Daily Blog

Still waiting for my camera to be returned from the repair shop, hopefully tomorrow. So I did not take any pictures today, but I spent a lovely evening in Galway at an event organised by the SWPP. It was great to meet other photographers and share images.
Tonights picture was taken maybe a month ago near Foxford.

Do cameras have feelings? My camera is a Nikon D700 and I bought it second hand nearly three years ago, it has been my constant companion,always at my side, accompanying me more often them my wife or children ! I was travelling in my car with another photographer when the subject of camera gear in-evidently came up." Had I upgraded my camera recently "I was asked I said "no, but that I really fancied the new Nikon D800 but I was very happy with the D700". "But" I said, "if I had the money I would replace it with the d800 but I don't, so I will have to keep it for a long time yet"
About two minutes later we stopped to take some pictures and guess what - my camera refused to work!!! I switched it off and on , replaced the battery, changed the lens - everything I could think of, just when I had given up, it worked then it stopped again and so it continued for the rest of the evening. So yesterday I took it too the camera repairers and left it with them to fix. This evening they told me they had tested it several times and at great length and could find no fault!!! I wonder was it just in a huff with me! So be careful about what you say about your camera if its close enough to hear you!!!!!!

Todays picture was taken in one of the few moments that the camera was working.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with Steve touring some of Mayo's many photographic spots. We finished the evening by travelling to Dougmakeon Beach near Roonagh to try and capture a sunset. I had in tended to go to Accony but looking at the conditions we made the decision to detour to Dougmakeon. We arrived to find another photographer there ahead of us all set up ready for the sunset. We saluted each other from a distance and I took this picture of him. We all worked on the beach until probably about an hour after the sun had set Steve and I had returned to the car to eat the sandwiches we were subosed to eat around 5pm when the other photographer also made it back to his car. Photographers are a funny community, even though we had never met we were keen to do so and have a quick chat about our photography. So darkness was lit by camera screens ! The photographer was Rob Ackerman from Canada! The world is very small, you can see some of Robs work [url= http://robackerman.com/?gallery=landscape] here . Here is a picture of Rob " working the scene" on Dougmakeon Beach.

This evening I met up with Steve for what has become our annual one to one session. We did a tour of some of the photographic locations of South West Mayo. We had a little trouble with the light, the good light seemed to be always behind us or in front of us, but we did catch up with it occasionally. We visited Aasleagh Falls, there was a run of Salmon on and they were regularly seen jumping the falls. there were also a couple of fishermen trying to catch them . It looks as if this Salmon chose his moment to make a run for it just when the fisherman had turned his back to fix his rod!

Last night I said there was rain in the air, well we certainly got it today. I went for a long run this morning and had left the house about twenty minutes when the heavens opened. It was like a monsoon, my shower proof running jacket was completely swamped. As I ran (jogged would be a better description) along the road, there were frogs leaving the ditches, it was that wet!! Anyway having left the house for my 12 mile run a full ten minutes before the start of the Olympic Marathon, I was home ten minutes before they finished their twenty six miles!
Todays picture of the twilight around Croagh Patrick was taken on Friday evening from Claremorris.

Once again I could not get out despite the great weather! I think we are about to pay for it though, it feels like there is rain in the air.
Here is a picture from Lough Carra on a sunny day.

Another lovely day in mayo but once again i did not get out to get any pictures.
This picture was taken on Achill Island last Saturday evening. I was on achill to attend the opening of an Exhibition of photographs of Achill Yawls, by my friend Theresa Cawley, its well worth a look , if you happen to be near (Alices Hotel at achill Sound). I had arrived early for the schedualed Yawl racing but it was cancelled due to high wind. So I decided to make a quick trip to Cloughmore to photograph the rough seas. As you can see from the photograph however the sea on the West of the Isalnd was flat calm! You would not know from the sea in the photograph, but it was far to windy to use a tripod, and it was very difficult to stand still with the camera! usually the wind comes from the West and Cloughmore is a great place for high and crashing waves.

A lovely day in Mayo, but I had no chance to get out today. But like the rest of the country I did find time to watch Katie Taylor win GOLD !! Well done Katie....
Todays picture of Trá Bán beach was taken last week.

