Daily Blog

Just back from County Wexford, spent much of the day travelling. Tonights picture is from Co Carlow! In a little village called Ballon on the trip down I had spotted a field full of poppies. A sight I remember seeing as a child but had not seen in years and would certainly never see in Mayo. So on the way back today I had put it in the SAT NAV as a place to stop and was hoping for a little sunshine. Unfortunately I did not get the sunshine and the wind was also strong which made it difficult, but I still could not pass them by.
I used a high iso to help get a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the poppies in the wind and a wide enough aperature to isolate one poppy from the others.
iso 400 shutter speed 400 aperture 6.3

Still in Wexford. Today we visited Hook Head,on the way there we spotted this old car. I thought it would suit the black and white "treatment"

I am away for a couple of days in Co Wexford so am not able to post a "new" picture from today so I am posting a picture taken a couple of years ago on Bertra Beach Co Mayo.

A lovely day in Mayo, I was driving in past Bohola today and stopped to photograph these horses, just as I stopped an other photographer was getting out of his car to take the same picture. The horse are clearly well used to this because no matter what I did I just could not get them to look up!!

This afternoon I met Liam for a one to one class. Liam wanted to improve his flash photography. We got permission to us an area in the local church as it would be more challenging then in the house. We started off by using the flash on the camera and going through all the auto functions then moving to manual control of the flash , before taking the flash off the camera completely , to give much more pleasing results. Liam took this picture of yours truly . The challenge was to light me with the flash, without shadows, but balance the flash to the light coming in the stain glass window. I think it worked really well!!

Sticking with the Hawthorn tree for another day. The flowers are not as abundant on this one. Taken on a lovely calm and sunny evening, the shape of the tree is evidence that it was not a typical West of Ireland evening!!

Here is a picture of a" Greater Stitchwort" I am always fascinated by the wonderful wild flowers that can be found all around us. This little plant is quite insignificant, unless you stop to admire it you may hardly notice it, as it "does its thing" in the hedgerows . The flower itself is very small, despite being the "Greater " the flower is only 20-30mm across. This particular one is a little special though because it has six instead of the usual five petals, maybe thats why I noticed it and stopped to take its picture. And yes there are only six petals, if you look carefully you will notice that the petals are deeply divided so that each petal looks like two!

I did not do any "serious" work with the camera today, but I passed these cattle in a field just outside Kiltimagh and thought they looked good in the buttercup coloured field, so I turned the car and went back.

"My wild Irish Rose, the sweetest flower that grows"

This is a Burnet rose and was photographed on Sunday afternoon near Fanore in the Burren Co Clare. The rose was lit from behind by a low sun, so I held a white card in front of the flower ,just under the camera to reflect light back into it. The lighting really helps to separate the rose from the background.

I had intended posting a nice bright picture of a flower today. But I was out to do a photographic job this evening which had to be postponed because of the rain. After three days of sunshine its easy to forget what the rain is like. But I went around a corner this evening in the car and saw this scene and I thought the dark sky was both interesting and foreboding , and kind of reflected how I felt at the time!

On Saturday I posted the image of the tree and the lazy beds photographed on Friday evening. I told you I had spent over an hour looking for a suitable composition. I spent so long then when I finished it was nearing sunset time, and tonights picture was made about fifty feet or so away from the one of the tree. Now remember I had not intended being here at all, never mind still at sunset time. I tell you this because it might explain why I was so unprepared ! When I had left the visiting photographers I had stressed to them that they would need there anti midge spray if they were going to be in any of the locations I had suggested for sunsets or sunrises. I had wandered into these fields wearing a short sleeved shirt and had not even brought the anti midge spray, by the time I set up the camera for this shot I was being eaten alive, and I still had fifteen minutes to wait for the actual sunset. I carry a piece of white card in my camera bag that I use as a reflector when photographing flowers, it was the only defense I had ! I don't think anybody saw me, but I must have looked a strange sight. The camera was on a tripod, and in an attempt to escape the midges, I would approach the camera swiftly, press the button to take a picture, then run away waving my card and flapping my arms around trying to swat the midges as they swarmed around me and buzzed in my ears!! The nearer you are to water the greater the swarm, so I would run back up the hill, recover for a minute or two, swear out loud at them and then try again!! I was glad to get back to the car and a tube of Anthisan Cream!!!

