Daily Blog

Thanks to everybody for all the good wishes, and once again Happy New Year to you all.
Todays picture was taken a few weeks ago on Achill Island. Often with these pictures its all a question of timing.To get the curl of the wave in just the right place. The camera is on a tripod and you have to watch the waves for a while to find their rhythm. So I was happy I pressed the shutter at just the right moment for this shot, but there is often a second part to the timing that also has to be got right, and on this occasion I got it completely wrong ! Its called the Bail Out. Its the time between pressing the shutter to capture the wave, the shutter closing and the photographer grabbing the camera and tripod and moving away from the oncoming wave ! I did manage to shield the camera, but took a soaking myself, fortunately it was very windy so I dried out quickly.

What's another year ? Its two years today since I started posting a daily picture on my website, I started a little later on Facebook. On both of the last new years I posted pictures of snow ! Well there is no snow this year, just plenty of rain. Here is a picture of Keem Bay,on Achil Island in the rain!
Thanks for all the" likes" and comments during 2011, it is always encouraging to get feedback on my work.
I wish every body a very good 2012.

Rained all day!! No pictures taken today, here is a picture from my last visit to Dunbriste, on a very calm day!

A little late posting today, but I had no access to the internet for several hours.The weather is windy and wet , it looks like its going to be pretty bad for the whole weekend. yesterday morning I went out looking for a photograph, it was dark and dreary and to be honest I struggled, however there was a brief clearing in the sky, but the shape of the clouds in this picture may give a hint as to how windy it was.

I did not get out at all yesterday . The weather is unusually mild, but that also means unusually wet. I would love to see a cold snap but no sign yet. This picture of Ballintubber Abbey was taken a couple of days before Christmas.

Another dash to dublin today! We were joined for Christmas by my son Darragh's girlfriend Irina. But Irina works in retail and had to be back in Dublin and working on St Stephens Day, the day after Christmas.The trains don"t run on St Stephens day, so there was nothing for it but to drive to dublin. We left Mayo in the rain at 6am, but arrived in Dublin in lovely sunshine , as can be seen in this picture of the Four Courts on the River Liffey. We arrived back in Mayo around 2pm in the pouring rain!!

A couple of days ago while thinking about what picture to put up for Christmas day, I thought it should be appropriate for the day, so decided to photograph the crib at Ballintubber Abbey. Now the abbey has been a place of worship since the twelfth century. In the grounds of the abbey there is a small cave that contains a permanent crib ( not just for Christmas)
I set up the camera and took a few test shots to establish the correct exposure ,12seconds @f8, when a mother came to visit the crib with her young daughter.
Suddenly one said to the other "where is Jesus? Oh he's missing "
"Crumbs" , I thought, "Jesus is missing, and I didn't even notice!"
For a few minutes I was not sure what to do . Then I decided I would just have to go and find him! So I packed up my stuff and went into the Abbey, where I met Mary , Yes Mary! , who was sweeping the floor. Now I have met Mary a couple of times, when I have been photographing the abbey and she had been very helpful, when she saw me she greeted me with a friendly smile and asked was I back to take more photos, so I explained what I was doing and Mary said "Thats grand, go ahead"
"But I have a problem Mary" I said " Jesus is missing"
"Oh yes" said Mary smiling "I saw him in the sacristy, I'll get him and put him back for you"
So I went back to the cave and sure enough after a few minutes Mary came and placed the baby Jesus in the crib, and yes I did feel great joy , and ,that I had played a staring role in a modern parable!


HAPPY CHRISTMAS !

I spent the day traveling today. Up to dublin early to meet my daughter Aisling home from Scotland for Christmas. Then we collected my son Darragh from Dublin, neither of them made it home last year so its great we are all home this year. It was a lovely day but I did not get any pictures , so here is one from last week's trip to Old Head.

Yesterday's picture was taken with a 200mm zoom lens and was taken facing North West. Todays picture was taken at the same time and place but with 24mm wide angle lens facing South East, it pays to look in all directions!!

Yesterday was the shortest day and I had planned to get either a sunrise or a sunset,or both ! The low cloud cover meant there was no sunrise and the cloud and rain continued most of the day. In the afternoon I went to Castlebar so that my daughter Gráinne could finish her Christmas shopping, she could not find what she wanted so we said we would nip over to Westport. I had given up any hope of getting a picture today, but as we left Castlbar, the sun set behind a bank of clouds and there was no sunset visible, however just as we got to Westport and with the sun already set, the clouds parted, and the sky put on a great display!!
The thick dark cloud at the bottom of this picture is shrouding Crough Patrick, but the sky above was incredible. The display only lasted about ten minutes so it did not delay the shopping for too long!!

I was in Westport a couple of days ago , and photographed Croagh Patrick with Westport Golf Course. As you can see it was very dark with the low cloud, there had been an attempt at snow on the mountain, all very different to this time last year when we could not move for snow!! Two of our four children couldn't get home for christmas because of it. So it won't be a white Christmas in Mayo and we are are busy preparing for the feast, the weather should not keep anybody away!!

Ten minutes after yesterdays picture.....here is the actual sunrise.

I was out for the sunrise again this morning, this picture was taken about ten minutes before the sun came up. The sun was rising to the left of the picture causing lovely delicate colours to develop in the opposite direction.

Yesterday morning I had to go to the airport to collect a visitor . the plane was delayed by half an hour due to the cold, I didn't mind as it gave me the opportunity to make the days picture! Firstly I was going to photograph the amazing sky but thought I should include the road to show how cold it was. As I was looking through the view finder it occurred to me that THIS is THE AIRPORT ROAD !!. I thought its great to live in Mayo we have a great airport in Knock but this must be one of the the quietest airport roads in the world!!

Most of the day was very cloudy with snow and sleet showers, but it was lovely first thing, I photographed the sunrise at Bekan.

The winter weather is really beginning to set in! Hard frost and icy roads here in Mayo. Todays picture is of Carramore strand,again taken on a very windy day in this picture you can see the water coming in from the right hand side of the picture but is then being blown up the beach, too windy for a tripod the picture was taken handheld.

Todays picture of Old Head is a little unusual, in that you rarely get waves like this one! As soon as I took it I thought it would look good in Black and White.

The bad weather continues with storm force winds and hail showers . In the morning , despite horrible weather in Kiltimagh I decided to take a trip to the coast. This picture is of Roonagh Pier, this is were you get the ferry to Clare Island, which you can see in the background, I dont think there was any ferry running today!!

Rained all day yesterday, a really horrible day! This picture of Croagh Patrick was taken two weeks ago.

Back in Mayo today and went out this morning to get a sunrise picture but the expected rain clouds came in early and I did not succeed . so here is a picture from Mulranny Beach taken last week.