A RED METAL YOKE

17/06/2023

EXAMPLE OF RED METAL SCULPTURE ON THE CORK UNIVERSITY CAMPUS [A RED METAL YOKE]

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

About twenty years ago I heard a young child refer to a red metal sculpture as a "red metal yoke" and I decided to use the term myself. In Irish slang, the word 'yoke' doesn't have anything to do with eggs. Instead, it's another way of saying 'thing'. So if someone in Ireland sees an object that they've never seen before, they might ask, 'What's that yoke there? 

In 2015 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. 

In 2016 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 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 2016 visit to Belfast.

Previous years I walked from location I walked from location but 2016 was the year that I began to use 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.

My most recent visit was May 2023 and it did rain every day but there were many extended periods of really pleasant weather which allowed my to explore and photograph parts of the city that I had never visited before.