Daily Blog

The weather forecast for today was very good, and sure enough the day started bright. I resisted the urge to go out in the morning because I had processing and printing work to do and deadlines to meet. I consoled myself with the thought that I had to go to Mulranny in the evening and would get some pictures then. The day was so good that we all thought it was summer, the sounds of summer were all around as it seemed all the neibhours were giving their lawnmowers their first run out . By 2pm though it seemed we were a little hasty and the clouds returned there was even a spot or two of rain. By the time I had to make my trip to Mulranny there was no sign of the sun and the sky was completely grey. I nearly did not bother to bring the camera! however as we drove through Newport I could see a breack in the clouds over Lough Feeagh so I made a detour and arrived at Lough Feeagh about 40 minutes before sunset and watched the colours develop for about ten minutes, before the clouds again closed the gap and the sunset was invisible.

As a photographer i can think of nowhere better then then Mayo as a place to live.There are pictures everywhere! Now I would not want to give the wrong impression, it is three and a half years since I started to post a daily picture, firstly on my own website and then on both the website and facebook. Thats a lot of pictures and its not always easy! Today I had to travel to Mulranny so I did not worry too much about getting a new picture, and as we got towards Mulranny the light was great but instead of stopping for some photographs I decided to get my business done and THEN get the pictures. In the half hour that took, the light completely changed and the sky just turned grey, there was no light what so ever. And sights that would normally make good pictures looked completely unattractive. Patricia and I decided to travel to Achill where we would have tea and then get some pictures, but as we travelled towards Achill the weather became worse, it became much darker and started to rain. It was clear that we would not get any pictures , so we decided to turn for home. "But I have no picture for the blog tonight" was screaming in my head, when I spotted this stream a little distance from the road. I have passed here thousands of times and had never seen it before, perhaps I did not need to. So finding a place to park I walked back to where I thought I had seen a potential picture, I was not disappointed. the light was not great but the composition was good and I can return again when the light is better.

I took this picture a week ago in the Doolough Valley, during a very wet weekend we had a couple of hours of good weather which just happened to coincide with my time in Doolough.

I took this picture of sea cliffs at Downpatrick Head Ballycastle Co Mayo about two weeks ago. I never tire of going there as it is always different , depending on the wind direction etc. On this occasion it was a beautiful day but the wind blowing from the North East created really rough conditions.

With the rain comes the water ! In Mayo we are blessed with plenty of water!!! Errif Valley, Co Mayo.

With the rain comes the water ! In Mayo we are blessed with plenty of water!!! Errif Valley, Co Mayo

The sun was shining on Croagh Patrick, but as you can see the sky was dark, within about three minutes everything went dark and it LASHED rain mixed with hailstones!

Have you ever wondered how much an inch of rain really is? Last Saturday evening on the way to Leenane I passed over this bridge, as always I stopped to have a look at the river in the hopes of a photograph. Despite the fact that it was a lovely bright evening I did not bother to make a photograph because the water levels were so low that the river was very unimpressive. Less then 24 hours later I passed over the same bridge, it had been raining all night, and of course was still raining, but the volume of water was now a torrent and despite the rain I thought it worth a photograph!

On Saturday evening I was photographing a small stream off the Errif River. The stream has over many years cut a small gorge out of the soft boggy land. Standing on the stream bed the overhanging ground was about four or five feet over my head, when I looked up I thought it gave an unusual view of the trees above.

On Saturday evening I was photographing a small stream off the Errif River. The stream has over many years cut a small gorge out of the soft boggy land. Standing on the stream bed the overhanging ground was about four or five feet over my head, when I looked up I thought it gave an unusual view of the trees above.

Back in Kiltimagh after the weekend in Leenane with the Mayo Photographic Club, the weather was poor again today so most people headed home early, the more dedicated disappeared into the mist looking for more photos, I hope they are rewarded! Yesterday I came back home to photograph some communion children but got back to Leenane at about 5 in the evening, this coincided with the best weather of the weekend and I was delighted to get this image of the Bundorragha river in the Delphi Valley.

Late posting this. I travelled to Leenane in Connemara for a weekend with the Mayo Photographic Club. there was no internet connection in Leenane. I had to come away for a few hours this morning to photograph some communion children but will head back down in the afternoon. Hard to know what the weather will be like in Leenane, I stuck my head out at 5.30 this morning as I considered a sunrise but it was lashing rain, so back to bed. As I left Leenane at 8am the sun did show briefly but then there was a shower of hailstone - in May!

