Daily Blog

Another grey day in Mayo and I have not managed to get out, here is another picture from earlier in the week. This is the National Famine Memorial in Murrisk, it is between the Abbey and Croagh Patrick. It is well located for people to see, but I always think they should have consulted with us photographers before fixing its exact position!! From this angle I would like it to be twenty feet to the left, and when photographing it from the other side its hard to get an angle that includes a really good view of the sea !! Long before photography the lads who built the standing stones and the abbey, they knew what they were doing !!

Its very overcast in Mayo today and even some drizzle, the summer did not last long!!
I took this picture of standing stones near Croagh Patrick earlier this week.

Summer has arrived !! A really lovely day today in Mayo, and its promised good for the holiday weekend, though there was also talk of FROST for next week!!!
I always think the oxe eye daisy which grows in all the roadside ditches is a real sign that summer has arrived. I photographed these in a small meadow just outside Kiltimagh.

The trees in this photograph always attract me as I drive between Bohola and Kiltimagh. This was taken in the morning but in the evening the sun sets behind them and even in winter they look good. Its an awkward place to stop the car but I have done on several occasions. When I stopped the other morning I thought they looked particularly good and I parked the car and wandered into the field to get to a good viewpoint. Everything came right all at the same time! That rarely happens!!. The sun was shining on the hillside and contrasted with the shower cloud behind and the clouds looked great. Even the cows were in the right position. Anyway I had gone into the field with the camera and a set of Neutral density filters that I carry with me all the time. I selected one of the filters to put on the camera and took the picture. (the filter helps to hold detail in the sky, especially on such a high contrast scene) I was delighted with the picture and headed back to the car. As I sat into the car I realized I was missing one of the filters! I then spent about forty minutes walking up and down the field looking for a very thin piece of plastic measuring about 4inches by 6inches clear with grey in the top three inches ! I am happy to report I found it ! But I was lucky to have noticed it missing before I actually left the scene! I have not always been so lucky and in the past have left light meters and other expensive pieces of equipment behind me in locations I could not find again , never mind the actual piece of equipment!

After running from the rain after yesterday’s picture I drove to Bertra Strand just up the road and was in time to watch the shower clouds clearing. Isn’t it amazing just how fast things change!

Landscape photography can be a very slow and considered form of photography. I often set my camera on a tripod compose the picture and then wait for things to happen, like wait for the sun to break through or wait for a cloud formation to come into view. But sometimes things happen so quickly you have to react fast. Todays picture is a case in point. I was photographing Croagh Patrick (the mountain)which had blue sky above it, I looked behind me to see this rainbow and very dark sky which contained the rain that was fast approaching. I took a couple of quick pictures of the rainbow and then ran along the shoreline to get a position where I could include mountain with the rainbow. In those few moments the cloud reached the mountain and the rain started to fall. I took this picture as a “panorama” which involved taking nine pictures overlapping . Again this would normally involve using a tripod but I just had no time . I had time for only two attempts before the rain got so bad I had to beat a hasty retreat to my car!.

As planned I was out early this morning and went over to Westport and Croagh Patrick. I left the house around 6am, it was a lovely bright morning in between the showers. Showery weather really is my favorite as the sky is changing all the time. I was very excited this morning by the clarity and the ever changing light, so excited that I failed to notice that the camera was set to 2000iso!!. I am always preaching to my "students" first thing you do every morning is reset your camera, just in case. Well it really is a case of do as I say not as I do.! I had taken a number of photographs and was thinking it was so bright and clear that I was getting really fast shutter speeds. After an hour or so it suddenly occurred to me that that made no sense at all and I checked the camera.....2000iso!!!!*****!!! now they would be alright for the blog but would never make high quality prints !! So here is one of early pictures taken at 2000iso! I did return to this spot an hour or later after realizing my mistake but of course all had changed. I did get some other good pictures though which I will share over the next few days.

I spent a few hours today processing the pictures from last weeks Communions in Bekan, by the time I got to go out the sun had disapeared so I did not bother. The forecast for tomorrow is for showers, I hope to get out early in the morning. I am posting a picture taken at Sheffrey Woods a place I may well visit in the morning .

