Dingle is one of Ireland's most popular tourist locations, both for overseas visitors and locals, and with good reason.

Here, the lofty peaks of the narrow peninsula are overshadowed by clouds, casting their shadows onto the brown and green valley below.

The valley, carved by ice retains a few lakes and the quiet, peaceful feel so characteristic of the west of Ireland.

Sometimes for the traveller and photographer it is easy to be swayed by the charms of the more famous locations in a country or region.

That attraction is easy, the famous locations are what people ask about when you travel - "Did you visit the Giant's Causeway / Cliffs of Moher / Guinness Storehouse etc.?" is what they enquire when you return from a trip away.

The famous locations have plenty of good images to emulate and are easy to find with plenty of facilities, but Ireland, along with most countries has a wealth of landscapes, sites and sights that are not on the tourist trail.

Like this hidden green laneway, an old route through the countryside and lined with majestic trees, this route was never paved and has remained true to the character of Ireland's old scenic paths.

Join Panoramic Ireland (that's me) to find hidden places like these on one of my photography workshops and tours all over Ireland. See Ireland with a creative eye.

Contact me here.

Photography in the West of Ireland from a Panoramic Ireland Photo Tour

It has been a busy few weeks here at panoramicireland.com, we have covered Ireland's largest music festival Electric Picnic (more to come on that) and also have been busy photographing Ireland's landscapes while leading photography tours in the west of the country.

Here is an image from this week's visit to Ireland's west, a region of lakes and mountains sometimes sunny weather but often it looks like in this image and don't you think it's inviting?

The majestic Cliffs of Moher, jewel of Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way seen here on a sunny evening's sunset as the golden rays of sunlight illuminate the 200-plus metres elevation of shale and sandstone sedimentary rocks.

The Cliffs of Moher have long been one of Ireland's most popular natural sights and tourist attractions with over 1,500,000 visitors per year, and rightly so. The 9 miles / 14 kilometres of cliffs catch the bright evening's sunlight as it streams across the wide expanse of Atlantic Ocean. The cliffs along with the nearby Burren are a UNESCO Geopark.

There may be millions visiting the cliffs but here on this evening it was just two of us who were photographing and what a sight! We were briefly joined by a tourist in from New Jersey on his first visit to Ireland and who had been photographing earlier along the stunning coastline.

Sometimes the weather doesn't give you what you want but it gives you something far far better.

This was the case on the occasion that I wanted to photograph the long landscapes of the Irish countryside.

Instead I was met with low cloud and swirling mist across the mountain slopes until, briefly, the cloud cleared.

Dunluce Castle in my own County Antrim.

Used by Led Zeppelin in their album artwork for Houses of the Holy 

I won't bore you with all of the details as I have written previously about Dunluce Castle on County Antrim's Causeway Coast here: http://panoramicireland.com/photo-tours-blog/cow-in-front-of-dunluce-castle-causeway-coast-antrim-northern-ireland

Dunluce and the Causeway Coast is a place that I lead many photography workshops and tours in. Join me, Panoramic Ireland, on a day that suits you: http://panoramicireland.com/photography-workshops-ireland/northern-ireland-photography-workshops-photo-tours/book-a-photo-tour-in-northern-ireland-causeway-coast

Recent weeks have seen me leading photography tours and workshops all over Ireland, from Antrim to Cork, Dublin to Galway and many points in between using the country's scenic roads like this one to get to location.

Find more about those adventures here on Panoramic Ireland or contact me to join me on a photography experience in Ireland - you choose the location and day.

The greylag goose Anser anser is not a common sight in Ireland yet in some of the wetlands around the country it is possible to see these majestic birds like here with several young enjoying a dinner of grass.

Each day's sunset is different, there are no two sunsets the same even in the same location.

Here is a case in point, a few days ago I photographed the sunset here in the west of Ireland. It was a bright evening with some cloud and plenty of blue sky - see image below and this link.

Sometimes the weather forecast shows for cloudy, boring and rainy weather here in Ireland.

That was true of the morning when I made the effort to head to the coast, one could have been forgiven for abandoning the morning's photoshoot or at least for not expecting much in the way of good images.

Yet here is the reward for patience, the lower clouds undulating across the sky pick up the first rays of the sun while those above slowly change colour.