Daily Blog

I did not use the camera at all today. But I was in Claremorris early yesterday morning. I was delivering some borrowed photographic equipment to a fellow photographers house when I was quite rude! As I was approaching the house on what was a very dark and cloudy morning the colours were suddenly developing in the sky as the sun did its very best to break through. My friend was insisting I come in for a coffee I tried politely to refuse but he kept insisting, so I just had to come clean " I can't come in ,I said, " there is going to be a great sunrise and it won't wait for me" I think he understood!!

so I drove down the road looking for a suitable place to capture it and found this tree. The sun did break through but only for a couple of minutes before it was swallowed up by the cloud again.

This image was taken at the same time and place as yesterday's. The tripod is even on the same spot, I have simply turned the tripod head about 45degrees. This means of course I am no longer shooting into the sun and so the exposures and colours are much different.

A lovely day in Co Mayo today , but I did not see much of the sun! I made this image yesterday evening about forty minutes after the sun had gone down and just before the twilight faded. I wish i could describe for you the feeling of finding and being alone in such a scene. There is a slight feeling of danger because I was on a cliff edge ,not too close to the edge I hasten to add, but at the same time aware of the need to be careful. But the sea is so calm with its regular surge of noise as a wave gently reaches shore. And the light , oh the light, even though the sun has gone the calm see reflects and holds on to the afterglow from a fiery sunset. And I think how blessed I am to be here on the west coast of Ireland, on the "Wild Atlantic Way" to experience such peace and beauty. The danger is of course that as you just stay for one more photo, that you could stay for too long and if darkness engulfed you then the place would not be so beautiful!

I looked out this morning 40 minutes before sunrise to see a big bank of cloud, but with a small gap at the horizon. i thought this could go two ways, we may not see the sun at all, or if the gap opens just a little it might light up the underside of the clouds, which could be very spectacular. My optimistic side won out so instead of returning to the bed i ventured down to the beach. The gap did not open, but it did not entirely close either, but it certainly made "making a picture" that bit more difficult. So I went to the end of Mulranny Beach and focused on the rocks using an 85mm lens I have made the most of the limited bit of colour that was on the horizon.

I looked out this morning 40 minutes before sunrise to see a big bank of cloud, but with a small gap at the horizon. i thought this could go two ways, we may not see the sun at all, or if the gap opens just a little it might light up the underside of the clouds, which could be very spectacular. My optimistic side won out so instead of returning to the bed i ventured down to the beach. The gap did not open, but it did not entirely close either, but it certainly made "making a picture" that bit more difficult. So I went to the end of Mulranny Beach and focused on the rocks using an 85mm lens I have made the most of the limited bit of colour that was on the horizon.

Mulranny Beach on a winters day..........What Joy!

A slightly more personal blog then usual today. I have had the pleasure this weekend of the company of several family members as we have got together here in Mayo to celebrate two family birthdays. both my younger sisters have had significant birthdays in recent times so we have all got together to celebrate. Of course I cannot possibly divulge their ages but we have have a great time celebrating. This morning my OLDER sister Elaine and I went down to the beach in Mulranny to photograph the sunrise. She may be older then me but she is much more flexible! If I had taken this position I would need to call help to get me up again!

It rained all day today, in fact it is still raining. Here is another picture of Rockfleet Castle taken last week before the ramp was fitted!

I try not to use this site to express views , unless of course they are about photography. but today I hope you bear with me while I have a rant. Rockfleet Castle is, I think ,one of the little known gems of County Mayo. Up until about three years ago it was open to the public, if you arrived to find it closed there were instructions on the door to tell you where to get the key ! Inside the castle is really interesting, its a bit of a struggle to get from the ground floor to the first, needing a climb up sturdy ladder type structure . Whenever i had visitors to the county I would always have it on my list of places to visit, and of course its pretty on the outside, and a favourite location for photographers on my photography weekend courses.
About three years ago a new notice went up on the door, saying the castle was closed to the public for "Health and Safety " reasons. I would always have thought that if as an individual I decide to explore an old castle I might expect the floors might be uneven etc and would take the necessary care to look after my own Health and Safety. Can you imagine my horror this morning when thinking the castle might look good in the fog I arrived to find a new access ramp made of steel has been placed against the castle. Now to be fair, its not finished yet, and maybe it will be painted black , but what an eyesore!! Surely a wooden structure would look better against the castle.There are only four steps up to the castle door, and yes the tide can come almost right up to the door, but as I say I would expect to have to exercise some care if I wanted to venture in to the castle. I also realise that safety is important , but it seems to me that this is just health and safety gone mad! I also know that there are access issues for people who use wheelchairs, but I don't think this will help any, as as soon as you get into the castle the first thing you have to do is climb a wooden ladder
I suppose the only good thing is that maybe this indicates that it may soon be possible to re enter the castle, they might even put in a lift so that we can safely go from floor to floor!!!

I am in the very privileged position of being able to base myself in Mulranny for several months this winter. Mulranny really is a photographers paradise. The main advantage for me is that there are so many places to photograph with Clew Bay, Croagh Patrick , beaches etc all in such easy reach. But of course it does not always opportunities. I got up this morning took a look out of the window before sunrise and figured there probably would not be one, but there was a very small bit of colour in the clouds and I decided I would go down to the beach anyway, just in case the clouds would part. Well they didn't, in fact several minutes before sunrise time the little bit of pink disappeared and the sun did not appear until late in the afternoon.
So I am posting an image I made three or four days ago on the same beach.