I am just back from Cork. The weather forecast for the evening was not good so I left early so that I could stop on the way to get my “photo for the day”. I was glad I did because I stopped at Ballybeg Abbey at Buttevant Co Cork. I pass this abbey every time I travel the road to and from Cork but never seem to get the time to stop. When I got there I took this picture from the road before going into the abbey.





Ballybeg abbey





In the grounds of the abbey is a small tower which I thought was a ruin of a round tower, until I saw there was an entrance at ground level.




I got a very pleasant surprise when I went inside and found the most amazingly designed interior . It turns out it was a high rise for pigeons !!


Apparently it is the best preserved medieval dovecot in Ireland !! I must take time to stop more often!

I am posting from Cork. This is a picture of the River Bandon just outside Inishshannon . As a child it was always one of my favourite views. As a child I lived outside of Ireland but whenever we came home there would always be a drive to Clonakilty to visit my Grandmothers, this view would always bring a mini geography lesson from the front of the car. “that is the river Bandan, famous for its salmon” to me it meant we would soon be in Clonakilty !

I am going to Cork today for the weekend for my nieces first Holy Communion.
I am posting a second picture from last night’s visit to Achill. I had arrived at the community hall at Keel but even though I was nearly late and still had to change out of my wet clothes I could not resist taking am extra minute to grab this picture of Keel Beach. And look there is a hint of a blue sky behind all that rain cloud!

Late posting this evening. I am just back from Achill were I had a lovely evening presenting the prizes in the St Colman’s calendar photo competition. All the winning photographs will feature in the 2012 calendar. I was teaching a one to one photographic lesson in Westport in the afternoon, so only got to Achill about one hour befor...e the event started. I always say that no matter what the weather Achill will always give something to the photographer. But today Achill played hard to get ! The weather was horrible, the rain was horizontal and I got absolutely soaked trying to get a couple of pictures. I had brought a spare pair of trousers just in case, and I needed to change before presenting the prizes!

I did get this picture of Granuaile’s Tower at Kildavnet.See more

Once again I did not get out today, no excuses really, I had planned to get out in the evening but the weather front promised for tomorrow arrived early and the sun disapeared early. the forecast is for rain all day tomorrow. I am on Achill Island in the evening to present prizes in a photographic competition so hopefully despite the weather if I get there early I might get something.
I am posting a picture taken on Achill some time ago.

I did not get out with the camera today. I spent most of the day glued to the television, watching the triumphant return of one of Ireland’s greatest sons ... Barack O’ Bama. !!

So I went back to the hard drive to find a picture for tonight. And found this one of Croagh Patrick taken last May.

I am just back from spending the morning photographing first Holy communions in Bekan Parish, the weather this morning was wild, and it rained all night. We did the photographs in the church but by the tme we finished the weather had completely changed. I took this picture of unusual clouds just outside the church.

It rained all day today, I took this picture yesterday between Knock and Ballyhaunis. This cottage is one of the last thatched cottages in the county still lived in. I have photographed it before, It was only as I put the camera to my eye that I noticed the sky, so I composed a wider picture then I originally intended.

Here is another picture from yesterdays trip to Mulranny. This View is a mile or two before Mulranny and is one of my favourite views of Clew Bay and Croagh Patrick. I cannot pass without stopping , I thought it looked well yesterday the light was lovely and the tide was out.

Seems like ages since I got to the coast. It isn't of course but even a few days absence makes the heart grow fonder. I was in Mulranny this morning where I met a guest in the hotel for two hours one to one photography class. I overran on time and had to rush back but still managed a few minutes detour to get a couple of pictures . this is one of the two beaches in Mulranny with Croagh Patrick in the background. Mulranny was last week awarded The European destination of excellence award for 2011 ( the only one in Ireland), many of my pictures were used in the presentation and application so I was delighted to be part of it.

Just back from Cork, got no photographs, (was there for a funeral) I took this picture of an old shed at the side of the road near Charlestown a couple of days ago.

I have to go to Cork for a couple of days so I am posting early today. I took this picture in Kiltimagh earlier in the week. I liked the position of the tree the great sky and the cows still waking up!