Daily Blog

I feel very privileged to live in County Mayo. there are things to photograph every where. Sometimes you can be spoilt for choice! I was photographing this rock on Achill Island a couple of days ago when I took a moment to look around me. I was stood on my own , apart from a few sheep, some distance away. I just thought " WOW, how come I'm the only person seeing this" So I made three images, one of the scene in front of me, and one to my right, and one to my left. This is the one in front, tomorrow I will share one of the other two.

Lots of rain today in Mayo. The forecasters got it spot on as they said the rain would not arrive until about 12. So in the morning I went to Cong,its about 40 minutes drive from my house and when I left it was sunny, but by the time I arrived in Cong it had clouded over. This is Ashford Castle, I had hoped for a better sky so I may have to plan another trip on another day.

Yesterday I went to Achill, to photograph rocks at Accorrymore. But I leftthe house early in the hopes of getting a sunrise at Mulranny. I arrived in Mulranny twenty minutes before sunrise, then I just sat in the car and watched the rain ! Sunrise time came and went but I did not see the sun, I could see the clouds begin to clear over Croagh Patrick and so I waited and waited, eventually they cleared enough for me to get a picture. We Landscape photographers spent lots of time, planning, driving, walking, and waiting!!

I was back on Achill again today, still working on the geology project, it was my third trip back to one site! This is because on the two previous occasions the weather forced me to abandon. The weather on Achill can be so changeable, and the site at Lough Accorrymore is very exposed , at times it was even too windy for the tripod. Achill was lovely today, the forecast was for sunshine and showers. well I saw plenty of showers, and they seemed to come so quick and were very heavy. But I also saw sunshine, so i got the job done!! The great thing about sunshine and showers together though is that you might also see rainbows. I saw this one developing as I began the drive home, as I drove along by Cloughmore I could see the rainbow in the distance and hoped it might be over the castle. As I came around the corner, there it was, I worked quickly of course and got a couple of shots off before it disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared in the first place

More Clouds!!
Today I was on Claggagh beach on Achill Island. I was photographing rocks and rock formations for a geology project. While I was there it was beautiful, very windy and the light kept changing between shots as the wind blew the clouds across the sun. So the camera exposures kept changing, this is not usually a problem but for many of the pictures I needed to take two almost identical . One picture could be of a feature in a rock, but the second picture would be the same but with an object added to give the rock scale, so for example for a small feature I might add a €2 coin but I wanted the two pictures to have the same exposure, the clouds were racing across the sky so fast that I did not always succeed, and so would have to repeat the process. On one occasion I was photographing a particularly interesting piece of rock and I had to another rock climb to get a good view of it. It took me several minutes to get the tripod into a secure position and when everything was ready to take the shot, I looked over my shoulder to see where the sun was. This is what I saw ! I was left with no alternative but to photograph the clouds and recompose the rock shot again afterwards!

More clouds this evening, but there is a different mood to this picture then to yesterday evening's one. I had hoped to go back to Achill this morning but we had rain all day so there were no picture made today. This one was taken from Kilgeever Abbey car park near Louisburgh a couple of days ago.

Just back from a day on Achill Island. this image of Sleive Mor was taken from Lough Acarrymore, the weather was wild, I was nearly blown over as I stood behind the camera with my coat wide open trying to shelter the camera from the wind.
Earlier we had lunch in Alice's Hotel, after lunch we had coffee, we did not want desert but did fancy biscuits with the coffee. "Any chance of some biscuits" I asked the young waiter. "I don't think we have any" he answered But I might have some "PURPLE SNACKS"!!!!!! Joy !! probably only Irish people of a certain age will understand!!

Yesterday I spoke about the wonderful light and day we had in Mayo. Today was quite different. It is raining as I right, but during the day there was not too much rain, but there was no sun either. I was traveling between Westport and Doolough along the Shefrey Pass, despite the lack of sunshine it was still beautiful, but the lack of sun made it ideal for photographing this little stream.

I was out "rock hunting" again this morning. I was not scheduled to, but the forecast for during the week does not look great and this morning was just lovely, so I thought I should not miss the opportunity. It was like a summers day, only better. You see at this time of year the sun does not rise very high, so the light it gives is always interesting as the low sun throws great long shadows . As it happens it was not ideal weather for photographing rocks, but it did make the countryside generally look just amazing.
This image taken at Doolough is one that has been taken by many photographers from all over the world, including by myself on many many occasions, I can never pass it by. But today I thought the sky looked particularly good.

There is a storm brewing outside, so its great to be in beside the fire.Yesterday was a lot different, I was on the shore of Lough Cullen, at Pontoon. Again I was photographing rocks for a geology project, but this was the scene behind me!!

Here is another image from the weekend, as before, because i was busy helping other people, (mainly holding umbrellas and keeping cameras dry!) I did not do much work myself. We went to Letterkeene Woods because the wind and rain was so strong. I knew that the woods would provide us with some shelter, from the wind at least, and the autumn colours would be good. The waterfalls on the river were also a big attraction, I had thought we would spend maybe an hour, but after about 2.5 hours I still had trouble rounding the group up!

Photography is as we know is all about the light. Sometimes though when you look at a scene in front of you, you need to visualize the final print in your head, rather then just what you can see through the camera. On the landscape course I led last weekend, in terrible weather the group visited this beach near mulranny late on Friday evening. It had stopped raining, but it was very dark. I spent my time helping other people to make decisions around their camera settings and I think people may have thought me a little eccentric as I raved about the beautiful light. When using the camera I always think of it as a tool , the object of the exercise when taking the picture is to capture as much detail as possible by exposing the image well, but the image is not finished until the work is done afterwards. here is the finished picture from that session, alongside the image as it came out of the camera.


