Daily Blog

I am writing this post from Achill Island where Trish and I have just witnessed a lovely sunset from Golden Strand Dugort. We were on Achill to deliver the wedding photographs to Anthony and Jen who are heading back to New Zealand tomorrow. The weather was so bad for their wedding that the planned photographs on Keem strand had to be cancelled , and knowing how much they had wanted their wedding to be on Keem I volunteered to come back yesterday to photograph them on the beach. Here is one of the images from our afternoon session. Special thanks to my daughter Grainne who provided the light with the off camera flash!

I met up with Jen and Anthony again today, and they gave me permission to post some of their pictures. This was taken at their wedding yesterday, this was the moment they "tied the knot". Hand binding is part of the Celtic ceremony. it was my first time attending a Celtic Wedding, I must say the whole service was really lovely and Jen and Anthony who had travelled from New Zealand for their wedding are a truly lovely couple and it was a real privilege to photograph their special day.

I spent a lovely day today on Achill Island photographing a Celtic Wedding. The ceremony was planned for Keem Strand but the rain and wind was just relentless and so it had to be moved to an indoor venue. However it was still a beautiful ceremony and a lovely couple. Unfortunately I forgot to ask them if I could include one of their photographs on the blog, so I can't show you one tonight, but maybe tomorrow.
So instead here is an Image of Keem Strand with wind and rain, taken a couple of nights ago

Lots of rain again , I had resigned myself to not getting any pictures today and had prepared another picture from last evenings trip to a wet Keem Strand, I was just about to post it when I happened to look out of the window and was surprised to see colour in the clouds. So I had a quick look outside and figured we just might get a sunset after all , so Trish and I made a dash for the car, I was not really sure where I was going to go, the sky was looking very spectacular, but the foreground was terrible. Just at that time I got a text from a photographer with a picture of a spectacular sunset in Limerick!! So I tried to get to a spot where I could get a foreground without buildings and telegraph poles, but I probably should have just photographed the sky, because the spectacle ended as quickly as it started, because as the sun set, the cloud that had been around it cleared. So I had to settle for this image taken a minute or two after the sun had dropped.

Lots of rain in Mayo today, and really nothing to inspire! I took this picture between showers a week or so ago on the shore of Lough Conn, the mountain, that has its head in the sky, is Nephin.

Well we taped up the car window last night and went out for a wonderful meal with the whole family, including my big sister and her husband. We left Dublin this evening at about 4.30pm and made it home to Mayo just on time for me to empty the car and head out to Lough Nambracknagh near Kilkelly. Now I was not that eager to go, after the long drive back from Dublin, but when I got to the lough about half an hour before sunset,I was very glad I had made the effort!!

I am in Dublin this evening we have a little family celebration tomorrow. I was the city for the afternoon. Whenever I visit Dublin, I am always thankful that I live in Mayo! I find the crowds and the shopping unbearable, maybe I am getting old!
Anyway I took the camera out for one shot of the spire. A real Culchie in town for the day!!

decided to post an image today that is very similar to yesterday's, you see I found myself standing in the exact same spot as i was yesterday, it was not planned.
i had not got out today, but had to go to Westport to collect my daughter Grainne who is visiting from Dublin. So I decided to leave a little early and "find" a picture somewhere along the way. But when I went to gather up the camera and tripod to put them in the car I could not find the tripod!I searched up and down and in and out several times but no sign. now this tripod is brand new, Patricia bought it for me earlier this month so that put even more significance on it!. So I had to think back to when was the last time i actually saw it..... well I definitely had it on the shore of Lough carra when I took yesterday's picture, surely I could not have left it!! So off I went back to Castle Bourke on the shore of Lough Carra and there it was, just where I had left it, I was SO relieved. So I decided as I was now late for Grainne, I would not have time to stop for a picture on the road I should do one here, and why not do the same one again, just to see the difference between the two days. I prefer yesterday's picture taken in much more challenging conditions of wind and rain.

decided to post an image today that is very similar to yesterday's, you see I found myself standing in the exact same spot as i was yesterday, it was not planned.
i had not got out today, but had to go to Westport to collect my daughter Grainne who is visiting from Dublin. So I decided to leave a little early and "find" a picture somewhere along the way. But when I went to gather up the camera and tripod to put them in the car I could not find the tripod!I searched up and down and in and out several times but no sign. now this tripod is brand new, Patricia bought it for me earlier this month so that put even more significance on it!. So I had to think back to when was the last time i actually saw it..... well I definitely had it on the shore of Lough carra when I took yesterday's picture, surely I could not have left it!! So off I went back to Castle Bourke on the shore of Lough Carra and there it was, just where I had left it, I was SO relieved. So I decided as I was now late for Grainne, I would not have time to stop for a picture on the road I should do one here, and why not do the same one again, just to see the difference between the two days. I prefer yesterday's picture taken in much more challenging conditions of wind and rain.

I had to go on an errand to Westport this afternoon, it has been trying to rain all day, and I did not expect to get a chance to use the camera but of course I brought it anyway. Having finished my errand I decided that because it was so dark, and seeing that the tide was in , my only chance of a decent picture was to include moving water, so I headed out to Louisburg and Carramore strand., just as I got there the weather that had been threatening all day finally arrived and the drizzle turned to rain, so I got a couple of pictures, cleaning the lens and filter between shots, but after only five minutes on the beach I had to give it up as a bad job, but was happy with the couple of images I got.

