Daily Blog

The wind seems to have dropped this morning, I was disappointed not to get out with the camera yesterday while there was a gale blowing, this picture of Cloughmore on Achill was taken on Monday evening. Cloughmore is a great place to visit if the wind is coming from the west.

Only a couple of days ago I was chatting with my daughter about how much technology has changed our lives, not just in my lifetime but even in hers! We were talking about our iphones and all the wonderful things that can be done with them. So it was with sadness that I heard this morning of the passing of Steve Jobs who has contributed so much to that progress, and I also think of the vulnerability of man , that even one as successful as Steve Jobs can be taken so young. Todays picture of a huge shower cloud was taken about ten minutes ago, uploaded onto my Apple computer edited and shared with people all over the world !

Wind and rain this morning in Mayo. I took this picture of Croagh Patrick from Carramore Beach near Louisburgh on Monday, its an unusual view of Croagh Patrick.

While traveling between Westport and Achill yesterday I passed through Mulranny, I was in a hurry but could not resist stoping to photograph Croagh Patrick from across the bay!

Late posting today ! But I've had a great day. I had a one to one training day with Paul who has come from Dublin for a few days break in Westport. We started early to try for a sunrise , but the sun did not appear, and just when it looked like the clouds might be down for the day we got a break in the clouds and Paul got some lovely pictures on Carramore Beach. More rain in the late morning and we had to abandon our plan to photograph Ashleagh falls. We then did some computer work and headed back out in the afternoon to Achill and photographed some really rough seas at Cloughmore.I have just arrived in so I am posting a picture taken earlier in the week.

Posting even earlier today! I will be watching Ireland against Italy at the rugby world cup in the morning, so am doing my "jobs" early ! This sunrise was taken near Mulranny two weeks ago.

Very late posting today. Yesterday we went to Co Clare for an overnight. We arrived to lovely weather and I got this picture on Fanore beach. I had planned to get a sunrise at Poulnabrone Dolman this morning, but I awoke to heavy rain and no sun whatsoever, and also no internet coverage , hence I could not post this until I got home this evening!

Another grey morning in Mayo. I am posting another picture from Downpatrick head taken on Tuesday evening. I had hoped to get a sunset but the sun dropped behind clouds so there wasn't one, but there was an interesting sky all the same.

Yesterday afternoon I took another trip to Downpatrick Head and Dunbriste. It was very different to last week because the wind was light and the sea was flat calm, as I got there I met an angler called Vincent who was going to try his luck fishing off the cliffs, I have included Vincent in this picture as he gives the whole thing scale! I met Vincent again later, he caught no fish, I suspect it was too calm even for fishing!!

I had great intentions of getting a sunrise this morning, I love this time of year because sunrise and sunset are at reasonable times of the day! However this morning it is raining, and misty rain with no sign of the sun. I took this picture yesterday morning on the road between Claremorris and Knock. I spotted this tree as I drove by, and then had to find a safe place to turn back and stop. I photographed with 200mm lens and the tree is approx 200m away. A step in either direction completely changes the composition.

I took this picture about 10 minutes before sunset on Achill Island recently, I was on my way to photograph the sunset which was actually very disapointing, however I loved the colours created by the low sun on this scene.

Another black and white today ! I am posting early, just watching the build up to the Ireland Vs Russia game lets hope Ireland continue where they left off against Australia.!!
This ruined church can be seen from the road as you approach Achill Sound, I am not sure what its called and have not actually visited it but it looks well silhouetted against the sea.

I sometimes have to remind myself that up until about five years ago I only made Black and White photographs and only occasional colour. These days it must be 99% colour. Every so often though you see a site that is just going to lend itself to the monochrome treatment, here is one such moment!

Today I am posting another picture from Wednesdays visit to Downpatrick Head in North Mayo. This picture may give an idea of how windy it was. For both todays and yesterday's picture I crawled to the cliff edge on my belly, as I was frightened I would get blown off!!

Despite the horrible morning we had yesterday the weather did improve in the afternoon so I decided to make a trip to Downpatrick Head as originally planned. It was fantastic because the wind was so strong and I arrived between showers , so it was lovely and bright . The sea was great! This sea stack just off Downpatrick Head is called Dun Briste ( Broken Fort)

A horrible morning in Mayo this morning, I have to go to Ballina this morning and thought I might have gone up to Downpatrick Head afterwards, but its just wind and heavy rain, so I think I'll change my plans.

I was out early this morning for a sunrise,but it was not great, so I am posting another picture taken on Achill last week.

I looked out the window early this morning to see misty rain, I was delighted, it meant I had no reason to get out of bed ! I'm exhausted after the weekend. It was a great weekend and everybody was so keen to to learn, by and large the weather was not great, accept when we were using the computers and we had to shade the sun coming in the windows !. We finished the weekend by printing and framing each persons favourite photograph, the photographs were really good and it was amazing how different they all were given that we were photographing together for the weekend. I didn't take many pictures myself because I spent my time helping other people but I did grab this one while demonstrating how to compose a picture, it was taken on Daugh Beg beach just outside Mulranny.

It was more in hope than expectation that I headed out from the house at 5.30 this morning to meet with my fellow photographers to capture a sunrise in Mulranny! we met at 6.30 and went to our sunrise location about twenty minutes before the expected sunrise time. It was very cold , very windy and very cloudy with thick black clouds and no sign of the sun. Being a dedicated lot we waited until after sunrise time but nothing happened.



Then we decided we should go back to base for coffee and rethink our plans for the rest of the day. We were travelling in two cars and one car left, as the rest of us were getting into the car i noticed a little bit of pink high up in the sky..... we hung around for a few more minutes then suddenly THIS HAPPENED!!!


Phone calls were made and we managed to get the other half of the group back before it all disappeared.!!

Just back from a day in Mulranny on day two of the Digital photography weekend. One of the participants on the course is actually from Kiltimagh so before going to Mulranny this morning we said we would try and capture the sunrise. We met at 6.45 and it was raining, it really looked like we would not see a good sunrise but a couple of minutes before the sun appeared the colours suddenly began to appear,twenty minutes later the clouds had blocked out the sun and the morning was pretty miserable! The group are going to try for a sunrise in Mulranny in the morning, I hope we are this lucky!!