Daily Blog

Today was another lovely day in Mayo. Finally we have had three days in a row with no rain and lovely warm sunshine... it must be time for the kids to go back to school !
I did not get out with my camera today so I am posting a picture taken a couple of days ago on carrownisky strand. This picture , which includes Clare Island was taken 50 minutes after sunset. It was an exposure of five seconds, hence the movement in the water.

For many years all my photography was done in black and white. I spent many hours in the darkroom perfecting the final print. I liked monochrome for all sorts of reasons but the main one was the level of control I had over the final image. With digital photography I now have the same control over colour and I find myself doing less and less monochrome. Today as I travelled between Balla and Kiltimagh I spotted this scene which just cried out for Balck and White. The clouds were just fantastic. As I put my camera to my eye I knew I would be converting this to black and white, but I have included both colour and black and white for you, I would be interested to know which you prefer?

Took a trip out to Carroniskey this evening for the sunset, got there just on time.

On August 13th i posted a picture of Birren Coragh taken from Westport. Tonights picture shows the same hill taken from Ballyvary, I was travelling the road trying to get back to Westport for the sunset when I saw this view. It was difficult to find a spot to photograph without houses, and telegraph poles in the way.This photograph was taken with a 200mm telephoto lens. I did not make it back to westport on time , but I dont mind I think it was worth stopping!

My daughter Grainne was offered a place on the photography course in IADT Dun Laoghaire, so we had to make a quick dash to Dublin to secure accomadation. we were very lucky and found a place only 1/2 a mile from the college. So my only chance to use the camera today was on Sandymount Strand, the sun had already set and while I hoped some nice colour would develop it didn't., So tonights picture is not from Mayo but is from the big smoke!

On 13th august I posted a picture , a panorama of Croagh Patrick with seaweed in the foreground. I stated I would go back when the light and tide was right. "Omnishots" commented that she looked forward to seeing it right, so I went back this morning, the tide was out, the light looked like it might come right. So I waited and waited, I could see the gap in the clouds that was going to let the sun through, I was there for about forty minutes when the place lit up, it lasted for about one and a half minutes then it went dark, and started to rain, the rain was so bad I picked up a couple of walkers, because you just could not pass them! I took this picture as a "banker", I also took a panorama I have not had time to process it yet so I dont know if it worked. Unfortunatly by the time the light did become good Croagh Patrick had clouded over, never mind I will just have to try again, its a hard life isn't it?



I also received a note from Steve Flinter who I spent the day photographing with last wednesday, he sent me one of his pictures from the day and has given permission for me to share it with you.


Letterkeane woods by Steve Flinter

Another day sanding floors. Decorating a house is I think one of the worst jobs! You decide to just “clean up” one room . But as soon as you sand one floor, well it just makes the floor in the next room which yesterday looked fine now look disgraceful! But it is nice to step back at the end I suppose. Darragh my eldest son who is a camera man in Dublin, worked for a couple of summers as a painter while in college and he and his girlfriend Irina arrived down yesterday to give us a hand so that is brilliant. It looks like we will now be doing the whole house though!
So its back to the “archive for todays picture. Well not the Archive really, just back a couple of days. Here is another view of Lough Fiach in that lovely showery weather. I have felt a little restricted today because there were some fantastic black skies and sunny spells .

Sanding floors again today so not out with the camera. Darragh and his Girlfriend Irina arrived from Dublin to give me a hand. I took the picture as their train pulled in to Castlebar Station. Darragh used to be a big fan of trains and owned every model from the Thomas the Tank Engine stories. We found "Gordan" in the house today Darragh had it in 1992!

I am moving house at the moment so no time for the camera today, just sanding floors and preparing walls for painting. I am a bit late posting this due to technical difficulties, the mobile internet would not connect for some reason. Anyway Iam posting a picture, taken yesterday while out on a one to one landscape day. As you can see from the picture the weather was very changeable , but also very exciting, I just love showery weather it really does provide the most exciting light, fleeting moments, like the rainbow over the cottage, and of course the occasional soaking!!

I had a great day today, out photgraphing all day! I spent the day on a one to one training day with Stephen. Stephen is actually a very advanced photographer, but he wanted to do some landscape work.The day started badly enough, we met at 7.30am in Mulranny and our first stop was Carrickahowley castle ( Rockfleet) It usually looks good in the early morning. We got to the castle only to find it covered in scaffolding!! So just to get the day going we stopped up the road and got out to explore any possibilities on the shore line, thing were progressing well when we heard the rain approaching on the calm water, we made a run for it but we could not outrun thr rain! Things got much better after that and we did a mini tour, stopping regularly to capture the scenes. Most were difficult enough in very harsh lighting and we both but the graduated neutral density filters to full use.



This first picture is on the sheaffrey pass




this picture was made on a brief stop at Carroniskey Strand

These two ponys live on one of the islands just off the coast in Clew bay. They have featured in a number of my photos over the last nine months, usually as small details in big pictures . When I visited the location the other day the tide was so low I was able to walk to their island. They seemed pleased to see me, I was sorry I had not brought any mints or treats for them, but they were glad to get some grass pulled from my side of the wall!!

