The list of people who haven't had a coffee or tea in Dublin's most famous coffee shop, Bewley's on Grafton Street, is short.

For decades it has been a meeting place for visitors to the Irish capital, friends rendezvousing for a coffee, cake and a chat at the central location.

Bewley's has also had real ups and downs in recent years, stuck with incredibly high rents on one of the most expensive streets in the world, with upward only rent reviews even during major economic downturns such as the Global Financial Crisis and COVID-19 and an incredibly uncaring landlord who - rightly or wrongly - wanted to collect all that rent regardless.

It closed in 2015 for a large scale refurbishment that took three years.

So 2020 saw Bewley's close again, for good it seemed back in May, however, late August 2020 saw the famous café reopen to cater to those in Dublin who want something with culture and a tasty coffee; Bewley's roast their own coffee and blend their own teas and for those not in Dublin you can find their beans and ground coffee in supermarkets or online - so for all you English speakers living in the EU looking for good coffee and tea, why not try some of Bewley's finest.

Ireland is usually seen as the Emerald Isle, with its abundance of green landscapes and old buildings.

Weather plays a big part in the mood of the Irish countryside, and often the conditions make it difficult to photograph those stereotypical, iconic scenes.

Soft scenes like this, with waves washing gently over pebbles below a grey sky - most of the green here seen in the colour of the ocean, make up a large part of the landscape photographer's collection in Ireland.

For when the weather isn't quite a s good as it should be.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to learn how to photograph coastal landscape scenes like these.

Photographing seascapes in Ireland is never boring. The varied geology of the Irish coast makes it interesting to say the least.

Here along the Wild Atlantic Way many rocks are evident, sedimentary layers are visible inclining out of the Atlantic while behind igneous rocks form the foreshore.

The rough sheep grazing land stretching uphill is dotted with rocks.

More seascapes can be found here with information on Panoramic Ireland's coastal photography workshops.

Bright sunlight and architecture always works well in photography.

What often doesn't work is shooting against or towards the sun, contre-jour - as seen here in this image.

Photographing through the windows here has allowed me to make the most of the tricky lighting, giving a starburst effect and emphasising the strong sunlight and shadows in the window heads.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph scenes like these, to make the most of the weather, lighting and the Irish countryside with its myriad attractions.

A fine day over part of Ireland today, and a lot of rain too ahead of Storm Ellen which will bring strong winds to the west and south of the island.

I was in both parts, rain and sun. I've had my first CT scan of 2020 and bloods taken for tumour marker tests - again the first of this year as COVID-19 interrupted cancer checkup services.

So after somewhat of a damp day I was glad to see some bright, warm sunshine and stopped to photograph this scene of a laneway leading across the fields past these fine ash trees as the sun gets lower in the sky creating a starburst.

It made me wonder, on this day of contemplation, was I the only person to stop and photograph this scene? Several cars passed, a cyclist as well but no-one slowed down to look at what I was photographing.

As I write this, in the middle of August, Ireland sits under a large rainy weather system, it's warm with little wind but a lot of rain. So much so that there is a weather warning in place for 14 counties.

A storm will arrive later in the week, the remnants of tropical storm Kyle coming across the Atlantic.

Here, an image from May - bright colour from the southeast of Ireland with a carpet of flowers of blue, yellow and green foliage.

The blue flowers are speedwell Veronica umbrosa and originate in Georgia.

The yellow flowers are native to Ireland, well-known as meadow buttercups Ranunculus acris.

Sheep find shelter on a lonely, almost treeless landscape in the Irish mountains.

At the end of a photography workshop, after photographing a small river and waterfalls we found this Irish scene of lush green trees, empty landscape and sheep sheltering behind tufts of vegetation.

And of course it made a scene worth photographing, different to those landscapes that we had spent the morning capturing, but as interesting as any scene.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, on a photography workshop in Ireland - from Dublin to Galway, Kerry to Antrim.

Ireland is a small country, there is no doubt about that but it has surprising variation in geography across its landscape of 486km by 275km.

Here, one of the best known mountains in the country - especially around Dublin - is the Sugarloaf, the tallest peak seen here just right of centre.

This image comes from winter, on a Panoramic Ireland photography workshop in the Irish mountains.

Ireland has seen more than its fair share of stormy weather this summer, as I write we have thunderstorms and heavy rain with very warm temperatures.

This weather of course gives rise to rainbows, this one seen here shining over an old abbey building dating to the 12th century.

These stones have stood here for 800 years, the rainbow lasted mere minutes. 

It got me wondering, how many rainbows has this old building in the Irish countryside seen?

Now there's a thought, but even without an answer it was still a fine sight.

I have written about rainbows here on panoramicireland.com before, here are a few of my favourites: 

https://panoramicireland.com/blog-ireland-guide/croagh-patrick-pilgrimage-brocken-spectre-ringed-glory-irish-mountain

https://panoramicireland.com/photo-tours-blog/rainbow-portobello-dublin

https://panoramicireland.com/miscellaneous-blog-category/stormy-day-weather-brings-delights-ardglass-co-down-northern-ireland

A Good long time ago now here on panoramicireland.com I posted A View Over Dublin, showing the city and some of its locations.

In that image, Dublin Port is just visible to the right hand side but the Irish Sea and Dublin Bay isn't; so I thought why not a view of the Irish capital in its famous surroundings of the Bay and the Irish Sea.

In this image above a scene over Dublin Port, Dun Laoghaire, Howth (the headland just right of centre) and Ireland's Eye beyond. Dollymount Strand is also clearly visible. Dublin Bay is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

This image also contains an interesting clue as to when it was taken, if you can guess what that is then send me an email with your answer and you could win one of my private photography tours of Dublin.

Answers should be received no later than 23:59 Irish Time on September 5th 2020 - so get those eyes working.