Looks like I'll make this post just before midnight! I did not make any new pictures today. but I made this one yesterday morning. The bay was so calm .

There are some places that I just keep returning to.Some are because I once got a really good picture and I am hopeful I might get another, and this time it might be perfect! The thing is though that when you get a really good one it will be a combination of exposure composition and of course things we have no control over like cloud formations, so even though I may go to the same spot at the right time of the day at the same time of year, year after year, I often come away disappointed that I could not improve on the picture I already have. This is one view that rarely disappoints though, sure sometimes it can look boring but it often is exciting, but it is always different. When I passed this morning I had a camera with a dead battery with me, so I made a dash home to get a second camera , and as I looked through the viewfinder it occurred to me, this could be the perfect picture of this view! In other words from now on it could be disappointing. But now having processed the picture I am almost pleased to say that it can be improved on, a bit earlier in the morning with the sun a little lower might have been better, etc etc. I am almost relieved because I always figure that when I get the "perfect picture" it will be time to hang up the camera!!

On Thursday evening I was on Achill Island, with Don who had come for some one to one tuition. We sat through some really wild weather waiting for it to clear in the hopes of getting a sunset. Sunset came and went but we did not see it and eventually we decided we should call it a night, and started the drive home. But noticing a gap developing in the cloud I pointed out the potential to Don, explaining through one of my mantras "its not the amount of light , but the quality of light that matters." It was really quite dark, the sun had set 30 minutes earlier, but the hole in the clouds was creating this magical scene, so we set up the tripods yet again.This picture was shot at 800iso, f9 and 1/3 of a second. It was quite windy so even with a tripod a longer shutter speed may not have worked because of camera movement , also it was still raining and keeping the water of the front of the lens meant we had to work faster. it was though, the perfect finish to our day!

I am very late posting this evening , but have just returned home from photographing a fashion show! A bit different to how I started the day. Don who had a full day of one to one tuition yesterday decided to stay for a further half day today and we made a second attempt to photograph the sunrise. like yesterday we went to the beach in Mulranny and waited for the sun to appear, unlike yesterday though it was a glorious morning, and Don left at lunchtime today, much more confident in using his camera and in using lightroom, but also with a camera full of great pictures. this image shows Don, "working " the sunrise.

Spent a lovely day toady with Don, who came for a day of one to one tuition . We had decided to go for the sunrise but were unsure if we would get out at all because the weather forecast was so bad. Sunrise was at 8am and though it was pouring rain at 5.30am by 8 the heavy rain had passed us by. ( By all accounts it went as far as Dublin and stayed there for the day!) So we went out and "worked the beach " we did not see the sun but we did some slow shutter speed work, then we practiced some Lightroom techniques before going out to Achill in the evening. Once again we did not see the sun, but we still got some good pictures as we watched black skies moving in from the atlantic ,this one seemed to just swallow up Clare Island!. A few minutes later it reached us and the rain poured down.

The three images I have posted over the last three days were all taken within a half hour time frame. which tells you a couple of things. 1) I have not been out with the camera since, and 2)The light and skies in Mayo can change very quickly. As a Landscape photographer its one of the great things about living and photographing in the West of Ireland while we do get lots of rain we also have the most dynamic scenery with the light and clouds serving up magical and fleeting moments, you just have to be out there to capture them!

Yesterday I posted an image taken from the bridge at Pontoon. There were three of us sharing stories of fishing and poaching and admiring the view, when the sky turned very dark. We could all feel the rain coming but kept up the chat until the first drops landed still chatting , one of them declared "Thats the rain coming" when suddenly the heavens opened . "Good luck lads" said one and we all ran to the shelter of our respective cars, but as I sat into mine I looked in the rear view mirror and saw this rainbow, there was nothing for it only to go back out in the rain, as the the other two drove off , they probably thought me a little mad!

I was out with the camera yesterday afternoon in the showery weather. It looked as if the rain was in for the evening when quite suddenly the cloud cover broke and the low evening sun transformed the view from the bridge at Pontoon. So I stopped and took a few pictures from the bridge, the lovely light you can see in this picture only lasted a minute or two, but I met Angler, Kenny Sloan, who is an angling guide in the area, we chatted for a few minutes and I was educated in the pike fishing scene in Ireland, it has changed a lot since I was a young fella! We were then joined by an older gentleman who told us tales of salmon poaching in the good old days. Our brief encounter was ended when the sky turned dark and the rain started again.

I hope you don't mind my posting this image a second time, but I am delighted to announce that it received a Gold award in the October round of the SWPP monthly competitions in the Landscape section and so will be published as an award winner in "Professional Image Maker "

Day four of five in the Black and white challenge. I am coming back to mayo for this evenings offering. This old cottage has a spectacular view over clew bay and Clare Island. Once again by shooting into the light I think the image has great drama. If this had been shot on film I would have used a red filter in front of the camera, this would darken the blue to create the very dark sky, but now in the digital age the red filter can be added after the picture is taken.