PHOTO SERVICES AT 117 THE QUAYS [WATERFORD CITY - MAY 2016]

My ongoing mission is to document changes within urban environments in Ireland and in order to do so I try my best to visit the major towns at least once per year at a about the same date every year.

This year on the 26th of May I photographed this shop on the The Quays [some call it The Quay] and since I took the photograph it has reopened as the Sparkle Closet. I

n many ways traditional photography is dying so it is not surprising that Film Photo Services at 117 The Quays in Waterford ceased trading.

In 2017 I plan to revisit Waterford early in May.

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EU ROAMING CHARGES REMOVAL: THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION TRIED TO SNEAK IN “FAIR USE” LOOPHOLE BUT HAVE BEEN FORCED INTO AN EMBARRASSING U-TURN

Roaming charges will cease to exist in the EU as of 15 June 2017. Consumers will pay the same price for calls, texts and mobile data wherever they are travelling in the EU. Calling a friend when you are at home or in another EU country won't make a difference on your bill.

Already from April 2016, roaming has become even cheaper: operators will only be able to charge a small additional amount to domestic prices up to €0.05 per minute of call made, €0.02 per SMS sent, and €0.05 per MB of data (excl. VAT).

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When you travel to a foreign country with your mobile phone, you are roaming - your mobile phone company and one in the foreign country work together to keep you connected, so you can make and receive mobile phone calls, write text messages, surf the Web and download content. These roaming charges will cease to exist in the EU as of 15 June 2017 when you travel abroad in the EU.

High premiums for roaming calls are an excessive irritant to business and leisure customers; they are a market distortion with no rational place in a single market – they teach users to fear their phones instead of using them. To tackle this issue, on 11 September 2013, the European Commission adopted a legislative package for a "Connected Continent: Building a Telecoms Single Market" aimed at building a connected, competitive continent and enabling sustainable digital jobs and industries.

In October 2015 the European Parliament's plenary voted in favour to end roaming charges when travelling in the EU by June 2017 (see details). Consumers will pay the same price for calls, texts and mobile data wherever they are travelling in the EU. Calling a friend when you are at home or in another EU country won't make a difference on your bill.

Already from April 2016, roaming has become cheaper: operators may only charge a small additional amount to domestic prices up to € 0.05 per minute of call made, and up to € 0.0114 per minute of call received, € 0.02 per SMS sent, and € 0.05 per MB of data (excl. VAT).

For the abolition of retail roaming charges to be sustainable throughout the EU, national wholesale roaming markets need to be competitive and to enable operators to offer retail roaming services without any charges in addition to the domestic price. Wholesale prices are those which operators charge each other for using their network. That is why the Roaming Regulation entrusted the Commission with the task of reviewing the wholesale roaming markets and making appropriate proposals before 15 June 2016, in order to enable the abolition of retail roaming charges from 15 June 2017. As a result of the various analyses, the Commission proposed on 15 June 2016 to set maximum regulated wholesale roaming charges at € 0.04/min, € 0.01/SMS and € 0.0085/MB. This is important to prepare the end of roaming charges for consumers travelling in the EU set for 15 June 2017.

The Roaming Regulation also foresees the possibility for an operator to apply a fair use policy to prevent abusive usage of roaming services at domestic price: for example, if the customer buys a SIM card in another EU country where domestic prices are lower to use it at home; or if the customer permanently stays abroad with a domestic subscription of his home country. As foreseen in the Roaming Regulation, the Commission proposes a fair use policy. An initial draft was published on 5.9.2016. The Commission services have, on the instruction of President Juncker, withdrawn the draft and are working on a new version. 

The European Commission's first rules to address overcharging in roaming prices came in 2007 - the “Eurotariff” capped maximum prices for phone calls made and received while abroad. These maximum prices apply to all consumers, unless they opt for special packages offered by operators. These rules have since been periodically reviewed and reformed, with further reductions in price caps and automatic protections against data roaming bill shocks.

 The results on roaming tariffs speak for themselves:

• Since 2007 the EU has achieved retail price reductions across calls of 92%
• Since 2009 the EU has achieved retail price reduction across SMS of 92%
• Data roaming is now up to 96% cheaper compared to 2012 when the first EU retail price cap became applicable on data roaming
• Between 2008 and 2015, the volume of the data roaming has been multiplied by more than 100

EXAMPLES OF PUBLIC ART AT CORK UNIVERSITY CAMPUS I USED SONY A7RM2 WITH 28-135mm LENS

Is it my imagination or is there a certain ‘sameness’ about most college campus sculptures.

Last year I spent three days in Cork and it rained most of the time and I had to abandon my plans to photograph the University campus because the rain got so heavy that I ended up photographing raindrops.

This year I decided to spend five days in the city assuming that that it was unlikely that it would rain for five days without stop. As you may have guessed, it did rain every day but as there were many extended dry spells the weather did not impact on my photography. I did, however, have have a problem with dust on my sensor. I discovered that there was a large object attached to the sensor and I was unable to remove it but it only obvious under certain conditions. Further investigation leads me to believe that the debris was there since my visit to Belfast.

 Previous years I walked from location I walked from location to location but this year I used the bus service which I found to be good. I got a lot advice from the bus drivers as to what I should photograph and how best to get to the locations in question.

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PREVIEW OF THE SCULPTURE IN CONTEXT EXHIBITION [DETAILS AND ARTIST IDENTITY NOT YET AVAILABLE] REF-120518

Sculpture In Context 2016 at the National Botanic Gardens,Glasnevin, Dublin 9. 8th September to 21st October 2016

One of the events that I really look forward to every year is the Sculpture In Context exhibition in the Botanic Gardens and this year is no exception. Today I cheated to some extent because I visited a few days before the event opens to the public. The downside is that the catalogue was not available so I cannot identify the artwork or the artists at this stage but I will do so later in the month.

 Last year I switched from the Sony NEX-7 to the new Sony Full Frame A7RM2 and while it was delivered in time for me to photograph the exhibition the full frame lenses that I needed did not arrive until Christmas week.

This year I do have a selection of lenses one of which is the Batis 25mm which I used today. I am in the process of upgrading to the Sony family of lenses but the 70-200 which was ordered about three months ago may not arrive until the end of the month.

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PREVIEW OF THE SCULPTURE IN CONTEXT EXHIBITION [DETAILS AND ARTIST IDENTITY NOT YET AVAILABLE] REF-120512

Sculpture In Context 2016 at the National Botanic Gardens,Glasnevin, Dublin 9. 8th September to 21st October 2016

One of the events that I really look forward to every year is the Sculpture In Context exhibition in the Botanic Gardens and this year is no exception. Today I cheated to some extent because I visited a few days before the event opens to the public. The downside is that the catalogue was not available so I cannot identify the artwork or the artists at this stage but I will do so later in the month.

 Last year I switched from the Sony NEX-7 to the new Sony Full Frame A7RM2 and while it was delivered in time for me to photograph the exhibition the full frame lenses that I needed did not arrive until Christmas week.

This year I do have a selection of lenses one of which is the Batis 25mm which I used today. I am in the process of upgrading to the Sony family of lenses but the 70-200 which was ordered about three months ago may not arrive until the end of the month.

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