Daily Blog

The skies in Mayo were just fantastic today. This morning I went to the airport to drop off a friends car , Patricia followed in our car to bring me home. Naturally I brought the camera, on the way home from the airport we visited Urluar Abbey. Then as we approached Kiltimagh I did a detour down to Woodfield Lough “just for a look” Now the ever suffering Patricia was only wearing slippers, she was after all only driving the car the 7 miles to the airport and back, so was unable to come down to the edge of the lough with me. “I’ll only be a minute” said I as I got out of the car.
Forty minutes later I returned and could not understand why Patricia did not seem overjoyed as I approached the car !! All I can say is that the forty minutes felt like five to me ! The clouds were great, and I took a panorama of the lough that I am posting this evening.

I returned to the Lough in the evening ( without Patricia!) to get a sunset, but the colour I had hoped for did not develop, mainly because the clouds had all disappeared.

I had a little bit of fun today.I recently read in a magazine an article about using glass out of a welding mask as a neutral density filter. Now in the last 12 months I have had two Lee Filters 10 stop filters. I had both for about 2 weeks. I dropped the first one on Lecanvey beach, it hit a rock and smashed. I got a second one about three months later, I managed to break that one before I ever used it!!! They cost over €100 EACH !
So I was intrigued by this magazine arcicle and visited the local farm store to buy a welding mask glass. It cost me 75 cents ! The glass is not big enough to use on some of my lenses, but it fits fine on the 50mm. So I went out today and took a couple of pictures. The whole purpose of this filter is to allow for very slow shutter speeds even on a bright day so showing movement in the picture.

The Exposure for todays picture was 1/160th of a second at f16, by placing the welding glass in front of the lens this resulted in an exposure of 142 seconds thats 2minuntes 22seconds !! I just love the movement in the clouds .Is it as good as the LEE filter , no , infact nowhere near , there are huge issues with colour balance and even definition in the picture but its the most fun I have had for 75cents in a long time.


160th second @f16


142 seconds @ f16

I had a lazy day at home today, after all the driving over the last couple of days and I suppose the emotional tiredness as well , so I watched a couple of photograghic training videos and of course Scotland Vs England in the rugby. I lived for several years in Scotland and three of my children were born there so I always have a soft spot for the Scots. But the English triumphed again, still it makes next weeks match in Dublin very interesting!!
I am posting another picture taken last Thursday evening in Mulranny

I returned to mayo from cork this evening just on time to see the Irish lose to the Welsh in the rugby! I must say I am still overwhelmed by the pictures from japan. I spend so much time admiring the beuty of nature and trying to record it to share with others. the images from japan show the absolute and devistating power of nature and I must say make me feel very insignificant !

Anyway I do have a new picture for today, I stopped at the abbey in Claregalway on my home this evening.

I Started this morning with a two hour one to one class with Brian. Brian has been taking photographs for a little while and has done alot of experimenting with his camera. Today we went through my method for exposing the camera for Landscape pictures using the camera’s histogram and so taking the guesswork out of perfect exposures ! We also did a little photoshop. This evening I was in Mulranny for an evening class and as usual went a little early to get a picture for tonight’s blog. I arrived twenty minutes before the class and went out the coast road a little. It was pouring rain as I arrived but the sun was attempting to break through. Suddenly the skies began to clear and as the sun set behind me it lit up the shower clouds around Croagh Patrick across the bay. I had to work really fast to get the pictures taking the time to put up a tripod and “do things properly” I think it paid off! As is often the case in the West of Ireland these amazing scenes appear when you least expect them and only for fleeting moments and I always feel so privileged when I witness them. For the record I had to rush to the class getting there with 1 minute to spare!!

I was out early this morning. It was very windy with heavy showers. I parked at the side of the main N17 to watch the scene develop over this tree. The fast approaching cloud and the disappearing sun made for a very dramatic effect . it was quickly followed by very heavy rain.!!

I was stuck in doors all day today, I had hoped to get out late in the afternoon but was too busy. I am posting a picture taken while on an early morning walk at the weekend, it was a frosty morning, I read on the BBC a few minutes ago that its snowing in GREECE! There is talk of the winter returning here to, I wont mind !

