Daily Blog

Spent the day indoors today, I had a one to one "lesson" with a photographer, a regular customer, who was preparing images for a submission, So we did some fine tuning of his images in photoshop before printing and mounting the final prints. They were a really lovely set of prints.
This image was made on tuesday on Achill island, the land mass you can see on the horizon is Clare Island.

The storm is in full swing outside, part of me wants to go to the coast but I have decided to sit this one out!! The wind on Achill yesterday was so bad that my car door was almost blown right off damaging the hinge and now it can't be opened !
Here is another image from Achill yesterday. looking across Achill Sound, this was the first bit of light we saw having emerged ourselves through all the grey. We stopped here because the whole scene was so surreal . For a start the water was green and then as the grey began to lift there were what look like rays of light (we call them God Beams !) but they were different then usual being more like different colours of cloud rather then God beams because we could not see the sun at all.

This afternoon I had agreed to meet fellow photographer Ger for a one to one landscape session. Ger was travelling from Dublin and we arranged this several days ago. The weather seemed sure to dash our plans and we were in contact over the last few days not sure if we should go ahead. Ger drove through snow on his way here and even at 2pm we were not sure should we go ahead. But we decided there was nothing to lose and even if we got no pictures I could at least show Ger some locations. So we headed off from Claremorris at 3pm to go to Achill for the sunset!! On the way the weather just got worse and worse, snow ,sleet, and rain and an almost overpowering grey sky that seemed to come down to the road! We nearly abandoned the journey on several occasions but decided to stick to the plan, then if it did not work out it was not our fault ! We would be there ! Well we arrived on Achill still raining but a distant gap in the grey could be seen, as we got to Cloughmore it just opened up before us and Mayo and Achill was revealed in all its glory!!!
We had planned a fairly careful and sedate photographic session with slow shutter speeds, tripods and big stopper filters but the wind was so strong that we were hardly able to stand so we had to just capture what we could with wide open apertures, to get shutter speeds high enough to hold the cameras steady. We had exactly 58 minutes of useful light before the cloud moved in again and we had to head for home. But it was a VERY exciting 58minutes!
here is one of the images from the day taken at Ashleem Bay.

Just back from a lovely evening at Mayo Photographic Club. Its lashing rain and blowing a gale again , looks like the next two days are going to be a complete washout.
This picture of the sun rising at Woodfield near Kiltimagh taken a couple of weeks ago is just a reminder of what it can be like in Mayo!!

Connemara is as you know famous for both its scenery and of course the Connemara pony. I was recently returning from photography trip to Connemara with a fellow photographer who had booked me for a day's photographic tuition . We had had a very succesfull trip and were returning home having just photographed a lovely sunset over Killary Harbour. Even though the sun had left the sky and it was getting dark, the sight of these two ponies across the harbour stopped us in our tracks, I did a Uturn in the car back to a gate into a field so that I could pull the car off the road. We then spent what seemed like an age waiting for the pony at the back to just take a step or two forward so as not to be hidden by the one at the front ! Eventually it obliged!

Well done Ireland, just beat the Welsh at the rugby, I am tempted to go out now to photograph the sunset but the weather is not great and Scotland and England are about to kick off!!!

Here is a pre sunrise shot from Achill, this was taken about twenty minutes before sunrise, When I arrived it looked like the one and a half hour journey was a waste of time it was so cloudy and dark, but then this gap appeared which allowed the light to break through, and its all about the light!

Well its raining again, but this morning started lovely. I had to go to Castlebar this morning and passed Turlough Round Tower which looked lovely in the early morning sunshine.

It was a lovely morning here in Mayo, I would describe it as a "gentle" sunrise with lovely pinks and blues in the sky. I threw the camera bag in the car and went looking for a suitable place to photograph it. About five miles or so from the house I arrived at my destination, still with minutes to spare and excited by the potential , I went to the boot for the camera bag , it was only then I noticed how light the camera bag was..... The camera was back on the kitchen table !! I enjoyed the sunrise anyway !

