Daily Blog

I was at the Foxford craft fair all day today, its always good to do these events because you meet so many people, I was also interviewed on local radio. It mean no time to go out to take photographs, so as I went into the fair this morning I nipped down to the banks of the River Moy to get a picture for todays blog. As you can see the fog was just lifting after a freezing night the roads were very dangerous which meant the numbers attending the craft fair were down from last year.

The thaw has arrived in the West atleast, The Foxford Christmas Craft Fair started today, so the morning was spent setting up. On the way to Foxford this morning it was very foggy and I had hoped to get out into the fog for some pictures in the afternoon,. but the fog lifted and the rain started, so when I did get out to ballylahan castle near Foxford it was raining had I just grabbed this picture.

I was out this morning but when I went to take my photograph I discovered I had left the memory card in the computer !! I did the same about 28 years ago on a holiday to Wicklow I remember thinking that I was getting “ alot of pictures on this roll of film” only to discover I had loaded the film wrong, I still think it would have contained my very best masterpieces!!

So I am posting another picture from last weeks trip to Keem Strand on Achill Island. I took this Panorama as I left Keem, I was already late but had to stay for just one more. It looks lovely but it was freezing cold and I had set the tripod up in a hail shower. I waited in the car for the cloud and the hail to clear and once the sun came from behind the cloud the place just lit up, and after the shower the air was clear and the visibility as good as it gets !

Another cold day in mayo, though the sun is out and the snow is beginning to disappear.

I took this picture on my over to Westport this morning, just as the sun came up, these trees are in Turlough.

Very cold again today , and I did not get out. I took this picture yesterday morning as the day dawned over westport.



It looks and feels cold dosen't it ?

Another very cold day I have been in the gallery all day preparing for the foxford craft fair which is next weekend.
So I am posting a sunrise picture taken a few days ago on Keem, Achill.

The cold snap continues and we had frost all day. I had great intentions to go out but the roads are very dangerous. I got this picture jaus after the sunset in Craggagh this evening. Craggagh is just outside Kiltimagh.

Winter has arrived in Mayo, Unusually early this year, we had our first snow last night and Crough Patrick was covered this morning. We only had maybe an inch of snow on lower ground and it melted quickly, though because we don’t get much of it we are never prepared, and there was traffic chaos ! I nearly added to it when getting this picture because I had to hang out the door of the car (which was stopped of course !) so as to keep the ducks in the picture, I had passed them ten minutes earlier but as soon as I appeared out of the car they flew away.

This morning I was up early again and headed to Keem bay on Achill Island. Keem is one of my favourite locations but being an hour and a half drive from home I don’t get to it as often as I would like.
On the journey up I drove through driving rain and hailstones and wondered was I wasting my time. I was tempted on more then one occasion to abandon the journey. As I drove the last mile or so it really looked like there would be no sunrise due to all the cloud. Even after I went onto the beach and it started to rain hailstones on me and I remembered I had not put out the bin, even though I had promised Patricia last night that “Of course I won’t forget” it really felt like I was in the wrong place. I phoned home and again made peace with my ever patient wife and about two minutes later the skies began to clear and the magic started.




Things were changing so rapidly that I had to work really fast, sometimes trying to shade the lens from the sun, next drying the rain off the lens and changing the camera settings as the light fluctuated so much as the sun appeared and disappeared behind the clouds. At one point as it rained I looked behind me, only to see this wonderful rainbow, trying to get a good shot of it I disserted my tripod ( you can see it in the bottom left of the photo) and scampered like a Mulranney Goat over the rocks so as to include the sea in the photo. It was only as I gingerly made my way back that I realized how lucky I was not to have fallen on the slippery rocks.




Keem was wonderful and as usual I had to leave long before I wanted too, but it was well worth the early start and I am glad I ignored the negative voice that kept talking to me on the journey there!.

This morning I had intended to go to Achill for a Sunrise on Keem strand. The sun only rises over keem for a relatively short period during the year. However I awoke to icy roads, there was frost after a rain shower and the road was like a an ice rink. So instead I just went went down the road to a bog close to our house and photographed the sun rising behind a tree.

