Daily Blog

I did not get out today, but I have a few pictures from Lough Carragh still to show you. This Sunrise over Lough Carragh was taken on Friday morning.

I have just returned from an overnight trip to Cork so I did not take any photographs yesterday or today. This sunset picture was taken as I returned from Ballyglass lighthouse on friday evening. I was accompanied on that trip by my friend Monica, also a keen photographer and she brought me to this spot, called Dun na Mbo. as you can see the sun "set" very high because of that low bank of clouds, but it did produce lovely gentle colours and tones in the sky.

After sleeping in and missing yesterday mornings sunrise, I did not even set the alarm last night, but when I woke at 6.10am I thought I might as well see could I get the sunrise this morning. so I went to Lough Carragh near Moore hall. The sunrise itself was not very spectacular but the low sun lit the moored boats beautifully, delighted with the results of my mornings "work" I was back at home having egg and bacon at 9.15am!

I had a very lazy day today. I set the alarm for 5.30am with the intention to drive to the coast for the sunrise, but at 5.30 I thought , heck the forecast is for blue skies, I'll skip the sunrise and go for the sunset instead, so turned over and did not wake until 9.30am! This evening while it is still lovely and dry the sun simply cannot be seen , the whole sky turned grey in the afternoon and there are no breaks to be seen in the clouds. The moral of the story is " now I regret I did not get up when I planned to".
Luckily I still have a couple of images from my trip to Kilcummin a few days ago. this is the ruined church of St Cummin situated just past the harbour. It was apparently built in the 8th century, so it has stood for a very long time. It is worth visiting just to see the workmanship that went into making the doorway.

I am in Mayo sixteen years now and thought I had explored most of it. but on studying a map a few days ago I discovered a beach that I had not explored yet. And what a beach, just look at all that sand , and not a soul on it!!! I don't know the name of the beach so if somebody could identify it for me that would be great. It is close to Ross strand, and if you look straight out to sea you will see Kilcummin harbour. That should be enough for you locals to name it for me! There is no name on my maps. Mayo just has so many surprises!!

We are having very strange weather in Mayo! Patricia and myself visited Dun Briste { Down Patrick Head} today. the sky was blue, the temperature was in the 20s and the sea was as flat as I have ever seen and its september!!... lets hope it continues.

You might recognise this scene from the video last Wednesday, it looks better without the two eejits messing with the water!!

tonight is the first meeting of the new season for the Mayo Photographic Club, at Lough Lannagh in Castlebar. Its a great place to meet fellow photographers and of course to learn from each other. We are always happy to welcome new members so why not come along any monday night. I will be teaching a beginners class ,free for club members in the club starting on September 22nd. Check out the clubs website Mayo Photographic club

Did not get out today, but did have to make some prints, including this one , a september sunset taken a couple of years ago.

This morning was the first of those true Autumnal mornings. A sunny start with a real nip in the air, but not cold enough for frost . A perfect morning for seeing cobwebs. The cold creates the due that settles on the webs and the low sun lights them up. I am always amazed because it is clear to me that the cobwebs are there on other mornings too but we just can't see them. So I went down the bog road this morning on a "spider web hunt". They were everywhere! To see them you must look in the direction the sun is coming from, its the backlight on the water droplets that lights them up. But while you need the light shining on them you must have a dark background. there were so many that it was almost hard to choose, but then when you try and photograph you find that the direction is not quite right, or there are too many distractions in the picture and it becomes quite difficult to settle on one you like! The sunshine did not last very long this morning, about half an hour after this image was made cloud cover blocked the sun and all the webs simply vanished! I expect the spiders prefer it that way!!

I made this image of Croagh Patrick on Wednesday morning, as you can see it was a cloudy morning but enough sunlight broke through to just make the scene a little more interesting. The building you see bottom right was once the local school! It is about ten years now since I first photographed it and it is deteriorating fast.

This view of Errif woods was taken yesterday from the side of the road. I was changing out of my wet clothes before driving home when the sun broke through giving lovely dappled light .

