Daily Blog

After a busy weekend with the camera I gave it a rest today!!, I spent quite alot of time on the computer though . that’s one of the few disadvantages of digital photography, it is easy to take lots and lots of pictures, but the” post production” work can really pile up !!
I am posting a picture of Rosserk Abbey taken last week. It looks a very simple picture and indeed it is, but I did have to wait twenty minutes or so for a very small break in the cloud cover to get a little light on the abbey. During the wait the tide came in enough to cover the tripod legs enough for me to have to get my feet wet to take the picture!!

We had a lovely day today in Kiltimagh, the weather was lovely and we had the Confirmations, so I had a few jobs to do today !

I am posting a picture taken yesterday just outside Mulranny. I was there preparing for the weekend of the 15th April. I am having a little difficulty filling this course and I really want it to happen because I think the location is great. So I am offering a very special offer of the whole weekend, tuition and accomadation ,for only €250 so if you are interested or know somebody else who may be interested please get them to call me.

I had a great day today. Firstly I met up with a few people from one of my night classes as I had arranged to do some studio shots in a costume hire store in Castlebar. I was doing this as a gift to my friend Harry Feeney who has recently opened the shop “Characters and Costumes” . so I decided to also make it a class .We had great fun and the volunteers who agreed to dress up were just brilliant .
I then met a couple of photographer friends for lunch and we did some “print appraisal”. Then I went to Mulranny and took more photographs! But my favourite photograph of the day was the very last one ,taken a full hour after sunset. I had taken several pictures before I decided to include the sheep, now remember this is an hour after sunset and so it is really dark. This is a ten second exposure, have you ever tried to stand perfectly still for ten seconds? Well I pleaded with these sheep to do just that, they tried very hard.......See more

It rained heavily all day today. I am posting another picture taken at Dun briste yesterday.

I had intended going to Mulranny today to put in place the last of the plans for the Landscape course in April.( there are still places available!) But that is now happening tomorrow and so today I took a trip to Down Patrick Head just outside Ballycastle , in truth I had intended going further north but stopped for a few minutes at Dun Briste just because I couldn’t pass it. Three hours later I headed for home!!
Here is one of the pictures. I felt at times very vulnerable on the windy cliff top and was very cautious , I was struck by how “at home” the nesting seagulls were in that hostile environment.

I have just finished an eight week evening class in Claremorris this evening. I am going to Mulranny tomorrow to plan next months Landscape weekend course, I am really looking forward to it because Mulranny is a great location. There are still places available if you are interested give me a call or email.

Tonights picture of Croagh Patrick was taken yesterday as the sun began to break through what looked like very angry clouds.

Another very grey and cloudy day in Mayo. I really did not think I would get a picture for the blog. This evening I went to Westport to teach a one to one class and finishing around 7.30 I thought there might be a sunset as the skies had cleared, however there was low cloud on the horizon and the sun began to disappear twenty minutes before time with very little colour, so I changed my plan and decided to go to Lough Fiach and chance my luck there. While there were no strong sunset colours the long exposure and stillness of the water made for a lovely scene.

It was a lovely day in Mayo today, a real spring day. I went cycling this evening, keeping an eye on the sun I decided to photograph the sunset, but low cloud came in and the sun disappeared early. So I am posting a picture taken last night when the opposite happened. After a grey and cloudy day the sun gave a few rays in a small cloud break a few minutes before sunset. This photograph was taken in Claremorris and shows Croagh Patrick 20 miles away.

I arrived back from Kerry this afternoon and despite getting up on time for the sunrise I am ashamed to say I failed to come home from Kerry with a picture good enough for the blog!! So I am posting a picture from Mulranny taken two weeks ago.
The weather is still very misty and grey but hopefully I'll get some new pictures this week.

I spent the day in Tralee and was sure I would get out for some picture but it wasnt to be ! So back to the memory card in the camera from last week. Here is a picture of an old school house at the back of Croagh Patrick.

I am in Kerry this evening for a family celebration. Patricia's Mum and Dad , Brian and Marie are celebrating 50 years of marriage !! I had hoped to get herte on time to post a photograph from Kerry but we arrived too late so I am posting a picture of Aisleagh Falls Co Mayo that I had in the camera since last week!!

