Daily Blog

A little break from the Landscapes this evening. Today I took my bike for a service to John James Kelly our local bike man here in Kiltimagh. John James has been working in this workshop for over forty years, and his father had it before him! He agreed that I could take an "environmental portrait", he tidied up before I took the picture !

I am a little late posting this evening. This picture was taken about twenty minutes before sunset from Accony beach looking across to Clare Island. I was very hopeful when this was taken , that we would have a spectacular sunset. But this was as good as it got.

I have just arrived home in Mayo from Dublin. So once again ,this week I have managed to travel almost the length and breath of the country with trips to Cork and Dublin. Todays trip to dublin was to see the exhibition of end of year work by the second year photography students from IADT in Dun Laoghaire. My daughter Grainne is one of the students so really it was her I went to see. All of the work on display was really interesting, to see how each of the students had interpreted the theme in completely different ways . Grainnes piece was really good and of course I completely embarrassed her by making her stand beside it for a picture!!!

The Monsoon we were promised has not arrived yet, lets hope it passes us by. This picture of a double rainbow was taken in Kiltimagh about 2 weeks ago, its a shame I was not able to fit in both ends of the rainbow despite using a wide angle lens.

I am still in Cork,and was up early to get some jobs done before the rain that was forecast arrives. We have been promised a months rain over the next two days! I bought a new hard drive yesterday and have been using it to empty my computer of six months worth of photographs. While doing so I found this unusual cloud picture taken on Achill Island.

I am in Cork for a couple of days to visit my Mum. Usually when I come to visit cork it is very rushed and I get no opportunity to take photographs. On this occasion I am staying for a few days so I had planned to make a little time for photography. I left Mayo extra early for that very purpose. I was on the road about an hour when I got the phone call to say " you've gone without your camera" I could hardly believe it ! I never go ANYWHERE without my camera, and certainly not for three whole days ! needless to say I had a little spare time this afternoon in Cork City, the light was amazing, everywhere I looked I could see pictures!!!

The picture I am posting was taken on the mountain over kiltimagh a couple of mornings ago when out for a cycle, see I even take the camera on the bike!!

Yesterday I was out doing a photographic job for somebody when we passed this tree. So I noted where it was and went back to have a look this morning. It really looks like a great big skeleton , you can see the trees behind it are beginning to get a covering of leaves . I think it could make a great picture with the sun setting behind it. Anyway its on my ever growing lists of interesting places to visit!

As you will be well aware from all the media coverage it is 100 years since the sinking of the Titanic . Mayo has a particular link to this tragic event and particularly the parish of Addergoole, Lahardane. 14 people from the parish set sail from Cobh on the great ship and only 3 survived. I had heard of a model that had been built locally and this afternoon was my first chance to go and see it, I am not going to get another chance for at least a week.I thought it may not be there in a week so I had better go today. I was really glad I did!. It is moored on Loch Conn just offshore from the Addergoole cemetery . I had seen some pictures but it is hard to judge the scale. But I must say that as you approach the cemetery you go over the brow of a hill and your first sighting of the "Titanic" on the Loch would really take your breath away. It seems like a fitting tribute and a credit to the volunteers who built it. You can learn more about the Addergoole 14 from the excellent "Mayo Link" facebook page

Mayo Link [url]

This evening as I drove from Kiltimagh to Claremorris I spotted this "low flying cloud" and so had to stop the car for a picture. I thought the cloud looked somewhat menacing and looks like it is depositing its load on the ground below.

Todays picture was taken on keel Beach on Achill Island. While taking phographs I observed this couple because like me , he was taking photographs. But I was delighted when he put his camera away and they walked into my picture!

It rained all day today here in Mayo. I took this picture last week on Loch Conn, it was the wonderful clouds that attracted me to take the picture.

Yesterday I posted a picture of a dramatic sky just before sunset. Having taken that picture at Downpatrick Head I went onto the shore to prepare and compose the sunset picture. I decided to use the rock you can see as the foreground and a slow shutter speed to soften the water. All I needed was the sunset !! As you can see the sunset was hidden , its just amazing how quickly the light can change , these two pictures are about 10 minutes apart!