The image as it came out of the camera!


The final processed image , this is how I "visualized" the scene when I was taking the picture.

Be Careful out there!!
I got a bit of a slap in the face from the sea today.

I was on Belderra beach in North Mayo, and it was lovely. I was there to photograph the rocks rather then the water but the sea was amazing with the waves rolling in. I thought I might take a trip to Downpatrick head for the BIG waves on my way home. But before that I had to photograph the rocks. But I photographed this little spit for myself, before climbing onto the same spit of rock to photograph from it. Now I had watched it for several minutes and the swirl of water you can see at the end of the rock was as "dangerous" as it got. There is an interesting rock formation just off camera to the left, on top of the rock you are looking at. I went over to it and photographed it, I was there five or ten minutes and the sea remained the same. Then as I stood 6ft4 high with my camera to my eye a wave just leapt up and completely engulfed me, right over my head! Camera and all!!!! Wow I got such a shock and despite wearing a coat I was soaked through to the skin. The camera is currently drying in the hot press.
At this point I decided I did not need to see the BIG waves today and a visit to Downpatrick could be put off for another time!!

Rested up today after a very successful Landscape Photography Weekend, we finished on a high with each participant leaving with their favourite image from the weekend printed and mounted.
This image of Carrownisky Strand was taken a few days ago, as you can see the beach is deserted, as you might expect in October , But these surfboards are evidence that the desertion was not going to last long!

I missed putting up a blog for yesterday, we had a really busy day on the landscape photography Course here in Mulranny. The weather forecast was really bad but we got up for the sunrise anyway. We were greeted by heavy rain and wind, but just at sunrise time a small break appeared in the clouds and everyybody got great pictures over the beach. Afyer breakfast the rain really came in so we decided as it wass not forecast to get any better we would venter out anyway and went to Letterkeene woods were at least we would be out of the wind. Despite the rain the woods were amazing with lovely autumn colours and lots of water in the waterfalls. With cameras full of pictures we decided to head home. Then the sun came out!!! So we did not get home until after the sunset . So today we are concentrating on the computer side of things, but being photographers we still got up for the sunrise!! We did not see one but sat in the car, watching for a break in the cloud, there was a short break and again we all got to work, I took this image. it was only a grabbed shot as I spent me time helping the course participants, so I was not using a tripod as I normally would.

Busy day today, I am in Mulranny leading a landscape photography course. The weather was pretty bad when we started our evening session and we debated wether it was worth going out or not! We did not see the sun and the cloud cover was very low making it very dark. We still made pictures however and everybody was happy to have made the effort, and surprised that good pictures could be made in such conditions. We were leaving the beach about an hour after sunset time when I asked Sue and Pete from Alaska to sit for a quick portrait using off camera flash . This is a 5 second exposure @ f8 and iso100. The flash, a Nikon is at full power.

Patricia and I spent another day out and about in Mayo. we visited Carrowniskey Strand and had intended to go to Doolough but the rain came in thick and heavy just as we finished at Carrowniskey. I did make sure that Patricia was properly fed today!!

I am posting another picture from yesterdays trip around Finney and Lough Mask. What a privilege it was to witness this scene as we drove between finny and Derry Bay on Lough Mask!

First off, sorry for the break in "transmission" The website has been off line for a number of days, hopefully we are back to normal now!!

I had a great day today. I am not sure that my wife Patricia would completely agree. We headed off from the house this morning around 10am. I had to visit Finney and Lough mask for some photographs. "Come with me and I will take you for lunch" I had announced last evening. The weather was lovely and the light was just amazing. The area we were working in is just beautiful, we did see some rain, but the showers also produced rainbows and I can honestly say that every corner we turned on the road seemed to produce yet another amazing view, we are so lucky to live in such a wonderful part of Ireland. I had to keep stopping for pictures and of course I had to get the pictures I had been commissioned to take. The end result was, that despite leaving the house at 10 and promising Patricia lunch, the first opportunity we had to stop for food was in Cong at 5.15pm, and by then I was in danger of being late for the evening class I am teaching in Ballyglass, so a cup of tea and scone was all I could get for Patricia!!!! I think I may have to buy her dinner tomorrow.
This picure was taken on the way home, around Clonbur, I spotted this line of trees and the shadows looked great, so I had to pull the car in and run back, as I did this one solitary sheep wondered what the hell this human was doing running along the road and stood watching me long enough for me to shoot off a couple of exposures!!

Plenty of rain today, with heavy clouds in the sky. It cleared a little in the afternoon so I took a trip to Lough Mask, there seemed to be more cloud there then when I left Kiltimagh. The sun did its very best to break through but it just failed! However the little light there was along with the dark clouds made for a very dramatic scene.
it was dark though : iso 200 f8 1/3rd second.

A really grey day in Mayo today, so no pictures taken. here is another from Rinoe beach in North Mayo , I have been here several times , but this was my first time with the tide out and the sun shining!!

I am running a Landscape Photography weekend in Mulranny this weekend, from friday through to Sunday. the weekend includes camera skills, software instruction , and hopefully some great photo opportunities. it is a residential weekend. If you would like to attend , send me a message.