Daily Blog

Yesterday I was in Westport in the morning. We had a lovely day but at the time the morning haze was only just lifting. I went down to get a picture of Croagh Patrick. The tide was at its lowest so there was no water in the bay.

Yesterday I drove to Cong to deliver some pictures, the weather was cloudy and the light not very interesting. As I drove through Ballinrobe I would normally go around the town rather than through it. I am not sure why but yesterday I missed my corner and only realized as I found myself in town ! It was lucky I did though because as I came around a corner I spotted this sign writer ( he really is an artist!) putting the finishing touches to a magnificent work of art !! After I stopped and spoke to him I realized I actually knew him , his name is Damien Moran and he used to live in Kiltimagh !

Heres a very simple picture taken after sunset, sometimes the exclusion of detail can make things look very graphic. I spotted these trees as I drove along one evening and took the picture from the side of the road. They look a lot less interesting during the day.

Its fairly overcast today in kiltimagh, I am not sure if I will get out at all, I have some printing and other indoor work to catch up on !
I am posting a picture of nephin taken from Westport. Nephin is Mayo,s second highest mountain. Most people think of Croagh Patrick when you mention Mayo and mountains, but Crough Patrick is only the third highest !

Late again today ! I had a lovely morning, I had a one to one camera class for the morning. In two weeks time I have a Landscape weekend, there are still some places left , if you are interested or know of somebody else who might be why not check out the details on the website. Todays picture of horses on the coast was taken earlier this week , once again it was taken in "bad weather" which again proves sunshine is not a requirement for good landscape pictures.

A little late posting today, I spent the morning photographing an award cermony, and am busy again this afternnoon, so I am posting a picture taken on Carramore strand last week.

Having spent so long photographing Mayo I almost felt guilty this morning crossing the border into Co Sligo in search of photographic opportunities !! I was meeting my friend , photographer, Monica Flanagan. We visited Strandhill , where Monica spent her childhood. Monica took me to “The Glen” a fault line in the side of Knocknarea Mo...untain. I would never have found it without someone to show me. Going through what looks like a small gap in the hedge you suddenly find yourself in this amazing and unexpected environment. Warm and damp it is full of ferns and trees both growing and fallen down, but all stretching for the light. The light from a photographic point of view was both exciting and frustrating. Contrary to the forecast it was a very sunny day making the contrast levels difficult to work with, so we spent alot of time just waiting for the sun to slip behind a cloud, or perhaps to come back out from behind a cloud and because the growth was so thick we could not actually see the sky, so never knew how long we had to wait !! we spent several hours there and would have spent longer only Ieft because I had to go to a job in the late afternoon! So I’ll definitely be going back!

I am posting a little early today because I am heading up to Co Sligo for the morning, in search of a picture or two, a friend of mine is taking me to a location that sounds very interesting. If I get anything good I will post it tomorrow. Today I am posting another picture from Carramore Beach taken at the same time as yesterdays picture. This is the view accross clew bay towards Newport, as I said yesterday the light and whole feel feel of the place was eerie , so dark and so still, about half an hour later the wind did suddenly pick up as the rain arrived and the water became very choppy. You can see a shower of rain on the other side of the bay.

Yesterday afternoon I had some business in Westport so we decided to go to Louisburgh afterward for a walk on a beach. As we drove towards Louisburgh it was very dark and threatening rain I” Knew “ there would be no pictures, still I was here for a walk on the beach with my lovely wife, not to take pictures! We got to Carramore Beach and the light was just amazing, it was so dark and so calm and the light was almost eerie, we spent over an hour on the beach, me taking pictures and Patricia walking!!

Today I am posting another picture from Mulranny,taken on saturday , showing some of the islands in Clew Bay.

Yesterday evening I had to go to Mulranny for a funeral, I was then in a hurry to get somewhere else but just could not resist a quick trip across the golf course to the beach. The sky over Croagh Patrick was great and when I got to the beach I found the tide almost fully in, so I tried a couple of slow shutter speed shots. I often use graduated neutral density filters in front of the lens to help make the skies darker. this picture was unusual in that the sun on the water made it very hard to keep detail in the water , so I simply used the Neutral density filter UPSIDE DOWN, it worked a treat!

Another picture taken last week on Carramore Strand , Louisburgh. While waiting for this sunset there was always a doubt if we would see on , it was slow cloudy. A good way to judge if you will get a sunset on a cloudy evening is, if you can see the horizon clear beyond the clouds you will get a sunset, however fleeting, as this one was! The sun is setting over Achill island.

The difference between today's picture and yesterday's is about 200 metres and 20 minutes , isn’t it amazing how different the mood of the pictures look ! I am calling this one " Sailing into Westport" I watched the yachts for some time waiting for one to get within the composition with the lighthouse, that happened several times but it was only on this occasion that the sun actually shone and so lit both the yacht and the lighthouse .

This picture of was taken last week on Bertra Strand, near Westport. it was taken about one hour before sunset, as you can probably tell from the picture it was very cold and windy and a few minutes after taking this I had to run for cover as the shower cloud broke above me ! This kind of weather is usually a good recipe though for exciting pictures.

Back to Mayo for todays picture. this picture of a wild rose was taken on the roadside not far from my house here in Kiltimagh, between the showers.

The sun finally arrived in Co Clare for our last day. We had a walk along the "Blackhead Loop" one of the great green roads in the Burren . I may post another Co Clare picture or two tomorrow, but I promised I would post the picture of the Cliffs of Moher so here it is...

Another day in Clare, the promised heat wave arrived around 11 am ! The sun did not actually appear but it got alot brighter and the clouds began to thin. By 12.30 we had set out on a walk on the Burren Way, as we set out we debated wearing sunscreen and ,or jackets, we chose the jackets! By 1.30 we were soaked by the rain that settled in for the afternoon and our heatwave was well and truly over !
In the evening after dinner we headed to the Cliffs of Moher, I was not expecting to get any pictures but just as we arrived the sun put in its first appearance of the day and we were treated to a wonderful sunset.

We are still in Co Clare and so far the weather has been really bad but it looks like it might improve today. We arrived in Fanore on Friday evening it had rained for the whole day . We stopped to look at the sea which was just so grey. It reminded me of my Dad who was himself a seaman. I was telling Patricia of a time when aged about 12 or 13 I had washed white vests with dark clothes and my Dad described them as no longer being white , but being “Battleship Grey” . This must be battleship grey I said. I had no sooner said it when a battleship appeared on the horizon !! Well I know its not a battleship the Irish don’t have any, but a naval ship all the same , but the sea is definitely “battleship grey”

I am in Fanore Co Clare for a couple of days where the weather is terrible and the internet coverage is even worse ! I have made several attempts to post this already and had to take a drive in the car to find some internet and phone coverage.! Still its good that we cant easily be disturbed, or distracted .

Yesterday I posted a picture from Carramore Strand. I am sure I have said before, that landscape photography involves a lot of standing around waiting for things to happen. Yesterdays picture was taken twenty minutes before the sun set, todays was taken half an hour after the sun set !!. As you can see I have hardly moved during that time, and I can tell you it was very cold, more like a winters evening than mid summer. The two pictures don’t even look they were taken on the same day . The big shower clouds that rained on us before sunset cleared to leave a bright clear sky.

The weather here in Kiltimagh yesterday was "mixed" and I nearly decided to cancel my planned trip to the coast for some photography. I was glad I didn't. this picture was taken on Carramore Strand ,Louisburgh. It was raining at the time and there was a constant battle to keep the lens dry.