I thought that I had already posted this colour version of my Portlairge image to my blog, but I recently noticed that I hadn't. So here it is, almost a year later. Better late than never, eh? I prefer the colour version as it makes the mural stand out so much better.

I'd been closely monitoring the conditions in Sligo and I headed there on a day when I figured that I had the best chance of a bit of snow on the mountains. I planned to be at Strandhill beach for dawn to catch high tide. As I drove in I could see that the waves were wild and that there was snow on the Ox Mountains. I had planned to use my 50mm lens and to incorporate the broad sweep of the beach but I found that it caused the mountains to be too insignificant, so I swapped for my 85mm lens and forsook most of the beach. I stayed just long enough for the sun to pop up over the horizon a

My parents and their friends were due to travel to Kinsale for the weekend of Wales v Ireland in the 6 Nations Rugby tournament and I planned to drive down to meet them. Of course, I also scheduled in some time for myself with my camera in scenic County Cork. Unfortunately Storm Ciara hit Ireland the very same weekend. Which meant high winds, lots of rain and very little chance of me getting any shots. Still I kept checking the forecast for even a slight chance to get out with my camera at some point. I had planned to explore the area near Gougane Barra. I'd been there years

I'd been kind of put off trying to photograph Poulnabrone dolmen because it's such a popular spot. A car park and information boards is one thing but a rope around the dolmen really spoils the magic. However, I'd gotten a notion to try it in fog. The fog that morning was some of the most spectacular that I'd ever seen. Ostensibly the entire country was covered but when I drove up to Poulnabrone - which is at a high altitude - it was incredibly thick. I shot the dolmen from several angles but I'm not sure whether or not the fog actually added anything to the image. Usually fog lifts

I'd first attempted to photograph the jetties on Lough Derg at Twomilegate almost a year previously and it hadn't gone well. At the time I'd decided not to attempt it again but eventually I changed my mind and thought it would look good in thick fog. Two of the three weather apps that I use predicted fog at dawn. I awoke before my alarm and prized my eyes open to check the weather once more. It seemed that the fog was predicted to move to the west of Lough Derg, but the conditions for fog were still present so I thought that I had a pretty good chance. When I turned off the motorway I

I knew I was going to be at my first location too early and that the sun would be in the wrong place but I'd deliberately picked a day of rain showers in the hope that I'd get dark clouds with a few spotlights picking out the landscape. I stood at the side of Lough Fee and watched what the light was doing. It was windy enough that I had to wrap my arm around my tripod. I watched as the wind created whirlpools on the lake's surface. They were large and impressive and when one dissipated another would start up in a different spot. I'd never seen it happen before and it made up for the fact

I've been visiting County Wexford for over 10 years (my wife is from there) but it was only this June that I learnt about the Portlairge wreck in Bannow Bay when I read about it in a blog post on Kieran Russell's website. I was very excited about having such an interesting subject to photograph only 10 minutes away from where I stay when in Wexford and at the tail end of October I finally got my chance on the morning before my family and I caught the ferry to Wales for my brother's wedding. It had been a long time since I'd photographed something that required checking the tide times.

After a summer of late night carousing I find I have to gently ease myself back into my landscape photography regime. I try to pick from my accumulated list of locations somewhere that won't require me getting up too early or driving too far. I'd had two false starts already - one where I didn't have money for diesel and one where I had to be in work on the day that I had picked out - but I was headed north west from Galway on a whole day of my favourite weather (rain showers). Unfortunately I had only got as far as Maam Cross when my wife phoned to tell me that she was sick and that

After a terrible December and January (photography-wise) I was stood on the side of a mountain on Achill Island getting battered by strong winds and I was absolutely loving it. I'd first hiked up this mountain side a few years previous on a recce. I'd gone up there to take a look at a neolithic tomb and when I turned round I saw an amazing view of Keel Beach and beyond. This time it was so windy that I had to wedge my tripod legs into the tomb and wrap any cords or straps up tightly. I had to put one foot on the tomb in order to put my eye to the camera's viewfinder and more than once a

I arrived at Downpatrick Head in good time. From a previous visit to Dún Briste (North Mayo Coast) I knew that I wanted to capture it at an angle which made it look the skinniest and that I wanted it to be a long-exposure shot. For this I needed an overcast morning (I settled for mostly cloudy) because otherwise the difference in exposure between the sky and the rest of the image would be too great. I also needed the wind to not be coming in from the direction of the sea, otherwise I'd get sea spray all over the lens. I was lucky enough to get conditions close enough to what I needed on a