Daily Blog

"Hey Shaun , Come over here, you can still see the sunset !"

The best time for landscape pictures is usually about an hour before and and an hour after sunrise and sunset, but sometimes its hard to know when to stop! last evening I went to Lough Feeach near Newport to photograph the sunset. The sunset itself was very disappointing due to the absence of clouds in the sky but I worked the area anyway. I was doing some long exposures on the shore of the lough with limited success long after the sun had dropped. I was still there when the bats came out and buzzed around me, I wished them well, assuming that every time they passed me they were removing another few midges who would otherwise be eating me. Anyway an hour and fifteen minutes after the sun had disappeared I decided I needed to go home, packed up the gear and went back to the car. Threw the gear in the car had one look back at the lough and saw this!!! So all the gear came out again and I looked for a pleasing composition ! iso200 f8 10seconds.

Photography is as everybody knows, all about the light. I am old enough to remember using film, and the instructions on the box advised putting the sun behind the photographer, usually over your shoulder, shining on the subject in front of you. This worked well for the film makers as it was the easiest way to take photos , and still is, if you are using an automatic camera. But in terms of being creative, the sun behind the photographer can be very boring. It is of course more difficult to shoot into the light, but with a little care can produce really exciting results. I went out this evening in the low evening light and found this thistle, being lit by the sun almost directly behind it. There are two issues the photographer has to do in this situation, the first is to figure out the correct exposure because the camera will be fooled completely by this situation. But a good start would be to put your camera in aperture priority underexpose by at least 1.5 stops. The second issue is to avoid the sun coming in the lens or causing flare. I did this by holding a piece of card that threw a shadow across the lens.

I am going to post two pictures one of the thistle lit from behind with the seed pods lit up against a dark background. After I took that picture I thought to do this blog so went around the other side of the same thistle and photographed it with the sun behind me. They are both pictures of a thistle, but I hope you agree the "shooting into the light" version is much more exciting.


Light behind the thistle.



Light behind the photographer.

Posting in a bit of a hurry this evening. Lough Conn Co Mayo.

I did not get out with the camera today, so here is another image from Lough Mask, taken last Sunday.

I am still in Athlone and did not see the sun at all today! So here is another from last nights sunset on Lough Ree. While photographing the sunset I did not see the ducks swim right passed and in front of me until I took my eye away from the camera and there they were just in front of me. I quickly changed the lens and adusted the iso and the aperature to give me a fast enough shutter speed so that the ducks were not just a blur on the water. the camera was on a tripod and I was not able to adjust it quickly enough to improve the composition, I would have preferred to have shot from a much lower angle, I did try and encourage the ducks to swim back and do it again but they ignored my flapping hands and just exited left!

Apologies to all the Mayo fans, but once again tonights picture is not from Mayo!! I am in Athlone in County Westmeath this evening and just witnessed a gorgeous sunset on Lough Ree which is part of the great Shannon River. This photo is fresh out of the camera and was taken less then an hour ago.

I was rushing to the beach one day last week to catch the sunset, when I spotted these two people on top of the sand dunes, I just got time to pull out the camera and grab the shot before they started to disappear over the horizon .

I visited Lough Mask a few days ago , but the sky was very hazy, in the middle of that heatwave we were experiencing . I was delighted when I found this boat, as its the first time I have seen a boat left there.
The weather has returned to something like normal ( for Co Mayo) so while we have had some rain it still feels like summer and the sky is much more interesting. So I went back to Lough Mask this morning hoping the boat would still be there, I was not disappointed.

You have heard the saying , "only mad dogs and english men go out in the mid day sun" Well I can assure you that Landscape photographers generally avoid the mid day sun! But I did wonder about my own sanity last Sunday morning as I crept out of the bed at 4am to go and photograph the rising sun, I drove to my destination without seeing any other person or car. But when I got there I found I was not alone, neither was I the first to get there! There were two fisherman already on the rocks far below me! So I wonder is it only mad photographers and fishermen who go out for the rising sun?!

This sunset picture was taken last week on Fanore beach Co Clare. All evening it looked like there was going to be a spectacular sunset but as sunset time got close this large bank of cloud moved in and all but covered the sun and the horizon, there was none of the colour I had anticipated.

Despite all the efforts that go in to making good pictures sometimes you just get lucky! I photographed this swan a few days ago, I was happy with the picture , but "the icing on the cake" is the frozen drop of water falling from its beak. that bit was just pure luck!