This image is taken at Lough Finn in the Delphi Valley a couple of weeks ago, it was taken about twenty minutes or so after sunset.

Its blowing a gale again outside and there is talk of more flooding for parts of the country. We have been lucky in Mayo, despite all the rain we seem to have avoided the worst of the flooding, maybe its because we have so much bogland to absorb all the water ?

I made this image last week on Achill, taken between showers ,I used a ND filter to give a slow shutter speed which smooths the water and gives movement to the clouds.

Looks like perfect isolation ! If you like that kind of thing, sometimes I think I would love to live in such a situation, but the feeling usually passes!

Stayed in to watch the rugby today, well done Ireland !
Here is another image taken recently on a visit to Mulranny.

I am running a Landscape Photography Weekend Workshop at EOM studios in Mulranny from 2nd to 4th May 2014. The course costs €420 including accomodation and food .If you would like to come ,you can find out more about it and book your place here [/urlhttp://www.imagesofmayo.com/weekend-landscape-courses]

Photography is all about light, and you will notice if you look through my pictures that my favourite technique is to shoot into the light, even after the sun has gone in the evening and before it rises in the morning you can still shoot into the light for dramatic results. But sometimes low direct light can be just as dramatic and really hard to beat, like this early golden winter light shortly after sunrise on Keem Strand, you can also "see" the cold winter wind blowing the tops off the waves! And LOOK I had it all to myself!!!!

This is the picture I went to Keem Strand to get yesterday. I have photographed this spot many times, but it is one of my favourites. The recent storms have changed the beach considerably, all the rocks you can see on the sand are recent additions ! I had to check old photographs I have taken before, just to be sure.



I am also posting this Black and white picture taken several years ago,notice all the "clean" sand !

As planned yesterday, I made it to Keem Strand on Achill Island this morning a half an hour before sunrise. It was freezing cold with strong winds and no sign of the sun. As I put on the wellies and jacket I realized I had no hat, and having had a severe haircut yesterdayI knew I would miss it. I went down onto the beach and began to work. It occured to me that here I was alone on the wonderful Keem Strand freezing cold but it was better then being stuck in an office. Anyway as I "worked" the beach the sun put in a limited appearance from behind the clouds about 35minutes after sunrise time, and I captured this image. I spent two and a half hours on the beach and was at the far end of the beach when the threatened rain actually hit. As I battled the cold wind and the stinging rain back across the beach towards the car, just for a moment I thought " I wouldn't mind being in a warm office now.

A lovely bright day today but I did not get out with the camera, hopefully I will get to Keem strand for the sunrise tomorrow morning.
Here is an image from Mulranny made a couple of weeks ago about five minutes before sunrise

Just back from a great evening at the Mayo Photographic Club, where I judged the monthly competition, it was an open competition so there were some really interesting images. its always good for a photographer to look at other photographers work and while I enjoy judging its also a little nerve racking giving your photographic opinions on other photographers work but hopefully there was learning in it for everybody, there certainly was for me.

I was going through some old files today and I came upon this one of Dunbriste and liked it enough to share it with you.

There is a storm blowing outside, here is an image from Mulranny on a more pleasant day.

I had intended to photograph the sunset this evening and certainly an hour or so before sunset time things looked very promising, the sun was shining and there were clouds in the sky. Trish and I decided to travel to a local lake and were leaving the house a half an hour before the sunset time, but almost as we started the engine the sun was hidden by low cloud, two minutes later it was raining and the cloud along the horizon was getting thicker, so we went for coffee instead!

This sunset image is from Killary Harbour and was taken last week.

Here is something a little different from me today, and its not even in Mayo. I was in Dublin a week ago today on Grafton Street, the city's busiest pedestrian street. I was on my way to a camera shop when I spotted these two men, I assume waiting. I don't normally do "street photography" but there just seemed to be a picture right in front of me that I could not resist. I am not sure was it the light on their faces or the four figures behind them, or just that they were stopped on the busy street that prompted me to take the picture. It was maybe a combination of all those things .