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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
Corrib Viaduct Galway Ireland

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

Posted on December 13, 2022 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
Devil's Chimney Waterfall, Sligo

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

Posted on November 28, 2021 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
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
corrib viaduct in fog

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

Posted on December 13, 2020 by aledowenthomas in Landscape
corrib viaduct in fog

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

Posted on December 02, 2020 by aledowenthomas in Landscape
derryclare lough connemara

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

Posted on November 10, 2020 by aledowenthomas in Landscape
inverin connemara

After the usual false starts and frustrations around this time of year I finally got up early one morning and headed out with my new camera. I wasn't going far, just 20 minutes west to Spiddal. I had planned to get a long exposure of the pier under an overcast sky, but when I arrived at the location during the blue hour, before I'd even parked the car I could see that I wasn't going to be able to get the shot that I was after as I'd neglected to notice that street lights run the length of the pier. The lights would create several blown-out orbs in the image. The desire to try out my new

Posted on October 08, 2020 by aledowenthomas in Landscape