I am glad to report we had rain in Mayo today!! First time for several weeks. I did not get out with the camera, so here is another picture from yesterday morning. This picture was taken at Castlebourke on the shores of Lough Carra. yesterday was a very bright hazy day and the sky was just overbright with no detail in it all. I remembered a good friend from many years ago called Keith who was a great Black and White photographer from the "Western Valley Camera Club in South Wales where I was a member for a number of years. Keith would always say, " If there's nothing interesting in the sky, cut it out "! Well there was nothing only a white sky, so I composed without it. The light was nice and soft and the air very still, but the reeds were still swaying slightly. The boat was resting on the bottom so was not moving so I decided to try a long exposure to get a feeling of movement from the reeds. This is a thirty second exposure and even at that the reeds don't seem to have moved too much.

Another early start this morning, left the house at 4am to meet with Stephen for a mornings photography. I was meeting Stephen in Mulranny, were he was holidaying and we had agreed to meet for the morning. Stephen and I have met now for several years, originally for one to one classes , but Stephen is a very competent photographer so now I am more like a guide to locations then a tutor. Anyway we started in Bellacragher Bay for the sunrise. The morning was very dull and grey and sunrise time arrived but it was completely hidden by the cloud . We waited around for another ten minutes or so but there was no sign of a clearing, we talked of leaving to visit other venues on our itinerary for the day We resisted the urge to move however, and about ten minutes later the sky began to clear. Landscape photography can be a bit like fishing, sometimes you spend a lot of time just waiting hoping something might happen, and sometimes the patience pays off!

Back in Mayo after a great few days in Co Clare, I was up early for the sunrise this morning, the sunrise itself wasn't great, but it was still nice to be out and about at that time of the morning ( 5am for sunrise at 5.37am)
Yesterday I met this friendly looking fella on the road to Ballyvaughan, I had to travel to Ballyvaughan to get internet coverage to be able to post the blog from my phone. I stopped to photograph him, but he would not come near me, I made all kinds of noises but he was completely unimpressed so we did a little negotiation and agreed to meet up for a proper photo session later on, I continued on my journey to Ballyvaughan, posted the blog,then went into the local supermarket and spent a whole Euro on a bunch of carrots, went back and the deal was done!!

I think the picture deserves a caption, any suggestions?

Yesterday afternoon we spent a wonderful couple of hours in the Caher Bridge Garden in Fanore. If you get a chance to visit you should. Simply call Carl to make an appointment. Carl is the garden creator and both he and his garden are amazing, situated in the heart of the Burren his garden fits in completely with its environment and spills into the river . The garden has a collection of most interesting plants, many not found in your average garden. The garden is also teeming with wildlife. This baby thrush was hiding under leaves at our feet while Carl was explaining part of the garden to us. Once we moved away Mammy thrush came in with a worm to feed it. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.625816877437194.1073741827.173040762714810&type=1

This is St Patricks church ,nestling at the foot of Sleive Cairn in the Caher Valley it is where Patricia and I were married twenty nine years ago today! I don't know where the years have gone but they have been good! Patricia has brought nothing but joy to my life, has encouraged me in anything I do , and has the patience of a saint. There are those who tell me she is a saint! But one things for sure, I'm a very lucky guy!

I am in Co Clare for a couple of days. Patricia and I drove down last night arriving in Kinvarra about an hour after sunset and the castle looked pretty good. So I stopped (again) for a picture. As I opened the boot I was overcome with dread which was confirmed after a quick search.... I had forgotten to pack my tripod! My mood blackened NO TRIPOD!!!!
Determined not to be beaten, I took out the camera anyway. My fastest lens is a 50mm1.4 .
I put the iso up to 2500 and set the lens to 1.8 this gavel a shutter speed of 1/30 second , just fast enough to handhold. I took nine pictures which were stitched together to make this image.
We got yo bed somete after midnight, but I was awake half the might wondering what to do about the tripod (sad isn't it!!!!!). I had decided I would just have to make the five hour round trip home to get it , but this afternoon I met fellow photographer Margaret who offered me her tripod ( the same model as mine even!) so I am happy again!! I hope I get to use it now!!!

I was out and about this afternoon and I met these Connemara ponies it seems they each wanted to play the lead role in the photograph!

I spent all day today printing and mounting pictures and making cards for delivery to Lady's Buttery Art Gallery in Cong in the morning
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ladys-Buttery-Art-and-Craft-gallery/349872688380359
I took this picture about a week ago from the N17 between Knock and Claremorris, I had been out photographing the sunset and on my way home as the temperature dropped the fog started form in the valley , it looked like a river rushing up the valley!