Ireland's Wicklow Mountains are amongst the most visited in Ireland; situated just a short drive south of Dublin the Wicklow Mountains offer access to expansive landscapes like in this panorama overlooking Lough Tay.

I have written about Wicklow before, especially Glendalough and also indeed of Lough Tay.

This lake is also known as the Guinness Lake, the estate in which it sits used to be owned by the famous Guinness family and has recently been sold.

It looks exceptional on a fine, sunny day with no wind and a big blue sky above filled with white clouds but usually this lake is choppy with the strong windy gusts sweeping across the treeless mountains.

This part of Ireland is also out of bounds for now, the movement restrictions placed across the country due to Coronavirus / COVID-19 mean that few people have legitimate reason to visit this remote area.

Help to keep Panoramic Ireland going during the current crisis, each week bringing you more images and scenes from Ireland, you can donate a small amount below and my current goal is to reach enough to buy a microphone to record my podcast and other material. It also helps to keep the website going, there is no advertising on Panoramic Ireland.

Sunset is a magical time in photography, along with sunrise it makes up the best portion of the day for landscape photography.

Here, on the edge of the Atlantic, on Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way is sunset over the Aran Islands with a red-orange glow.

To learn more about photography during the current Coronavirus / COVID-19 quarantine, why not take a personal online photography workshop with me any day of the week, any time of day to suit your timezone via Google Hangouts, Zoom etc.

Contact me to find out more - sessions from 45 mins to 1 hr 15 mins.

Learn how to use Lightroom, Photoshop or other editing software and manage your image collection as well as photography concepts such as depth of field or sunset photography and post processing.

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We may be looking through the archives but here is one that never fails to make me laugh.

As I was explaining depth of field on a photography workshop with JMcC from Ontario, Canada this donkey popped up and crashed the shot and perfectly illustrated the concept of depth of field and selective focus.

To learn more about photography during the current Coronavirus quarantine, why not take a personal online photography workshop with me any day of the week, any time of day to suit your location via Google Hangouts, Zoom etc.

Contact me to find out more - sessions from 45 mins to 1 hr 15 mins. Learn how to use Lightroom, Photoshop or other editing software and manage your image collection as well as photography concepts such as depth of field.

As we're all stuck indoors, it's time to look through old images - travel through the archives, not the backroads of Ireland.

And here is a collage of images from Ireland, featuring cows and flowers and sheep; sunsets and trees.

These are just a few of my favourite images taken over the years, more to follow as I travel through folders on hard drives rather than the backroads of Ireland.

Stop by and ask for images of your favourite places in Ireland, use the contact page or button on the page to send in your requests.

Today, 17th March, is the feast day of Ireland's patron saint (one of three actually) Saint Patrick and it has been marked with a doodle on Google's search pages of Ireland's Cliffs of Moher.

I know that the Cliffs of Moher are one of the most famous and iconic places in Ireland but I do find it interesting that Saint Patrick never visited the cliffs, nor did he actually visit County Clare.

According to local tradition in County Clare, Saint Patrick blessed the county from across the River Shannon before heading to the north of Ireland.

It's just an observation and I have added my own sunset image from the Cliffs of Moher above.

Although Saint Patrick's Day has been all but cancelled this year, 2020 due to what we all know now as COVID-19 or the coronavirus, it is still possible to see and enjoy the sights of Ireland.

Today I visited Saint Patrick's Catholic Cathedral in Armagh, Ireland's ecclesiastic capital.

It's a fine structure, rising high on one of Armagh's seven hills and visible from the countryside all around the small city with its 64m high spires projecting off the lofty position opposite Saint Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral.

Begun on Saint Patrick's Day in 1838 after Catholic Emancipation of 1829, the cathedral was designed in the perpendicular gothic style but work stopped after the Famine in 1847.

Away from the crowds, in fact away from everyone the Irish countryside is a perfect destination for landscape and travel photography.

Here a rural road through the green Irish countryside leads us to the mountains just as a little bit of rain starts to fall.

You can see the rain streaking across this dramatic grey sky, but it didn't stay that way for long with sunshine coming out soon after.

Join Panoramic Ireland on a private photography workshop in the Irish countryside away from the crowds.

Places available right now, throughout March, April, May and on - 365 days of the year! 

The Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi said that ‘The wise man knows that it is better to sit on the banks of a remote mountain stream than to be emperor of the whole world.'

And sitting on the banks of this fine remote Irish mountain stream (small river), I was reminded of these very words as I photographed the scene after a recent photography workshop in Ireland's fine springtime countryside.

For 30 minutes I enjoyed my own solitude, gazing on the fast flow of the fresh water and felt in awe of the scenery just here in front of me.

I'm sure that the river banks must have been full of wildlife but I couldn't hear much over the constant sound of the flowing water.

After finishing today's photography workshop I took a few moments to photograph for myself at a small river and woodland in the Irish countryside.

Here I found a path through the woods, hence the title of this post - a walk in the park with sunshine and shadow.

I was reminded of this quote while admiring the scene in front of me:

“A path is made by walking on it.”

― Chuang Tzu

And what a fine day it has been, perfect for photography with some rainshowers but mostly sunshine and cloud with blue sky.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, for a private photography workshop in Ireland - no crowds, no groups.

On the 7th of March 1848, Ireland's now well-known tricolour flag of green, white and orange was flown for the first time.

It was created by Thomas Francis Meagher, a skilled orator and statesman who later went on to become the first acting governor of Montana.

Often represented as green, white and gold the Irish flag is in fact green, white and orange - in Meagher's own words: "The white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between the 'Orange' and the 'Green', and I trust that beneath its folds the hands of the Irish Protestant and the Irish Catholic may be clasped in generous and heroic brotherhood."