We are fast approaching Christmas again and as is usual for this time of year I have been making and sending out vouchers for photo tours by Panoramic Ireland.

Here, a fine waterfall is the focus for one voucher, a gift from a father to his daughter for a landscape photography session in the west of Ireland.

On this occasion we will look at the use of filters, long exposures and choice of perspective in landscapes.

I have written about vouchers before here and here.

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.

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.

County Tipperary has been named as one of the top places in the world to visit in 2022 by Condé Nast, the world's most famous travel magazine.

It has been mentioned specifically for its food and scenic beauty.

You will find no argument about this from Panoramic Ireland, we enjoy photographing in the green county that stretches from the River Shannon to the River Suir.

As part of my online photography sessions here on Panoramic Ireland I give one to one online photography reviews, tuition and help aspiring photographers to improve their portfolio and photographic skills.

Recently after my webcam stopped working I decided to use my GoPro Hero 9 as a webcam. 

GoPro's website lists this as a feature of the action camera, also available on the Hero 8 and new Hero 10 and via a more complicated route on earlier models.

The software GoPro Webcam can be downloaded here.

In my case, using Windows 10 and with the Hero 9 updated to the latest firmware, the software worked fine for the first use but then stopped working subsequently.

In fact, every time I plug it in Windows notification tells me that there is a Camera Connection Error and to try and reconnect the camera.

Of course this produces no different results, always the error.

At first, after doing some research, where I found many with the same problem, I decided to uninstall and reinstall the GoPro Webcam software.

That solved nothing of course, I'm not a big fan of uninstalling and reinstalling software as it rarely cures any problems.

Interestingly though the uninstaller wanted me to remove Microsoft's News Suite. Not a problem, as that is something I never use.

So what do I do now?

Well, this is my workaround; until some kind of fix is issued as it is definitely a software bug - edit: it's still a problem but this method works.

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.

Blue hour in Dublin, photographing the city's modern riverfront skyline.

The River Liffey east of the city centre has changed substantially in the past 15 years. Formerly the quays here were flanked by red-brick Victorian warehouses of only a few storeys high as can be seen in the middle section of the image here.

Now, new buildings line the river and, although not lofty, their scale does eclipse those old warehouses.

The colour here from the buildings suiting the blue hour's natural tones.

Imagine the scene, it's a fine summer's day in the Irish countryside, County Cork this time; the sun is shining strong, stronger than for most of the summer of 2021.

We stop off to view some old ruins and find this fine big field, one of many in this part of Ireland's southwest that isn't green with this old David Brown tractor spinning hay.

At one point a joke was made that if the farmer was in a modern tractor he would have more comforts, including a comfy seat and air conditioning but...of course he has the best air conditioning going - no windows!

Anyway, on we went to photograph the ruins nearby and further afield on a day of photography in the Irish countryside.

A few months after my cancer treatment in 2019, I was travelling through the sunny, lush Irish countryside and found a sign that I had passed many times before. 

It was for Saint Pater's Church, Laragh, County Monaghan.

So off I went for a bit of exploration. Travelling along a small, windy road lined with heavy vegetation, in particular large ash trees, I found the small, attractive church along the roadside; a road that was undergoing resurfacing.

I could see that the door was open, often a rarity in rural Ireland these days so I headed into the grounds, past a small stream and climbed the steps into the quaint, unusual church.

Amongst the most popular places to visit in Donegal and indeed in the whole of Ireland and in particular the 2,500km Wild Atlantic Way that stretches from Donegal's border with Derry right down to Kinsale in Cork, Slieve League's impressive sloping sea cliffs are inspiring.

The impressive cliffs and uninterrupted Atlantic views of Slieve League are located approximately one hour's drive west of Donegal Town in the south west of Ireland's most northerly county, Donegal.

On my previous visit to these cliffs that rise to about 600 metres off the Atlantic Ocean the weather was bright and golden with beautiful light striking the facets of grey rock and green grass.

On this occasion, summer 2021, it was warm but overcast so there was no direct, golden sunshine light. Still, at least the Atlantic weather was sympathetic to our photographic pursuits and there was plenty of colour as you can see in this image.