The weather was lovely in Mayo today. So many people said to me today,” you should be out with the camera” They could have been right but in all honesty it was just too bright, cloudless skies and a bright haze everywhere. Really not photographic weather. I did go to Mulranny this evening for the last of my evening classes there, arriving twenty minutes before time I was disappointed by the hazy brightness so I am posting a picture taken the last day I was in Mulranny when the weather was not as nice, but it was much more interesting.

Another lovely day and another day without a picture! Dont you just hate it when life gets in the way of photography !! The evening is shaping up nicely for a sunset but I am teaching a class in Claremorris and its computers tonight.

I took this picture on Old Head Beach on Saturday morning, imagine having that beach all to yourself and your two dogs for your morning run !

We had another lovely day in Mayo. I went this morning to a local quarry to get stone for the garden. I had intended to bring the camera, but I forgot. As it happens we had to wait for quite a while in the Quarry and there were plenty of opportunities for photography. Now I dont think the pictures would have made into " Images of Mayo" but it was certainly an unusual location. having shoveled a couple of tons of stone we discovered we did not have enough so I might get back inside the quarry with the camera yet !!

I am posting a sunset taken here in Kiltimagh on last Thursday -St Patricks day.

After spending the whole weekend photographing on the Landscape Weekend I decided to just take things easy today and give the camera a rest. ! I did go to Achill this evening to help Judge a major photographic competition held every year to to make the " Achill Calender" in aid of St Coleman's Care Centre.

I am posting a picture of the Delphi river taken Yesterday

Good things come to those who wait!

Day three of the March “Landscape workshop weekend” and as planned Matthew and I left Westport at 9am to photograph waterfalls. We left in the rain and seemed to spend the day dodging the showers. Still we got some nice light on Carramore beach and as we travelled to Aesleagh falls we went through the Doo Lough valley in heavy rain. When we got to Doo Lough it was very dark and raining but we decided to wait in the car to see what might develop. We waited about fifteen minutes when we were rewarded with about five minutes of the most amazing light. It was the kind of light that makes a photographers brain just freeze and your fingers seem to get minds of their own as they press all the wrong buttons and you are left wondering “what did I do that for” Anyway between us we worked it out and got some dramatic pictures.



Some of Matthew's photos can be seen here
http://mayo.photium.com/portfolio163280.html

well as promised I met Matthew at 6.20am to try and photgraph a sunrise from Old Head. as we made our way to Old head the sky was very dark and it looked very unlikely that anything would happen. I mentioned to Matthew that even though things did not look promising I had learnt over the years that it pays to stick to the plan because "You never know" well sure enough as we got to Old head a break appeared in the clouds and we started to work frantically. I was very impressed by what Matthew had remembered from the day before as he put his camera through its paces ! Then we took a bit of a drowning from the rain before it cleared again and we got a few more pictures. as we drove back to Westport we stopped at Bertra beach because the light was great. And I returned Matthew to his Hotel for breakfast at 9.30.

After breakfast the cloud had completely won the day so we went to the "classroom" and spent most of thwe rest of the day learning photoshop. Matthew had never used photoshop but he took to it like a duck to water and produced nine stunning pictures after which we finished for the day, and I got home in time to see Ireland beat England at rugby.

Now thats my kinda day !!!

Matthew and I will meet again in the morning and will photograph some waterfalls ...hail rain or shine !!

This afternoon I started my first “Landscape weekend “of the season. Unfortunately I only had one customer but we went ahead anyway. We started at 4pm with a “classroom session” looking at the camera controls, exposure control, histograms etc etc.
Sunset was at 6.48pm so we finished the class on time to get to a good location to capture the setting sun. Matthew had learnt well and was quickly adjusting his camera to capture the scene. We did have to work very fast and I think Matthew was surprised at how quickly the sun set and how much we had to alter our cameras to match the failing light. We hung around for half an hour or so to watch the colour develop in the sky before heading back to the hotel.

We are hoping to capture the sunrise tomorrow from Old Head. We are meeting at 06.20! I am not sure if we will get a sunrise, i think it may be raining but if we don’t go out we certainly won’t get one!!

We had a great day for the parade in Kiltimagh. There was a heavy shower just before the start and a hail shower in the middle of it. But nothing was going to dampen the spirits. I have put up a gallery of pictures.

Today was a lovely day in Mayo. Sunny with blue skies, You will already know , I prefer there to be some clouds to give some interest in the sky. i took this pictuire of clouds yesterday.