Patricia and myself were in Limerick overnight for a family celebration. We took the scenic route home this evening traveling through he Burrren. Passing Blackhead I said "I would nip out for a quick picture of the lighthouse" Quick usually means I am not taking the tripod and spending lots of time setting up , but it rarely means one picture. this was no exception, I took one quick picture then another and another, just changing my view slightly, all the time thinking "just one more, just in case". Of course Patricia knows I have photographed this lighthouse many times, and there was nothing special about the light this evening so these were just going to be more of the same pictures, so she snuck around the back, suddenly appearing to create a different picture!!! I had the camera to my eye when she suddenly appeared and disappeared as quickly, but she certainly added to the image!!!! We had a laugh and she apologized for ruining my picture ! I told her I had not taken her picture at all, and I have not told her I am posting it either, but you know what they say "he who laughs last laughs longest"!!!

Yesterday evening I was in Mulranny to meet with a group of photographers visiting for the weekend. I showed them some images of the area and gave them some information on photographic locations and sunset and sunrise times. After I left them I took a drive out the Bangor road and stopped beside a cottage to photograph a hawthorn tree . I was approached by the women from the cottage and we chatted about the hawthorn. She invited my to Go onto her land to photograph some others. I was delighted because I always thought it a very pretty spot and had considered knocking on the door to seek permission. So delighted I untied the rope on the gate and ventured in. The land is made up off tiny hilly fields, covered in "lazy beds" divided by stone walls and scattered with Hawthorn or "fairy trees". I was there for an hour and half and became very frustrated because despite this being a photographers paradise I just could not make a picture! Every time I put the camera to my eye I could not get the composition right or the sun which was very bright, was I'm the wrong place. Eventually I found this composition however and made the picture. I am pleased but not delighted with the picture and will go back in a couple of weeks when the fun will have moved over to the right a little more and we might get a better sky !

I met a very interesting man today. We were chatting when Michael asked me where I was from, when I told him I was born in Clonakilty Co Cork his eyes lit up and he invited me to few his photo gallery. Pride of place is given to Michael Collins and beside him is a picture of Michael Collins's sister Kitty. Michael had a connection to Kitty Collins and was full of stories, we spent about an hour, Michael talking, and me listening. I always find it fascinating to listen to people who have connections to historic events, the stories, wether true or not, always seem more authentic. And I was convinced today ! Michael agreed for me to take his picture and share it with you.
For those interested in the technical details, I decided to not use flash, I switched off the lights in the room and relied on the light coming through an open door to light the scene. iso800 f4.5 1/80seconds.

The warm weather of the last few days has brought a dramatic change in the landscape. The buttercups are in full bloom , in some places turning the previously green fields completely yellow. I was wondering how to photograph this in a way that would be interesting when this evening on the road between knock and Kiltimagh I spotted this pony. When I saw it , it was grazing in the field but as soon as it heard the diesel engine stopping and the car door closing it promptly made its way to the fence assuming this person was going to feed it . I waited for a good twenty minutes but it refused to return to the buttercups , not only that but it kept its head close to an electricity pole so I could not photograph it. I set up my composition so that the field of yellow was in the background, and waited and waited, I made all kinds of silly noises as I tried to get the pony to look to its right. But he stubbornly refused, I wondered was he a pony or a mule he was so stubborn and told him so!! Eventually however he did put his head in the right direction, I manages three photographs, and I kid you not, he had his eves closed in the other two!!!

I was out for a run today, up a local hill called "spankers hill" locals will know how steep it is! Anyway I clearly was not running very fast as I observed how the ferns were coming back having been burnt in a bog fire earlier in the year. So I decided to go back up the hill in the evening when the sun would be low and would light the ferns dramatically. My little van failed to go up the hill so I had to abandon it half way up and walk !! But it was worth the effort as the sun was "just right" lighting the fern from behind . I used a flashgun set to TTL -1.7 to give just a little light to the front of the emerging fern frond.

I had a great day today. In the morning I had a one to one lesson with a lady called Anne who had recently purchased a new Nikon, so we spent the morning, setting it up for Anne and going through the functions etc, followed by a little bit of photoshop work.
In the afternoon I was photographing Old farm buildings in the Holymount area. As I headed for home , there was a fantastic sky, but it needed something in the foreground to make a picture I passed this deserted cottage , and thought "that'll do!"

I did not get out with the camera today, so here is a picture taken a few weeks ago at Keem Strand on Achill Island

Here are some more Burren flowers. These are early Purple Orchids and are fairly common all around Ireland. What was great about these was finding three together, and arranged in steps, like a family! Three is always a good number for composition.

The tiny Spring Gentian are one of the prettiest flowers found in Ireland and are associated most with the Burren in Co Clare, though they can also be found in Mayo. This picture was taken in the Burren last week.