Autumn is of course well known as a colourful time of year and without doubt Ireland has many colourful places in September, October and November - the three months traditionally associated with autumn here at this latitude.

On this occasion, a small river in spate with water flowing over salmon weirs, captured on a photography workshop in the Irish countryside.

Fraoch mór is the Irish name for heather, Calluna vulgaris and it can be found over large parts of the Irish landscape.

It is also known as ling and it prefers acidic, boggy soils that cover the upland areas of Ireland. These are places that often, at first glance, appear barren with vast open tracts of treeless ground with only heath in view as far as the eye can see. But when the heather is flowering the uplands are filled with the sounds of bees busy collecting pollen. From April to August, before the pale purple colour bursts across the Irish countryside, ground nesting birds such as skylarks can be seen and heard hovering overhead.

After a day when the weather was supposed to have been better, the evening's stormy sky changed to bright golden sunshine at sunset.

But only for a brief moment or two.

This image is of that sunset light, the embedded post below is of the stormy sky just before sunset and after the day's rain had ceased.

That's how the Irish weather goes, it's difficult to say if the weather will be good or bad but there is always going to be something worthwhile for the photographer.

I always leave for the day with a plan for landscape photography, and adapt according to the weather and other factors.

To learn how to photograph in any conditions such as these or these contact me using the contact page.

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Looking up into those elegant vaulted ceilings and bookshelves that fill two floors of the Long Room Library, that's as much as I could do on today's return to the iconic book repository. The busy tourist site was full of people, mostly international visitors so photographing at ground level was impossible, except for views into the bookcases - more of those in another post. It made me think of a previous visit, outlined below - a commission that required me to photograph without people.

Here is one image from the visit, it's similar to those that I created from a commission for Ritz-Carlton Hotels and I'm sure you will have seen my 360-degree panorama or photosphere of this famous building, one of the world's most beautiful libraries - have a look here for the uncrowded view.

To join Panoramic Ireland on a tour of Dublin, to learn how to make photospheres and panoramas contact me.