From a high vantage point in the drumlin country of County Armagh, I spotted a large plume of smoke heading into the atmosphere.

At first I thought it must be an industrial unit on fire, because of the sheer volume; this was no chimney fire.

As I descended to lower ground, I could see that it was coming from the direction of Newry, County Down, so I headed in the direction of the town and followed the dark skies close to main road.

Eventually I found a close place to observe and photograph the inferno.

It was clearly coming from a farm, I later found out it was indeed a pig farm that was afire.

This panorama of the fine late autumn Irish landscape with smoke rising thick through the sky gives an indication of the size and scale, the sun was obscured for much of the time that I was there.

Several fire brigades attended the sizeable blaze.

It was a landscape of smoke and fire.

Sunset in the mountains, Ireland, the sun goes down.

Valley lakes reflect the last of this day's light as the sun edges towards our apparent horizon on the mountain ridge; glints of brightness in the dark from quartzite rocks.

Thin Lizzy's haunting final single The Sun Goes Down is about more than this quotidian natural event, yet as one of my favourite songs, I feel it fits with this image quite well.

Of course, now at the end of November we are seeing early sunsets in Ireland at approximately 16:30 and we will soon reach the shortest day of the year.

Winter is a fine time for photography in Ireland, short days mean that sunrise and sunset are easier to be up and out for, the crowds of summer have gone and often a good winter storm brings interest to the coast.

Join Panoramic Ireland's photography tours in Ireland all year round, not just when the sun goes down - when it comes up as well.

Autumn is well and truly here in Ireland.

We have now passed the autumn equinox by around six weeks, with six weeks to go to the shortest day of the year. 

Temperatures are dropping along with the shortening day length, but we do have clear blue skies this week.

Autumn is a time of colour of course, so woodlands and the mountains take on a stereotypical burst of colour as green moves to yellow, brown and red.

Time to enjoy photographing the pockets of deciduous woodland that dot the Irish landscape.

Go Mall / Slow - It kind of looks like travel is beginning to come back to a sort of normality in Ireland, from Monday 10th May 2021.

With an incredibly slow COVID-19 vaccine rollout and the world's longest lockdown, ranked also as the most strict in Europe, next week (from Monday 10th of May) sees Ireland allow nationwide travel.

For most of the past five months a five kilometre travel limit has been in place and most of the economy has been at a standstill.

Mandatory Hotel Quarantine has been enacted, arrivals from many countries throughout the world have to quarantine in a hotel for two weeks costing €1875.

For the moment, rates of infection are relatively low in Ireland with approximately 2.5% of those tested being positive for the coronavirus. 

At the latest count 1.6 million doses of the vaccine have been administered, 9.1% of the population have received both doses.

So it looks like we will all be able to cruise on roads like this soon, unless you are coming in from overseas - we will keep you updated with regards to changes here on panoramicireland.com in the coming weeks and months.

Panoramic Ireland's private photography workshops will be restarting soon, send me an email to enquire about locations (anywhere in Ireland) and dates (any day of the week).