I was out early again this morning but the day started foggy and cloudy so I did not get the sunrise I had hoped for. As I drove into Westport I decided to get above the fog so went to the hills above Aughagower . You can see Aughagower church and round tower in the bottom left hand corner of the picture. The fog looks like water on the Landscape.

Today I am posting a Panorama taken from the foot of the hill that yesterdays picture was taken from. The hill is to the right of the picture. Now I know some will contact me to say they thought that from my description yesterday the hill was a mountain of mammoth proportions. I must admit to looking at the picture myself and thinking its not THAT big . But these things are all relative and yesterday it seemed to get bigger the further up I went!!






The Mulranney goats proved very popular and a number of people contacted me about them, some with some amusing stories. So I thought Id put up another couple of pictures of them. I nearly lost my tripod and camera bag yesterday because I twice placed them on the ground as I "stalked" the goats. ( Im six foot tall and 19stone so "stalking" is also a relative term) Anyway once I had the pictures of the goats I had to spend twenty minutes trying to find the tripod and camera bag which I had put down in the gorse!!

This morning I went to Mulranny, my friend Sean Carolan who leads guided walks of the area had sent me a map with a suggested location for a photograph of the Curraun Peninsula . The weather was so good today that i decided not to wait until Sean provided me with a guide as he said he would but just to hike up the hill. Well what a hill ! I fell twice going up and once coming down! I might have been better waiting for a guide then I might not have stepped into so many bog holes and not had to cross the same stream three times! Anyway I eventually made it to the top and what a surprise I got, the view was amazing !



I also met some of the wild goats that live in the hills.



Sean tells me that this is a very special ancient herd of Irish goats with a lineage of over five thousand years.I think one of them could well have survived the five thousand years judging by the length of his horns!!

Today was a beautiful day in Mayo. I was out early and photographed the sun rising between Knock and Claremorris. It was my only chance to get out but the forecast for the next few days is for a cold clear spell so hopefully I should get some good pictures.

The day started very grey but cleared up nicely in the afternoon, I had hoped to get out in the afternoon for the sunset but got held up and did not manage to get out. This picture of Croagh Patrick was taken yesterday morning. The picture was taken for the sky really.

It was a lovely morning this morning, I started by going to Rossbeg and photographed Croagh patrick ( again !) as I was leaving I noticed low cloud and fog across the bay so I decided to make a quick dash up to Lough Fiach in the hopes of getting the lifting fog, but I was just too late.

The weather today was not great, I got out for a short while in the morning but it rained all the time I was out so I am posting a picture taken at the weekend. This small plantation of trees is near Blackloon near Kiltimagh, what attrected me was the sky which I knew would look good in Black and white.

I did take some pictures today, I was asked to take a picture of the church in kiltimagh for somebody to draw. So it did not matter that it was very cloudy and actually raining at the time because the artist only needed the image as a reference and would put in their own “weather” Isn’t that a great skill to have !!. I looked in the “archives” tonight when I came across this picture of Moyne Abbey the clouds are amazing and the whole feel was just so different to when I was photographing today that I decided I would share it!! For the record , Moyne Abbey is my favourite abbey in Mayo and is well worth a visit!

November is of course a special month of rememberence. My own Dad passed away this year and he is always on my mind. This morning I was passing the ruined Carmelite monastory near Claremorris before sunrise, so I stopped a while. Grave stones always face East to the rising sun.






There were some interesting clouds in the sky also.

I had no opportunity to get out with the camera today. So I am posting a picture from yesterday. This ruined cottage is near Kiltimagh, as you can see a panel of the tin roof was blown off in the recent storm. Once the roof comes off they can deteriorate very quickly , so I hope it gets fixed. The cottage looks idyllic on a fine day but I bet life was really hard for the people who lived there.
It was a nice picture in colour but I am giving a nightclass tonight and it has just put me in mind of black and white , so I tried it with a sepia tone. What do you think ?