I was driving home from Kilalla a couple of mornings ago when the sun suddenly appeared and there was a clearing, so I decided to make a quick detour to Rosserk Abbey . When I got there I discovered the abbey was undergoing some repairs and had scaffolding erected along its Eastern wall. This meant I had to make the abbey very small in the photo so as not to highlight the scaffolding.. It was very windy and a slow shutter speed has resulted in movement in the cloud and the water .

I hope you don't mind seeing this image for a second time. I have just heard that it received a gold award in the SWPP awards for July. The picture was taken on Iniskea Island off, Belmullet, County Mayo. You can see the award winners HERE[url]

I did not get out today, the olympics are proving a big distraction! Katie Taylor was great this afternoon.

I took this picture on TráBán Beach a couple of days ago. A slow shutter speed gives the movement in the water.

Here is an other picture from yesterdays sunrise on Ross Strand Kilalla, on Mayo's East Coast!

At midnight last night I decided i should get up in the morning for a sunrise! I set the alarm for 4.15am and really struggled to obey its call. However I made it to Ross Strand Kilalla by 5.35 in plenty of time . The forecast was for cloud with no sun and I was not sure that I should have travelled, however it turned out to be a lovely morning, and I had a great time getting a number of different images.
As I retraced my steps back to the car I realized mine were the only footsteps on the beach and I must say I felt very pleased with myself. I had made a good decision to set that alarm, an even better decision to actually get up, great decision on the location, I could not actually take credit for the sunrise, but at least I was in the right place. I sat back into the car almost glowing inside and started to review the pictures on the back of the camera, it was only then that I realised the camera iso was set to 1250 instead of 200 What a Wally !! The smugness left me , and I had to laugh at myself . the pictures were not completely ruined but were not as good as they should have been.

Often in Landscape photography the sky is more important then the land. Here is a good example, taken on Achill, the picture is all about the sky.

Here is something a little different tonight. This picture was taken on Mulranny Beach, it was the colours that first attracted me, I then thought I would try a long shutter speed to show movement in the flag and the clouds. It is a twenty second exposure.

We had a lovely afternoon today, really nice after the day started with pouring rain , but I had to go over to Westport in the morning and was there with Patricia when the weather started to improve. we decided to make the most of it and went for a walk in Mulranny.

I am posting this from Dublin, where we have been all day, visiting my daughter Grainne. We should have been back in Mayo several hours ago but just as we went to leave the car broke down!! Arrangements were made to have it towed back to Mayo, but the lads who came to tow it actually fixed it!! So we are now able to go home after all !
here is another picture from Achill, this was taken at Achill Sound.

I am very late posting this evening, and indeed was very late taking todays photograph. I was on Achill for a book launch. Mary J Murphy was launching her book "Achill's Eva O Flaherty Forgotten Island Heroine" Mary had used one of my images for the front cover. I had hoped to get some pictures on Achill, and as we rushed to get to the venue on time (the launch was at 8.45pm) I decided I did not really have time before hand to take many pictures, but felt sure that with sunset at9.45 pm I might get a few shots afterwards. Patricia of course told me not too rush as the launch would be on "Achill Time" but not wanting to be late I kept rushing and got to the venue just on time. The launch started an hour later and it was after 11pm when we left!. The sun was long gone but we went up to Keem bay anyway and it was lovely in the dark. I decided to try to make a picture anyway, and its amazing what modern digital cameras are capable of. This shot almost looks like daylight. the camera settings were 30seconds @f5.6 and iso800! It won't win any prizes, but I still think its amazing as I could not see this with my eyes.

Well done to all those who climbed Croagh Patrick today ! Here is another view of the mountain, taken earlier this week from Berta

Beach.

Heres an old picture. I took this picture on film, one evening, I had climbed Croagh Patrick with a friend of mine and had just set up the camera on a tripod when this couple walked into frame. They agreed to pause for a few moments for me to make the picture. This picture then became the front cover ofa book called "Croagh Patrick, Irelands Holy Mountain" Tomorrow is "Reek Sunday" the day of the annual pilgrimage up the mountain, up to 20,000 people will climb the mountain, I won't be one of them on this occasion.