I took this picture of a boat in clewbay on my way down to Leenane yesterday

evening

It was a wet and windy day in Mayo today, I did think that a trip to the coast may have been in order but I am heading to Leenane for the weekend with members of the Mayo Photographic Club so decided to stay at home today. Todays picture was made a week or so ago. I was in Roserk Abbey and looked back as I left the Abbey and thought "there's the picture!"

Photographed from the greenway, Bellacragher Bay, you dont always need sunshine to make good Landscape pictures.

Here is another image made during the Landscape course I led in Mulranny at the weekend. When we headed out at 5.30am I was not very hopeful of getting any pictures. It was wet and very dark. So we all set up our tripods and waited , sunrise time came and went with no sigh of the sun, I explained to the participants that this is the lot of the landscape photographer, waiting around for something to happen, and being prepared to come back again and again until it does. On this occasion we all agreed to just wait and watch and sure enough there was a break in the clouds for only a few minutes, and a mad scramble as everybody tried to control their cameras to get a good exposure. ten minutes later I poured the coffee and we made plans for the rest of the day. Later in the day one of the participants described the morning as waiting around in the cold but then we had ten minutes of "magic" I suppose its those magic moments that keep the landscape photographer going back.!

Here is another image from the weekend. This sea stack is called "the Queen of the west" and is located in Ashleem Bay , Achill Island.

I am back in kiltimagh after a lovely weekend leading a Landscape photography weekend at the EOM Studios in Mulranny http://www.greenwaygetaways.ie/. We did not get great weather, but despite that, or maybe even because of it ,the three participants got some great images. We finished the weekend by printing and framing the favourite images. So there are no images from me this evening , instead by kind permission of the three lads I am showing off their images instead.

Edward Soye produced the lovely image of the sky over Bellacragher Bay. Edward used a 30 second exposure to show the movement in the clouds.

Damian Mcconville made the lovely image of the Atlantic Ocean at Cloughmore on Achill Island. Damian used a 1 second exposure, again to show movement in the water, just enough movement in the water to create swirls.

William Fagan is a fan of film photography and he produced the image of the ruined cottage and processed it to make it look like an old fashioned colour print from film. I think he really succeeded.

So thanks to the three lads, i really enjoyed the weekend and I am thrilled with the images they produced. ( I think they were pleased also!


Bellacragher bay by Edward Soye


Cloughmore by Damian McConville



"Historic scene " by William Fagan

Had a great day today! Today was the first full day of the Landscape photography weekend. We left the house at 5.25 for a sunrise at 5.54am. It rained!!! we got to the location and my heart sank as I thought there was no chance of anything good happening, but we watched the clouds as they rolled over us when suddenly a gap appeared and we had ten minutes of frantic activity as the four of us raced to get the exposures right, everybody got some good pictures and after stopping at a second location we arrived back for breakfast at 9am. The morning was spent processing the results and in the afternoon we went to Achill finishing on Keem Strand. Keem was surprisingly busy with people walking the beach and a large group of divers disapearing beneath the waves. as we composed pictures on the strand a small girl and her brother approached us with their mother to tell us there was a small seal on the rocks and we should go take its picture!! The two children took us to show us were the seal was. Clearly he was waiting for the tide to rise, but we took loads of pictures, my favourite was this one because I liked the idea of the beach full of people but the seal "hidden" among the rocks. we were back at Cheryl's for dinner at 6.30 pm and back out for the sunset at 8.30pm. we have selected a location for the sunrise tomorrow but judging from the weather forecast we may get rained on !

I am in Mulranny for a couple of days leading a Landscape Photography weekend. The weather for this evening has been terrible. We went out to try and capture the sunset but could not see the sun and it rained heavily on us. so we went back as far as the beach and when the rain stopped tried a few slow shutter speed shots on the beach. Here is Damian one of the participants "working " the scene. Fortunately the forecast for tomorrow is much better, so having failed to get the sunset this evening we are meeting at 5.30am to try for the sunrise! here's hoping !

Here is another image from North Mayo. Roserk Abbey, is only a few miles from Killala. There are actually three Abbeys within a few miles of Killala. Moyne is probably my favourite and Rathfran is interesting to, but Roserk is definitely in the most photogenic site.