diff --git a/cmd/subcmd/get.go b/cmd/subcmd/get.go
index 681dd33..7ea44a6 100644
--- a/cmd/subcmd/get.go
+++ b/cmd/subcmd/get.go
@@ -137,6 +137,8 @@ func getOne(transferManager *commons.ParallelTransferManager, filesystem *irodsc
 	}
 
 	if sourceEntry.Type == irodsclient_fs.FileEntry {
+		logger.Debugf("downloading a data object %s to %s", sourcePath, targetPath)
+
 		targetFilePath := commons.EnsureTargetLocalFilePath(sourcePath, targetPath)
 
 		targetStat, err := os.Stat(targetFilePath)
diff --git a/commons/path.go b/commons/path.go
index ac4dde7..7acc0aa 100644
--- a/commons/path.go
+++ b/commons/path.go
@@ -37,14 +37,12 @@ func MakeIRODSPath(cwd string, homedir string, zone string, irodsPath string) st
 }
 
 func MakeLocalPath(localPath string) string {
-	if strings.HasPrefix(localPath, string(os.PathSeparator)) {
+	absLocalPath, err := filepath.Abs(localPath)
+	if err != nil {
 		return filepath.Clean(localPath)
 	}
 
-	wd, _ := os.Getwd()
-
-	newPath := filepath.Join(wd, localPath)
-	return filepath.Clean(newPath)
+	return filepath.Clean(absLocalPath)
 }
 
 func EnsureTargetIRODSFilePath(filesystem *irodsclient_fs.FileSystem, source string, target string) string {