I have written about Connemara here on panoramicireland.com many times before, including here.

It's a place that I know well, a place that I have photographed many times. Often I have stood in the rain, capturing the misty scenes of this part of Ireland, many times I have captured fine sunsets and explored the region's beauty.

Here a scene of fast moving clouds and ruffled water zooms past a tree-laden island and barren mountainside, a riot of colour.

Carrickfergus Castle was begun by John de Courcy in 1177.

De Courcy was an Anglo-Norman knight who came to Ireland at the behest of Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster, who sought the English King Henry II's help in becoming King of Ireland.

With no inheritance in England due, no lands and title - de Courcy set off from the southeast of Ireland to the north, and effectively defeated any opposition in County Down and County Antrim. Thus begins a turbulent millennium of English involvement in Ireland.

Stormy day spray off the sea brings a fine double rainbow that extends below the horizon.

Little is visible of the scenes beyond, the rugged Irish coastline extending beyond into the distance.

But the presence of a double rainbow, seemingly floating in the view offshore, is enough to make the rainy afternoon worthy of exploring with camera especially with that little glint of light - the hope of brighter weather to come.

A storm rolls in from the northwest, across the North Atlantic towards the Sea of Moyle and in the distance the islands of the west of Scotland - Islay and Jura amongst others.

In the foreground sits Rathlin Island, one of the largest islands off the coast of Ireland.

The last warm colour of the evening's daylight fades as deep cloud fills the sky and rain obscures the horizon.

The Sea of Moyle sits between the northern part of Antrim, known as Moyle and stretches across to Scotland at the Mull of Kintyre. It forms part of the North Channel, that part of the Irish Sea north of the Isle of Man to the north coast of Northern Ireland, where the Irish Sea meets the open Atlantic again.

Interestingly the North Channel was the scene of the first success by the United States Navy under the command of John Paul Jones and his ship the USS Ranger against the HMS Drake in 1778. A battle almost took place in Carrickfergus before both ships met again a few days later in the East Antrim town on the 24th of April. Jones and his reluctant crew, in it for the money but not glory, successfully defeated HMS Drake after blasting the sails and masts to slow it down. The British ship had superior numbers but was poorly crewed and its guns were not in good working order.

John Paul Jones was from Scotland and along with Commodore John Barry from Wexford in Ireland is considered a founding father of the United States Navy.

The Sea of Moyle, as seen in the above image, was the location of one of the three places where the Children of King Lir were banished to live as swans for 300-years by their evil stepmother - a famous story in Irish mythology.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph the scenes, seascapes and landscapes of the Antrim Coast, Wicklow, Galway and all points in between.

I have written about Croagh Patrick many times here on Panoramic Ireland, most recently with the story of a brocken spectre panorama.

And here is a view from the other side of this majestic peak situated out on the Atlantic Coast of County Mayo in Ireland's west.

Croagh Patrick Brocken Spectre and Ringed Glory

Ireland is a magical place, many myths and legends abound of superheroic endeavours and mysterious peoples.

That magic didn’t disappear centuries ago either, it still exists.

With recent cloudy overnight weather it has been difficult to find an opportunity to get out and photograph Comet NEOWISE or C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE).

The celestial body is now heading away from Earth and is fading, soon to disappear.

So with a good evening sky and a forecast for clear skies I headed into the mountains.

Photographing clouds and other scenes as I waited for the sky to darken, I was greeted about an hour after sunset with more and more cloud. Thickening all the while, I eventually lost sight of any open sky.

As midnight approached, sunset was at 21:40 - I descended out of the mountains really with the intention of heading on, to abandon hope of photographing the comet.

But as the altitude changed, so did my view of the sky - I could finally see some stars and the Plough became visible in the northern sky.

I knew that NEOWISE would be close to the Plough and sure enough when I found a quiet crossroads in the Irish countryside I finally had a view of the whole sky.

Surprised that I could just see it with the unaided eye, I quickly set about photographing the comet, first with a wideangle lens then with a longer lens.

It burns a fine green at the moment, having been a red colour last week.

And that might be the last time I have the opportunity to search for and photograph NEOWISE as the forecast for night skies over Ireland for the rest of July aren't wonderful. But, with the patience of a photographer I will have at least another attempt.

Join Panoramic Ireland on a photography workshop or photo tour in Ireland.

With the relaxation of travel restrictions in Ireland in recent weeks, and the news that my post-cancer checkups will be back soon, I took a visit to the coast.

And I chose the Copper Coast on Ireland's south coast, County Waterford where I run photography workshops.

This fine section of Irish coast doesn't form part of the Wild Atlantic Way but has some of the most scenic bays and beaches in Ireland.

Join me here on this beautiful coast to learn how to improve your photography.

Panoramic Ireland's photography workshops operate all year round, have a look at the Copper Coast page or send me an email to find out more.

Things change, particularly in Dublin where little remains the same for long.

Take the Bernard Shaw Pub on Dublin's Richmond Street, once a hipster, artistic honeypot and now closed (although they did move, this site is being redeveloped) - this scenic moment captured on a Dublin Photo Tour.

One thing hasn't changed though, Panoramic Ireland's Dublin Photo Tours are running again as they always have with social distancing in mind.

Our private tours and workshops run all year round, every day of the week at times to suit you. Once you make an enquiry we can work out a good time, location and subject matter to suit your interests, as we always have done for over 10 years.

If you are looking for things to do in Dublin, send an email or see the Dublin Photo Tours page for more information, tours and workshops available now from July 2020 onwards.

Stone walls in Ireland are as old as farming, the oldest known to be those from Ireland's prehistoric farmers at the Ceide Fields in North Mayo which are approximately 6,000 years old.

Like any field enclosure they provide many uses: keeping cows and sheep in, keeping others out, delineating 'my land' from 'your land', but these stone walls also provide another useful function - they are dry built out of the local stone, in fact usually the stone from the very fields that they enclose. So by building the walls farmers are clearing the land.

And so the stone walls that one finds on travels in Ireland are local to that area. In County Down ( see image below) they are typically massive granite boulders, bigger than anywhere else and in Galway they are built of the abundant limestone.