Daily Blog

Well Croatia put paid to all our enthusiasm last night beating Ireland 3-1 in the Euros. In truth we got what we deserved!.

Anyway here is another picture from the weekend. taken on saturday it was a lovely day, almost too good for photography, but there were some great clouds.....

Just back from Co Clare on time to see the big match!!
here is a picture of fanore beach taken at lunchtime today.

Come on Ireland!!!

We left Mayo, still raining. The sun finally broke through about teeny minutes before sunset and we got to Kinvarra just on time to photograph it.

It has rained in mayo solidly for about 30hours now, it looks like there may be a 24hour respite starting this evening comming from the South. Patricia and I are hoping to make the best of it ourselves by traveling south for a couple of days. We are heading to Co Clare for the weekend. Todays picture was taken several weeks ago early in the morning on Keem Strand.

The "Golden Hour" , is the hour before and after sunrise and sunset and is considered the magic time for landscape photographers. This photograph certainly fits into the Golden Hour category and it also proved golden as it was awarded a gold award in the SWNPS (Society of Wildlife and Nature Photographers ) May competition in the Nature Category ! the photograph was taken early in the morning at the lake in Westport House, Westport.

Posting a little early tonight. It seems there was an earthquake off the coast of Mayo this morning ! I did look out the window early but there was a lot of low cloud and no sign of a sunrise so I went back to bed.... missed the earthquake!! The last one recorded as big was on my wedding dayback in 1984!! No joke ! And today was my Birthday!!

I spent most of the day gardening, trying to get the garden back into shape having deserted it for several weeks, its just amazing how quickly the weeds grow, and where, as can be seen in this photo taken down at Kylemore gardens the other day. there was a bench full of broken pots, used as crocks , and this baby ash tree had found a foothold!!

Here is another picture from Co Galway. This very pretty waterfall is situated at the side of the road quite close to Kylemore Abbey, I always stop for a photograph whenever I pass. I thought it looked particularly well with the rhododendron in flower. It looks almost tropical!

Today we visited Kylemore Abbey which is of course in Co Galway. We paid to visit the gardens , but they were a little disappointing, in truth I think we were a few weeks too early, and they will get better as the summer progresses. There is a bus service between the gardens and the main house, but the bus driver agreed to let Vincent and myself off halfway between the two so that we could photograph this little lough.

Another picture from earlier this week. this photograph was taken late in the evening last Monday from the shores of Lough Mask, looking towards the Mweelrea Mountain range.

Lots of rain again today , so here is a picture taken during lasts week s sunny spell. these boats are moored on Lough Carra at Castle Bourke, Croagh Patrick can be seen in the distance.

On Tuesday I was out photographing with my friend Vincent who is visiting from Wales. We visted Letterkeane Woods near Newport to photograph the river. As you can see there is very little water in it. In fact, in winter you could not photograph from this particular spot.

It rained all day today, I am not disappointed, I was out with my friend Vincent yesterday we thought we might photograph a waterfall but the river was almost dry! judging by the forecast for the rest of the week, there will be plenty of water for early next week!
Todays picture from Fanore Strand was taken on Monday evening on Fanore Strand Co Clare about 40 minutes before sunset.

Still great weather though cloudy today and as I write this its trying to rain outside! Thats the best type of rain - nightime rain!
On Monday I went with friends to co clare and after photographing some flowers and a sunset on fanore beach we made a dash to Kinvarra, I knew the tide would be high and hoped to get an evening shot of Dunguaire Castle . We arrived about an hour after sunset which in truth was maybe 15 minutes too late but we took some pictures anyway...

I was out at Lough Fiach this evening there was very little light due to all the cloud cover. We even had a few minutes of rain. The warm weather has brought on lots of growth and many flowers are in bloom. The Rhododendron are in full bloom along the side of the lough.

Today was a nicer day then the last few, it was still warm and sunny but with some cloud cover which makes things much more interesting. This evening I was delivering a picture to somebody in Tourmakeady so used it as an excuse to go down around Lough Mask. This picture was taken a couple of hours before sunset, the low sun gave lovely lighting on the hills.

What a great day today ! Temperatures touching on 30degrees. Pretty awful for photography though its just too bright and hazy. Anyway I went this evening to Lough Nambrackragh between Swinford and Kilkelly to try and photograph the sunset. As expected it remained hazy but here is the result.

Heres an unusual picture for you today. We have just returned home having spent the day at the Chelsea flower Show !! Yes thats Chelsea in London!! Its great what you can do nowadays with all the improved transport. We left here this morning at 3.30am and arrived back at 1.30 am , sure a long day but a good one. The Flower show was great but it was very crowed and VERY warm! and I was inclined not to take pictures, but I could not resist this Begonia, which was part of a gold medal display .

Here is another picture from Achill Island, taken during our recent "Landscape Weekend Workshop" The large rock , or seastack is called The Queen of the West"

Todays picture of a waterfall was taken on the same evening as yesterdays picture of Croagh Patrick. A ten stop neutral density filter was used , this resulted in a four minute exposure which accounts for all the movement you can see in the picture.

This picture of Croagh Patrick was taken from Bertra beach as the sun was setting behind me. The Sunset was a little disappointing but its warm light gave this scene a nice colour.