Daily Blog

To nights picture was a bit of a "grab shot" . I am just back from a great evening at the Mayo Photographic Club I was teaching a beginners class at 6.30 and on my way there ,realising I had no picture for tonights blog, I stopped on the N5 and tried to gbet a picture of these horses. I only had a few minutes, the one on the left had approached me and realising I had no carrots he figured I was of no interest and had got bored, but the second horse was still a distance away and clearly thought I might have something for it. All the time I was trying to get myself into a position that the composition would be interesting, but just as one turned away disgusted with me the other arrived and they greeted each other for just a moment, and I had my shot!!
The class in the club went very well but the real highlight was when we got to share the work of photographer, Elizabeth Toher Photography,
Elizabeth shared some of her amazing children portraits and was a total inspiration, I expect there will be Mayo Photographic Club members "borrowing children" all over the county! You should check Elizabeth's work!

September was the driest in Ireland in over 80 years according to Met Eireann it looks like we might have to pay for it in October though, Met Eireann have issued an "orange" Weather warning for rain and wind for this evening and through the night. This early morning picture was taken on one of those lovely foggy September mornings at the side of the N17 between Knock and Claremorris.

This picture was taken at Kilcummin in North Mayo a few weeks ago. I hope that someday it will get a new roof !

They don't call it the Wild Atlantic Way for nothing. I was walking the beach at Carramore when Patricia spotted this strange green creature at the waters edge. I only had time for one picture, I lifted the camera to avoid the incoming wave, when I looked back he was gone!!

They say that "those who can,do,and those who can't,teach !! I am currently teaching a beginners photography class at the Mayo Photographic Club in Castlebar on a Monday evenings. This Monday evening as I drove to the class at Lough Lannagh I could see that the closer I got to Castlebar the nicer the light was getting. It occurred to me that teaching an evening class in the hour before sunset really was a mistake! I should be out taking pictures not teaching. Now don't get me wrong I really love teaching but for just a few moments I was torn...Teach the class vs make some pictures. As it happened I arrived at the hall ten minutes before class was to start so I unlocked the hall for the students sat back into my car and travelled the few hundred metres down to the lake ,took this picture and back up for the class, and did not feel even a little guilty!!

A lovely day in Mayo today, but I was unable to get out so here is an image taken at Lough Carra just after sunrise a few weeks ago.

I hope you don't mind my posting a second Dolphin image.These guys travel SO fast . As you can see from the angle they were right under the boat. what I liked about this image though is how the fast shutter speed (1/2000th second) really shows how they cut through the water! The water almost looks like molten glass.

Here is another image from yesterday's boat trip in West Cork. As we sailed back into Baltimore this was the view behind the boat, the land mass is Cape Clear Island and in the far distance on the horizon on the left hand side you can see the famous Fastnet Rock and Lighthouse.

I am posting this half way home from a great day Whale watching off the west cork coast. Patricia bought me a voucher for a trip with http://www.whalewatchwestcork.com/ last Christmas. We had made a couple of attempts to use the voucher but the weather had been bad. On this occasion Nic Slocum who runs the trip had advised that there were not many whales about, but seeing as we were already in Limerick ( half way to West Cork) and the weather was so good, we should go anyway. we had a wonderful day. Nic is a really knowledgeable guy and he made us very welcome. the scenery on the trip which included a landing on cape Clear island was simply wonderful. We did not see any big whales but it was very exciting when we did meet up with some dolphins and also some porpoise . My only difficulty was not knowing which lens to use, because the dolphins came so close, but they appeared over the surface so fleetingly . This was taken using my 24-85mm on a nikon d600

I am still in Limerick, and did not get much chance to use the camera, but I was passing Bunratty Castle,this evening and for once i had time to stop. bun ratty castle is just outside Limerick city but is actually in County Clare, I pass it regularly when travelling from mayo to Cork or mayo to limerick but I am normally in too big a hurry to stop. Today i planned to stop, but when I got there it was quite dark with cloudy skies and no interesting light, but I got a picture anyway.But plan to make time again, when hopefully the tide will be in and the sun will be shining!

I am away in Limerick this evening and did not get any pictures taken today so here is another image from a couple of evenings ago at Carramore Strand Louisburgh

I went out again this evening with Patricia in search of a sunset . We travelled to Kiliala on our to Kilcummin. We decided to call in for a "few minutes" to visit our friends Tony and Liz who run The Old Dean Holiday Cottages in Killala. Of course the few minutes became several and eventually became a few hours and the sunset was missed. I did get this image of Tony by the lovely turf fire though!

Another lovely day in Mayo, Patricia and I headed towards Westport this evening, I had to deliver some of my hand made cards to The Quay Gallery in Westport. We went late in the hopes of catching a sunset, but once again the sun refused to participate in my plans and was nowhere to be seen. We still went as far as Carramoe Strand in Louisburgh, the lack of sunlight made it ideal for motion water shots though. I used the fuji XE-1 camera, I have a tiny tripod for it, and its not really suitable for beach use though, its a bit too flimsy, so I had to grab the tripod and camera every time the water reached us!

Plenty of rain today, I went over to Westport this evening and had hoped there would be some clearing that I might have seen a sunset, but it rained all evening and I did not see the sun, I took this image as the sun set close to Croagh Patrick on Sunday evening as I drove into Claremorris

Thanks to everybody for all the likes and comments for yesterday's picture of the four horses. I told you I had to wait some time to get the four horses separated from each other. Here is another image made at the same time, hard to know what kind of creature it is!!!

We had a lovely foggy morning this morning and I went out shortly after sunrise hoping to get some fog pictures. Fog changes everything because shapes become much more important. I was distracted by this group of horses and so stopped for a couple of minutes. The couple of minutes became several however as it took quite a while to get a moment when there was separation between the four of them, but it happened for just a couple of seconds.

I had a busy afternoon photographing in the basilica in Knock where a Mass was offered for Peace particularly in the Middle East. But I did not get any opportunity to take pictures for myself today, so here is another image taken at Lough Carra a few mornings ago.

Something strange happened in mayo today...It Rained!! I might be wrong but I think it was the first time this month, we were beginning to act like we lived in the Mediterranean , but it seems this tropical weather we have been having is coming to an abrupt end and the outlook for next week looks far more "normal"

Today is an historic day in Scotland. Nobody could have failed to see that the Scotts are today voting on whether to stay in the UK or to become an independent country. Patricia and I lived in Scotland after we were married and indeed three of our children were born there so I have great affinity with the Scots . I have friends in Scotland who will be voting on both sides today, and whatever the result I think Scotland will change forever. I was wondering did I have any pictures of Scotland that I could post to kind of mark the occasion, when I remembered this one of the eighteenth green at the world famous Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St Andrews , I took the picture back in 2007 with a new compact digital camera I had just bought when visiting my daughter Aisling , who was at the time a student in St Andrews University. Then this evening it was reported on the BBC that the Royal and Ancient are going to allow women to become members for the first time in its 260 year history......Historic indeed!!

If you were to look again at yesterdays picture you would see five boats. The three on the left hand side of yesterdays picture feature again today in this image. the images were made within half an hour of each other . For this one the sun is that like bit higher in the sky, but the main difference is that the sun is side lighting the boats more. Images where you are shooting into the sun or where the sun is strongly side lighting are I think always more exciting then when the sun is behind the photographer, because it brings out the shape and form of the object you are photographing. Of course another interesting difference, is the point of view, in yesterday's image I have used a wide angle lens and am very close to the boats. in todays I might even look closer, but am in fact much further away, using a 200m zoom lens, I have actually crossed the road, and gone as low as I can to include the overhanging branches.