This morning I was booked for a couple of hours one to one tuition with John. John had come to Westport for the week and could be available on any day in the week. But we had arranged to meet this morning. As I left Kiltimagh it looked most unlikely that we would get any kind of light for photography as there was low cloud and no sign of a break. It was so bad that I decided to phone John to see if he wanted to continue or meet on another day. We decided that at least it was not raining so we should go ahead. So I continued my journey, about ten minutes in, it started to rain !!. On arriving in Westport things still did not look hopeful but we headed out as far as Bertra Beach as we arrived so did the light !! We spent about an hour on Bertra not walking more then a couple of hundred feet , In front of us as we looked towards Croagh Patrick the sun broke through the clouds to produce a great sky and” great light” while the mountain remained in darkness. Above us there was a break with blue sky while behind us facing out to sea it remained fairly grey. As it turned out it was great light for a lesson in photography because pointing the camera in one direction required us to underexpose by 2 stops, moving to the left about 45 degrees required an Overexposure of 2 stops and moving 180 degrees towards the see resulted in correct exposure by the cameras auto system !! And all without moving the tripod!!

Today there was no sign of the sun at all. it remained grey and cold all day long, still it did not rain !! It must be a week now since we saw rain !! I took this picture on the shores of Lough mask on friday morning in weather identical to today.

Another lovely day in Mayo today, though I did not get out with the camera at all. So I am posting a picture taken in Ballinrobe yesterday evening. Anybody who has ever visited Ballinrobe will be aware of these two water towers which dominate the sky line. I have often wanted to photograph them but never seemed to be there at the right time. But yesterday I was there at twilight so got some colour in the night sky.

I spent today on a one to one training day with Tom, near Ballinrobe. I first met Tom ten years ago when I ran a beginners photography course here in Kiltimagh. The course included developing black and white film and printing with an enlarger !! How things have changed, today was all digital, histograms and photoshiop!!
I went over to Ballinrobe early in the morning hoping to get a sunrise but it was a very grey kind of morning. I stopped at a lovely spot on Lough Mask and took this reflection.

Tonight’s picture was taken in a great hurry ! The morning was cloudy but the day turned out really nice, warm with blue skies! So for the third day in a row we spent our day in the garden, we are building planters and making lots of changes. Its been great to get three days without rain and we have got a lot of work done. Several times during the day I looked up at the sky and thought I shoud head out for a while to get a picture for today . This evening I was teaching in Mulranny so decided I would go to Mulranny a little early and get the picture there. Of course I was late leaving and then having travelled for about ten minutes I realised i had forgotten to pack a cable that would be needed for the overhead projector so had to dash back home. I arrived in Mulranny with less then five minutes to spare. The sun had already set about twenty minutes and the colours had faded but I threw the camera up on the tripod and took this picture of Clare Island . It was a three second exposure and a quick dash into the class!!

Another lovely day in Mayo.
I went out early to capture a sunrise, but apart from some nice colour that you can see on this picture there was not a "proper sunrise" but the day turned out really nice and I spent much of it in the garden again. But the highlight of the day was when news came through that Ireland had beaten England ...........at CRICKET !! Thats like England beating us at Hurling !!

It was a lovely spring day here in Mayo. Spent the day gardening!! I was teaching an evening class in Westport this evening, so I left a little bit early to stop at Lough Lannagh in Castlebar. I would have liked to stay longer!!

We had a lovely morning this morning though the skies had no clouds which I always think makes things more difficult as a photographer. I photographed this boat on a small little lough at Cuiltibo , Kiltimagh.

Yesterday Nancy commented on the facebook page suggesting I visit Urlaur . The funny thing is that I was actually going there yesterday, its maybe four years since I last visited it, and I took a wrong turn, and then decided I did not have time to correct my mistake as I would miss the rugby, so I came home. So this morning I made a second attempt, and Nancy ... this is for you !

Just out for a few minutes between rugby matches, and posting this at half time in the England France match. As you can see there were great skies around kiltimagh today.

A bit late posting this evening, I am just in from photographing Michelle and Mark's wedding in Westport.I was a lovely wedding with lots of laughter

Today was a little like yesterday. There Was no sunrise this morning but the sun did come out in the middle of the day. I am in mulranny this evening and thought I would go over early to get some pictures, but the weather has clouded over again and it looks very unlikely that I will get any pictures so I am posting a picture taken last week in Turlough. What attracted me was the " lonely cloud" By the time I got into position I only just managed to keep the cloud in the frame as it was moving very fast.

The day started dull and grey again and brightened up early afternoon. I am teaching in Claremorris this evening and had hoped to get a picture on my way there. however the sun has disapeared again and the evening is verydull again. So once again back to the archives, well not too far back ! This was taken about two weeks ago early morning near Claremorris.