The 'no parking' and 'private property' signs gave me the impression that I should probably leave the car a bit further back down the road. I'd driven down this quiet country road as it was a good entry point to a valley in the Partry Mountains that I'd come explore. I walked briskly past the house with the signs and in no time I was following Srahnalong River and there wasn't a soul around but for me, the birds and scattered sheep. I followed the river's course, with Mám Trasna to my left a vertical wall of rock, until I got as far as the end of the valley, then crossing the river I
I decided to start my recee of the Dingle Peninsula by first heading to Lough Slat and Lough Caum, but I got distracted on the way by a mountain peeking out of the low clouds and spent a little while at the side of the road getting a few shots of that, retreating to the car whenever the drizzle became a shower. Having explored the two loughs I could see from the map that there was a rough road that went in a sort of loop to the north and ended up joining the road I'd already travelled, so I set off along it to see if it afforded a decent view. It was less of a road and more of a track
It was completely serendipitous me spotting this location. I was on my way to another location and I was running late, which meant that the sun had already risen (usually when I'm making my way to a location it's dark and I can't see anything but what's infront of me), and a temporary traffic light meant I had to stop at a gate, through which I could see a tree on a slope with Croagh Patrick beyond. Not so long later, during a particularly cold spell, I headed back there for the dawn. The car was reading the outside temperature as -6 degrees, and although I didn't believe that it was as
If you take a look back through my blog posts you will see that I have attempted to photograph this limestone abutment in the middle of the river Corrib twice before. What I hadn't realised is that I had been waiting for 2 years to have another go. Essentially every time fog was forecast over Galway, at the very least I would get out of bed early to stick my head out the window to check for fog. Most of the time there never was any fog, sometimes there was fog but nowhere near thick enough, and once or twice I'd drive to the location to find that conditions weren't quite right. On this
Back in March I'd attempted to get to Corryloughaphuill Lough via Glenamong Valley (see this previous post) and had discovered that it wasn't really feasible. But I could see that the Bangor Trial, just to the north, offered a possible alternative route. I'd need to walk the trail until the terrain opened up a bit with a large mountain on my right, cross a river somehow and head up the slope until I got to the top and then walk along the high ground until I got to the mountain with the lough on the other side. I left the tripod in the car (which meant I'd be shooting everything
Hands down, for me, the most difficuly thing in landscape photography is actually finding the time to do it. Between work, a family and life in general there just aren't that many opportunities, especially when you consider that on this trip to Donegal I left my house at 6:30 and didn't return for 12 hours. On my return I was wrecked and aching all over, but I'd had a good day so I was happy. My first stop was Assaranca Waterfall. I couldn't really find a satisfactory viewpoint from which to photograph it. In the river seemed to be the best place but it wasn't practical. So I shot the
Storm Eunice brought high winds but it also brought snow, so I headed for just north of Newport, County Mayo as the worst of the winds abated. My plan was to walk along Glenamong river on the edge of a forest and somehow head up the moutain range beyond to get to a lough on the other side. I'd planned it all out by utilising an OS map and Apple Maps (because it's got the best satellite photos), but was to discover that the situation on the ground was different to what the maps suggested. First I encountered an incongruous No Parking sign and then found the track cut off by a fence. I
Pretty much two months of terrible weather and photographic failures had proceeded my arrival at Silverstrand Beach on the South West tip of County Mayo. I don't expect every trip that I take with my camera to be a success, but when you've had several abject failures in a row you start to question your abilities. But while some decisions that I have made have exacerbated my failures, what I have been dealing with is a very mild winter. By January I should be reveling in frost, icy flurries and snow capped mountains, but instead it's just warm. The landscape still looks the same as it did
I became aware of the Devil's Chimney waterfall earlier in the year and had wanted to photograph it then, but a Covid related travel ban meant shelving that plan. But on reflection I realised that sitting as it does above a wooded area, that it might be better to capture the image in the autumn. Apparently it's Ireland's highest waterfall and ostensibly isn't as well known as its near neighbour Glencar Waterfall. I wonder if this is due to Glencar being more accessible. The conditions that I was waiting for was plenty of rain the night before, followed by a calm morning. Of course when
I was new in Galway when I first saw the diving tower in Salthill, didn't previously know of its existence. My first thoughts were that I wanted to photograph it. You can see the results in this blog post from April, 2013. They were taken before I developed my style and I didn't even know to check the tide times (I was only lucky that it happened to be high tide). I never attempted to capture it again as I got better at what I was doing, despite only living up the road. However, what with the current Covid restrictions keeping me local I thought I may as well have another go. I hate