Yesterday i posted a picture taken with a wide angle lens. Over the last year or so i have found myself using the wide angle less and less for landscape. while a wide angle allows you to get everything into one picture it does change the perspective. I much prefer to make panoramic pictures. this picture was taken at the same time same place as yesterdays . It consists of TEN photographs taken one after the other, all overlapping and then "stwitched together " in photoshop. I much prefer it. the other advantage is that this picture is exactly one metre long and could be printed a metre and a half long with no loss of quality. Now thats a big picture !



due to the limitations of the internet you cant really see the quality of this untill you see the print

Landscape photographers are always watching the weather. A friend of mine this week said to me , “you’re obsessed with the weather”. I’m not, but I do have to keep an eye. I have the weather forecast for Westport as my home page so that every time I go online I can do a quick check. Yesterday the forecast for today was for sun, I also checked the tide times, you may remember I took a picture a couple of days ago at low tide and am keen to revisit the same spot when tide and sun height and weather all come together. Anyway it was not to be today, but still it was to be sunny, no wind and the high tide was at 10.18am this meant the sun would not be too high. So I made my decision yesterday to get another location at 10.18!! It paid off with this picture of Croagh Patrick, a very slight wind meant that the reflection was not as still as I wanted, but still not bad. So my “obsession” with the weather meant I was in the right place at the right time and my photo of the day was captured in about ten minutes!!

Whenever I am out in the car I am always exploring, on the lookout for new view points. Yesterday as I returned from Burrishoole I took a detour off the Newport to Westport road for a quick scout about. The road climbed for a little while, this view was from the top of the Hill. I am only a mile or two away from Newport town , yet it is completely out of view, except of course for the church tower that can just be seen. It is very small in the Landscape, can you spot it?

Today I met Noel for a one hour one to one lesson. We met at Burrishule Abbey. Noel had a good camera, one of the larger compact cameras. Like so many people Noel only used his camera on Auto.Todays cameras are really really good, and like cars they can be driven in auto, but most people who drive cars prefer to use manuel controls. It is almost an obsession of mine, I would love to teach everybody with a camera to switch off auto. Now I dont think people need to be thinking in fstops and shutter speeds but I do think the photographer needs to exercise some controls. Noel today was a great student and after we carried out a couple of experiments he quickly understood how his camera was working and his photograhy visibly improved. Noel himself was amazed at how easily he could improve his photographs. This is one of the great things about digital photography, you get instant results. I think I have converted him and I think he has switched off "auto" for good!.


I took this panorama on the way back from Burrishule. What attracted me was the colour of the seaweed. It was taken at 1pm, not a good time for landscape because the sun is too high, I must keep an eye open for the same location early morning at low tide, a very low sun could be great on that seaweed.

I love when the forcast is for sunshine and showers because it often provides the most exciting light. Often the changes in light can be so rapid that it is hard to keep up with it. Today I witnessed a fantastic scene over clew bay with individual islands light by sunshine breaking through clouds, I grabbed the camera and hopped out of the car, but by the time I put the camera to my eye everything had changed and the moment was gone. It can be difficult light to work with because of the high contrast between light and dark.
I was in Mulranny today and as I approached I loved the cloud cover and the light across the bay so I swung a quick detour by "Knockmanus" and got this picture. Ten minutes later I was running for cover on Mulranny strand as a sudden shower crept up behind me!

Those of you who know me will know that I hate to be wrong! but I was , I was full of hope yesterday that the weather was going to improve but the rain returned again today.
This morning started well enough, There was lovely clear light despite some dark clouds, but by about 11am the rain arrived and though light it was around for most of the day.

I watched these two horses for a long time hoping they would get into position for a panoramic shot of croagh Patrick, when they did the light on the islands would disapear and would return when they moved out of position, I have not had a chance to put the panoramics together yet, so i might share them another day. I took this picture because I liked the contrast of the sun on the horses and the dark sky behind, its a pity they look like they might have fallen out with each other !!

I hope I am not speaking to soon, but today was lovely in my part of Mayo. I have looked out early so many mornings recently only to see grey skies and return to bed, that when I looked out this morning, I fully expected to curse and return to bed. But no, it looked lovely, so I cursed anyway cos now I had to get up!! My mood quickly changed when I got out though, it was lovely and sunny, with showery clouds but the air was so clear it was just great to be out. I had so much to do today that I was not able to photograph for long and was in the gallery by 7.45, but I felt fully refreshed uplifted and ready for the day.


The low early morning sun lights up the seaweed as the tide goes out.

I took this photograph of the evening sky over Birren Coragh in the Nephin Beags yesterday evening, as I was putting it through photoshop this evening I decided I would do some experimenting. the first picture is how I would normally present the image,

I usually use "cloudy" white balance in my camera as my default setting, not because it is always cloudy in Mayo but because it has a warming effect on the picture.


For the second version of the same picture I have used Auto white balance which on this ocasion has given an even warmer result

and for the third I have used tungston White balance which gives the picture the blue colour.

Which one do you prefer ?


There are still places available on the two day Landscape courses for later in August, you can book on line, or contact me at the gallery 09850275

I was in the gallery all day today but did not have to go far to get a few pictures.
The music festival is on in westport, and today was "heritage" day, so the mall was full of activity. Everything from vintage cars , to potters and musiciens and of course dancing!


seaweed for sale


cooking on turf


young musicians


dressed for the occasion


making eyes!