A couple of nights ago I went to Downpatrick Head to photograph the sunset. This was the scene that greeted me when I got there twenty minutes before sunset ! You can imagine how excited I was, seeing this from a distance and trying to get the car into a position where I could photograph without houses and telephone posts in my view. Twenty minutes later the sun was completely hidden for the sunset.

A lovely spring day in Mayo.I did not get out with the camera though. Here is a picture taken on Thursday on Loch Conn. Despite all the good weather it still looks cold on the top of Nephin.

We had another lovely day in Mayo. This evening I went to Downpatrick head in the hopes of a good sunset. I arrived twenty minutes or so before sunset and the lighting was very dramatic as the sun began to drop , but unfortunately it was completely hidden by cloud and the sunset itself was very disappointing. So after the sun had set I decided to try something else. This picture of Downpatrick Head was a five minute exposure. As you can see in the picture I was standing on rocks that were occasionally being covered in water as the tide began to come in. Having taken this one I decided to do another, This was going to be a 12minute exposure. It was freezing cold and I had to stand still next to the camera to shield it from the wind. !2 minutes is a long time in those circumstances after about 10and a half minutes I watched as a wave a little larger then the rest approached the rock , sure enough it broke right over and soaked me from the knees down , as it hit I had grabbed the camera and switched it off!, I had meant to just switch off the cable release not the camera, and so the photo that I had stood ten minutes for was lost, as the camera did not save it. But like the fisherman who loses a fish , I can tell you in all honesty that it was a beauty!!!

Once again I was up early and witnessed a lovely sunrise somewhere in Co Roscommon. ! I was on the early train to Dublin where I spent the day with my daughter Grainne.

Here in the West of Ireland we often experience difficulties with our mobile phone coverage, as you can see from this picture taken this morning in Templebar the people of Dublin have solved the problem with this new British Model of Mobile phone..... I wonder if it will catch on?

Yesterday evening Patricia and I went to Achill, where I was giving a photography "lecture" and presenting the prizes in the annual photographic competition for the Achill Calender in Aid of St Colemans Care centre . This has become an annual event for me as this was my third year involved. Anyway I am always pleased to be invited to Achill as it is one of my favourite places to photograph. We had left early so that we would have enough time to have a meal when we got to the island and I would have about one hour of photography before reaching the venue for 7pm , the event was due to begin at 7.30pm. All went well until I took out the camera , you know how time flies when your having fun ....well the time flew, but I just had to stop the car regularly because the light was amazing , anyway I put the camera away and we sped towards the location "too fast for Achill" is how Patricia described my driving! Every turn we took seemed to throw up another photo opportunity and so the camera came out again. Now definitely late I declared "thats it we wont stop again." But then over to my right a rainbow appeared , why was I surprised ? it was just typical Achill. Anyway we arrived at the venue at 7.28 . But of course we were in the West and I was the only one rushing, the event started at 8pm!

Yesterday I posted a picture of two boats and I described how I thought it might make a good spot for a sunrise. So this morning I set the alarm for 5.30am and headed out to Pontoon, as you can see the sun did not actually appear as it was hidden by the low cloud on the left of the picture. Still I was pleased with the picture I got and will go back another day for a better sunrise, but it won't be tomorrow morning!

More boats again this evening. I am not sure why boats have such an appeal ,its not as if I ever go out on them and yet I suppose they speak of possibilities.
This evening when I left the house I decided to travel to Pontoon and was hoping to get a sunset but there wasn't one. But as I passed these boats it was raining and so I took a picture from inside my car just to check out the exposure. The light looked lovely so I set up the tripod and the umbrella and used the big stopper filter. This resulted in a 10 minute exposure ! I felt like I was fishing, not taking photographs, waiting ten minutes to see if I had "caught" anything! but I was happy with the catch!! I think this might be a good spot for a sunrise , so I am going back early in the morning, I hope I can get up when the alarm goes off !!

I did not get out again today so here is another picture from Lough Conn taken on Friday. I have used the Big stopper filter on this picture, resulting in a 30 second exposure, and so the waves on the loch have been blurred completely. I could have gone for an even longer exposure but it was so windy I was having to use my jacket to shield the camera from the wind, I was surprised that 30 seconds worked so well. I am looking forward to doing some really long exposures on a calmer day.