0.00
Archive by Tag
Blackrock Diving Tower, Salthill, Galway

I check the weather forecast once a day looking for conditions favourable to photography. If there are conditions forecast that will suit an image that I have in mind I pay more attention and check the updates more often, and if there aren't I pay less attention. So it was with complete surprise when I looked out the window and saw thick fog outside my house when I was expecting instead several days of rain. The first thing I did was check the tide and on finding that it was high tide in about half an hour I made a quick dash for Salthill. On checking a previous blog post I learnt that

Posted on February 18, 2024 by aledowenthomas in Landscape
Hag's Leap, Leitrim

There's a handy little carpark at Hag's Leap and from there leads a path that takes you towards Eagle's Rock, but after walking along it only a short while I knew that I wasn't going to get the vantage point that I was looking for. For that I'd need to do a little trespassing, as is usually the case. Eager to get to where I figured I needed to be I skipped over a stream, climbed the opposite bank and gingerly swung my legs over a few barbed wire fences (all made a tad more precarious with all my camera gear on my back). As I stood behind my tripod waiting for the sun to rise I became

Posted on December 07, 2023 by aledowenthomas in Landscape

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

Posted on November 20, 2022 by aledowenthomas in Landscape

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

Posted on February 03, 2022 by aledowenthomas in Landscape
blackrock diving tower salthill galway

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

Posted on March 03, 2021 by aledowenthomas in Landscape
tree in snow

There is a tree near Castlebar in Mayo that I've had marked out for snowy conditions for a quite a while now. It's on a slope, it's an interesting shape and it's on its own. Pretty much perfect. Unfortunately I'm currently unable to get to it as I'm stuck to within 5km of my house thanks to Covid-19 restrictions. But it's funny what you can find nearby when you're forced to. It seems having driven around searching for trees, that the interesting trees aren't on their own and the ones that are on their own are ugly. But I managed to find this one and the snow plastered to the trunk and

Posted on February 14, 2021 by aledowenthomas in Landscape
tyres in lough glencar

I arrived at Streedagh Point for the dawn as I'd marked out a point on top of the dunes from where there is a great view of the mountain range - nicely coated in snow - that Benbulbin belongs to. However the light was completely flat and wasn't going to improve for hours judging by the thick blanket of cloud over Sligo. So I decided to move to a lower point where I could possibly use alluvium to capture a reflection of the mountain range instead. Ultimately it was a wasted hour though. From there I went north to Gleniff Horseshoe where I'd marked out a spot from which can be seen the

Posted on January 01, 2021 by aledowenthomas in Landscape
errisbeg dogs bay view connemara

I could just make out the outline of Errisbeg in the darkness as I approached Roundstone, and when I parked I started to doubt my own plans. My intention was to climb Errisbeg in the twilight in the hope that I may get high enough to get a shot of Dog's Bay and Gurteen Bay as the dawn broke. But it was only just getting light and the mountain looks far more formidable  when you're looking up at it than it does on the map. Having recently borrowed a digital luggage scale I knew that my fully laden camera bag weighs nearly 11.5kg so I left the tripod and one camera body in the car to

Posted on October 21, 2020 by aledowenthomas in Landscape
classiebawn castle

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

Posted on March 01, 2020 by aledowenthomas in Landscape
harbour view beach cork

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 previously

Posted on February 10, 2020 by aledowenthomas in Landscape