Well it finally happened! I have been keeping my head low hoping to avoid the Ice bucket Challenge, I got a text from my Ex friend Ray McGreal to tell me he had nominated me . But I wanted to keep within the spirit of this page and still promote the beauty of Mayo. And one thing we have plenty of in Mayo is water,cold water! So early this morning Patricia and I headed out to this lovely little waterfall in the Sheefry Woods that I have photographed many times.
So please text MND to 50300 to donate €2 to Irish Motor Neurone Disease. If you are in the U.S. or the U.K. why not donate locally?

I would like to nominate Barry McCarthy, Darragh McCarthy, and Aisling McCarthy and Elaine OShea !!!

Click here to see video on Facebook page...[icebuket]

A dull grey day in Mayo today. It does not always mean no pictures though. This image was made a few days ago in Lacken bay. Despite the greyness I went for a walk along the beach to explore the area, researching the possibility of future photographic view "if the light was better" But as I walked towards the beach I saw this channel were the tide was coming in and realised ,I had a picture from the shapes, rather then from the light. I used a ND filter to give a long 30 second exposure which blurred the cloudy sky and the water.

Stuck indoors again today, and as September kicks in I found myself looking over some photographs from my recent holiday in Co Clare. This is O Donoghue's pub in Fanore, I thought the colours were great, I don't know if the dog belongs at the pub or was just waiting for his master to emerge refreshed. But it was a very welcome sight after a 12k walk across the Burren and the Guinness was perfect!

Another great football match today as Donegal beat Dublin in the second All Ireland semi final, that and the rain we had all afternoon kept me indoors. I kept watch for a sunset and the skies did attempt to clear just before sunset but from here at least the sunset proved elusive.
this Atlantic sunset was taken a couple of weeks ago in Co Care . This is taken with the fuji XE1 as I made my way across the field to the shore line. The lovely clouds were creating a fine spectacle, in the few minutes it took to reach the shore, however, the clouds blew away, and the sun set leaving a boring bland coloured sky...I love clouds!!

Well I am completely exhausted ! and I was only watching the match between Mayo and Kerry. What a game, after extra time in this the replay, Kerry finally pulled away and will now play in the All Ireland Final. so its not to be for Mayo for yet another year.

Here is another image from Lacken back strand made yesterday evening

I am just back from a wonderful evening of photography. I had planned to go out this evening , but the weather was not great and I nearly decided not to go. as I drove north towards Ballina and then Killala, it was very cloudy with misty rain. The weather forecaster on the radio confirmed what I was looking at through the car window and the urge to go home was very strong. but I decided to stick with the plan "you need to be disciplined about this " I told myself, "who won't get any pictures back at the house". So I continued as far as Kilcummin and went to Lacken Back Strand. As you can see there was a clearing in the sky, although there was misty rain as I walked onto the strand. I did not actually see the sun at anytime , but the light on the beach was magical!

Lots of rain in Mayo today.Yesterday was equally dark, but I was in mulranny making arrangements for the landscape course in september. Its a weekend course at the end of September, message me if you would like to attend. While there I took walk down by the beach, it was nearly high tide and the area behind the beach was flooding. when the tide rises, the sheep who graze the area often find themselves stranded on tiny islands. The sheep don't panic though, they will simply stand for the few hours it takes for the tide to go out again!

It was very dull and overcast today all day , it looked unlikely that I would find something to photograph for the blog today, but as Patricia and I were driving in the car this evening I spotted the wires above were tweeting! So I stopped , climbed over a gate into a field to get closer and took a number of images, and can I tell you they really were tweeting, the noise underneath them was incredible!

It rained all day here in Kiltimagh and I did not go out. but it gave me plenty of time to finish the pictures from Fiona and Nick's wedding. Then this evening I got together with them and we had a "viewing of the pictures,it was lovely to watch their reactions! Fiona agreed I could share this picture with you.