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

I wasn't sure what was going to be at the end of my journey as I drove towards Levally Lough in County Mayo. Firstly I hadn't visited the location beforehand to check its suitability (I'd just picked a likely spot on Google Street View) and secondly I had no way of knowing what the conditions were going to be like until I got there. A blanket of fog was forecast to cover the entire country, but would it be thick fog or more misty? I planned to capture Nephin Mountain reflected in Levally Lough. If thick fog prevailed then maybe the mountain would be poking out above the fog, which would

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

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

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

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

On a recce I decided to visit a cluster of locations near to each other in County Clare, presuming that I'd be able to get through them all in a day and either find some subjects to photograph or have a nice day out exploring. I like to mark neolithic monuments down for a visit because they're invariably in out-of-the-way locations and sometimes I stumble on something unexpected that piques my photographic interest. And even if I don't, I just really like neolithic monuments. Upon arriving at the first location it occurred to me that I'd been there before, on the way back from

In my last post I said that I'd have to wait for another foggy morning to have another go at photographing the Corrib Viaduct. I didn't have long to wait. I made an impromptu dash to Woodquay after the school run and had about an hour to get what I needed. From the previous visit I knew where to set up my camera and also that I wanted to use a longer focal length. However, when I was able to compare what I'd captured that morning to what I'd previously captured, I could see that the longer focal length had the effect of bringing background elements in closer to the subject, making it

I'd just gotten myself a new shutter release remote control and was waiting for an opportunity to try it out. Happily I got my chance on a Sunday morning with a few hours of lovely thick fog over Galway. I headed down to Woodquay where the stone supports that used to hold the Corrib Viaduct are situated. They are interesting structures in the middle of the river that used to hold the Galway to Clifden railway line. There are three of these pillars but unfortunately the more photogenic ones (the ones with an arch in the centre) are situated on the opposite and harder to access side of the

Stood on the shore of Derryclare Lough it was immediately obvious that none of the conditions I was in need of were going to happen. I gave it time but wasn't long in concluding that I wasn't going to get the shot that I was after. I decided to take a look around and when I rounded a huge mound I happened upon a kissing gate on a partly submerged path. I knew that the path was there as I'd seen photographs of it previously but in its current state it would make for an excellent long exposure image. I praised my good fortune and quickly set up my camera. I took a few shots using the 50mm