Daily Blog

Here is a little "splash"of autumn colour. This stream is in the Sheafrey Pass and is really pretty. I know I should never complain about sunshine in Mayo, but on this occasion the sun made it very difficult to photograph the water because the contrast levels were so high, so I resolved I would go back on another day soon , while the leaves are still on the trees but the sun is not so high in the sky.

Its a cold foggy morning here in Kiltimagh, I fed the birds before I had my own breakfast, and was doing the washing up , just a few minutes ago, when I took this photo!. I had the camera set up, pre focused on the twig, the camera was fired by a wireless remote control that I am keeping beside me!! I might never leave the house again !

Its a very cold and wet day here in Mayo, so I wont be going out today. Here is a picture from a few days ago at Errif Woods when the sun shone!!

I was up early this morning and went to Old Head for the sunrise, I should have checked my "photographers ephemeris" as it would have told me that the sunrise would not be visible from old head beach this morning. The sun rose behind Croagh Patrick. I had arrived 30 minutes before sunrise and quickly realized my mistake but decided to wait around and see what might develop. This picture was taken at 7.41am ( twenty minutes before sunrise) 24mmlens f16@0.8second.

Its that time of year when we start feeding the birds in the garden . So today I thought it only fair that for all the food we give them they could at least pose for a few photographs . So I set this twig up beside the bird table and waited. it was not long before I got a few models to pose, but at this stage I was still setting up the camera and the flashgun and the exposures were all over the place. Then I got this coal tit and settled down to photograph the rest of the cast, but he was the last one to land on the twig, instead they started to use the tripod with the flash on it!! anyway I was pleased with the picture and will re adjust the "set" over the comming weeks.

Sometimes things just don't work out! I have just returned from a trip out to photograph the sunset, without a proper plan I just "headed out" but every turn I made on the road to find a good vantage point seemed to be the wrong turn. Then the sun just disappeared behind the cloud and the sunset I had hoped to get just did not happen, and I have returned home with no photographs. So here is a picture of Killary harbour from a couple of days ago. 50mm lens @f11and 1/100 second.

Here is another picture taken yesterday with the FujiX pro1. I arrived at Cross strand just too late for the sunset, but the colour was lovely and the people on the beach added interest to the image.

I had some fun today! A few days ago I was given a Fuji X Pro1 camera to try out for a few days ! What a camera! Unfortunately it arrived with a flat battery and no charger, but the charger arrived today and I had an afternoon out and about with my borrowed new toy. The Fuji X Pro1 is a rangefinder digital camera, I think nowadays they call them mirrorless cameras . It operates quite differently to my Nikon and I must confess the first hour or so was quite frustrating, but once I got around all the little differences I really enjoyed it. I must say that the image quality is superb . The camera is made of metal but is so light and easy to carry my nikon and lenses weigh a tonne in comparison. The Fuji with three lenses probably weighed less then my Nikon on its own!. I did not have the camera long enough to really put it too the test but its a real photographers camera and I used it almost entirely in manual and took raw photos . Here is my favourite picture of the day.

I was a little late getting out yesterday morning ,about ten minutes after sunrise. Its amazing how quickly the sun rises in the sky once its up! I aimlessly drove down a couple of boreens looking to put the sun behind something. I had given up and gone back on to the N17 when I spotted these trees and the cattle. Its funny where we find our pictures sometimes.

Here is another view of Lough Feeagh taken early on Saturday morning, the hills in the background are part of the Nephin Beg range.

Saturday was another lovely day, cool and autumnal in the morning, I went out early to Lough Fiach and got some nice reflections.
Timing is everything, within ten minutes of this picture being taken the temperature had warmed enough for a slight breeze to develop and kill the reflections .

A lovely day in Mayo today, finished with a delightful sunset, photographed from the top of Sleive Cairn, Kiltimagh.

Back to North Mayo again for todays picture! Downpatrick Head Ballycastle offers so many photo opportunities and is different every time.

A couple of days ago I posted a picture of Turlough Round Tower, it is one of the shortest complete round towers ion the country. Today I am posting a picture of Killala Round Tower which is one of the tallest.
Just a reminder also that I am running a beginners digital photography night class in Killala ( almost directly under the tower!) starting next Monday, still a few places left, if you are interested in attending send me a message.

Here is another image from Lacken Strand. I took several pictures of this rock as the water approached it, and also as the water retreated. this was my favourite. You may not be able to tell , but I have used a wide angle lens and the camera is about a foot and a half away from the rock, and of course is on a tripod, the second this picture was taken I had to grab the camera and tripod and run up the beach to avoid a dunking for both the camera and myself. I remember thinking I was glad there was nobody about to witness my bizarre behaviour.

Todays picture was taken on Lacken Strand in North Mayo. As you can see it was a very cloudy day , but still a great day to be beside the sea! Cloudy days are often good days for photographing water as the dullness of the day results in longer shutter speeds allowing you to experiment with moving water. When photographing water there are a number of different approaches, a fast shutter speed will freeze every drop, a shutter speed of say 30 seconds will cause the water to go misty and milky. In this picture the shutter speed was 1/13th of one second, slow enough to show movement in the water but fast enough that the water keeps its form.

WOW! Did you watch the Ryder Cup golf last night ? Unbelievable comeback by the europeans!
Coincidently I was in Westport yesterday afternoon to watch my son Barry play rugby for Ballina, we passed Westport Golf Club and I got this image. It has to be one of the best looking golf courses in the world? Oh and by the way, Ballina won the rugby!.

Yesterday I went to Tourmakeady, my intention was to visit the waterfall, but I was a bit late getting there and it was sunny! This meant the sun was going to be on the waterfall which would make it very difficult to photograph, so I decided to just go down the road a bit further to Lough Mask. Mayo is such a great county, there are so many photographic locations so close to each other!

Rain and showers yesterday, I was passing Turlough Round Tower between the showers and got this image.

The North winds continued into yesterday so I could not resist another trip North Mayo and of course Downpatrick Head. The wind was not quite as strong as the day before, as you can see I was able to get a bit closer to the edge of the cliffs!