Something a little different this evening. I was driving between Knock and Kiltimagh this morning when I noticed a fox sitting in the bog. Its not unusual to see foxes but its usually only fleeting . I wondered how long he would sit so pulled in the car behind some bushes a little further up the road, and took out the fuji camera with a 230mm lens on , set the camera for correct exposure and got out of the car as quietly as I could, without even closing the door and walked back staying behind the bushes . To my surprise and delight , he was still sitting there, enjoying the sun on his back. I got a couple of pictures taken , but I had disturbed his moment in the sun and he headed off into the bog.

I was not out with the camera again today. Our daughter Aisling has arrived home from Singapore for a couple of weeks holiday. Its great to have her home. Interestingly she describes the weather in Mayo today as "Fresh"
This image of Ballycragher was made about three weeks ago.

I was delighted to be asked to supply some of my hand made cards and prints for a pop up shop that the Mulranny Environmental Group are opening for the summer . So I had to go to Mulranny this morning to deliver them. the shop is in the old Garda Barracks which the group are now using as there base. They are opening on Sunday, so if you are out and about why not call in, they have lots of wonderful craft work all made in mayo.
I did not really have time for photography, but seeing as I had travelled all the way to Mulranny I could not just drive home again , without first taking a few minutes on the beach.
I went down to the "Golf Course Beach" at Murrivagh and even though the sun was high in the sky not really great for my type of photography I took a couple of pictures and enjoyed sitting at the waters edge before heading back into daily life!

Lots of rain this morning , apparently the farmers needed it. I took this picture a week or so ago, between Currane and Achill sound, apart from the Island of Ireland( foreground) you can see three other islands in this picture. On your far right, on the other side of the "Sound" is Achill Island you can see the Achill Island lifeboat in the distance. In the middle distance you are looking at Achill Beg, and the peak in the far distance is Clare Island. How's that for a geography class!!

I was never a great student at school, the only subject I ever got a good report in was Physical education. And even there I was never know as a great sportsman. But one teacher did declare that " If Eamonn applied the same effort to his other subjects, as he does to PE he would be a great student "!
I was thrilled, but my parents did not share my delight. I was particularly poor at English and hated poetry , I could never remember the poems and never really understood them. but the opening line of William Wordsworth's , "I wandered lonely as a cloud" Really stuck and I managed to memorise the whole of the first verse. But that opening line and the idea of a lonely cloud wandering over vales and hills really captured my imagination. The teachers if they could read this now would probably said , that was my problem , my head was always in the clouds, well it still is!!

Have you noticed how cold this summer has been? It is only this week that we have stopped lighting a fire in the house. But I can confirm that temperatures are beginning to rise. I do not have to use a thermometer to make this judgement however. Any of you who have ever tried Landscape photography will know that a constant hindrance when you take the camera out of an evening, especially near water , are the midges! I usually carry suitable midge deterrent in my camera bag. But this year I had not encountered any midges even in locations that I considered "midgy traps" So of course I had let my guard drop , and on a recent trip to Achill , I had not even brought the midge spray. So I felt little silly when I stepped out of the car, to photograph this scene , within seconds, I was running around flapping my hands and slapping my face , my ears, my neck. I grabbed this shot and ran back to the car, but I received no real welcome there, as Trish yelled "don't let them in here". But after calm was restored and we had driven the car at sixty miles an hour with the windows open to blow out the invaders, I was able to declare that summer 2015 had finally arrived!

Spent a really lovely afternoon at Enniscoe House near Crossmolina , North Mayo. I was there a few days ago photographing some of their farm buildings and it was only then that I realised it was there at all !
In the grounds of the house there is a small museum, and heritage centre, a cafe and a lovely walled garden. So we visited the garden and had really nice home made soup and coffees before taking one of the looped walls through the woodland and down to the shores of Lough Conn. It was a beautiful sunny day so the garden looked really well. The picture was taken just towards the end of the looped walk. I would have included the lovely Trish in the picture if she had a red cloak on, but she was wearing a yellow high viz jacket!

I was delighted this evening to be asked to photograph a retirement do in Westport this evening., I had thought that the timing of the shoot meant that I would then be free to get a sunset on one of the beaches just south of Westport. But Westport was engulfed in a fine sea mist and there was no sign of the sun, so I just came home and am posting an image I made a couple of evenings ago on the shore at Currane.

Spent a really busy day today photographing old farm buildings all around the county. As I was photographing this one i realised I was also doing a self portrait!

I am just back from Achill Island where I went this afternoon with Patricia. I had to photograph some farm buildings for a project I am involved in. But having finished the "work" we took a small picnic down to the shoe at Currane and I tried to get a picture of Clare Island with rocks in the foreground. After a while it got too cold for Trish and she headed back to the car, and I put the camera on a tripod and tried to time my exposures to coincide with the waves in the water. I seemed to have to wait ages between suitable waves, and as the tide was going out they became less and less frequent . It was very cloudy with no direct sunlight, the cloud was thick and low, but it suited the slow water pictures. I had tried various positions with the camera, and had just moved to a different spot and set the camera to capture a particular swirl of water that happened occasionally, when I became aware of a sudden brightening behind me, so I looked up, and when i saw this scene I was forced to give up my carefully chosen composition, and take the camera off the tripod to capture this scene before the clouds closed in again, as they did just a few seconds later.