Mayo and Galway - my favourite part of the west of Ireland, is it yours?

I have written recently about leading photo tours in the west of Ireland and it being one of my favourite places on the island of Ireland. By the west of Ireland in this case I mean Galway and Mayo as distinct from the southwest which is Cork and Kerry or the northwest which comprises Donegal and Sligo.

Galway is Ireland's second largest county after Cork and Co. Mayo isn't small either. Driving across both of these counties you really do get a feel for their large size. The differing landscapes between Ballinasloe in the east of Co. Galway and Clifden, capital of Connemara in the west are obvious to the traveller.

Panoramic Ireland’s photo tours have been listed on Discover Northern Ireland’s website in the activity section complete with some information on what Panoramic Ireland offers in photo tours and workshops throughout Northern Ireland.

The information is specific to Northern Ireland where I have created photo tours in Antrim, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone. Strangely, despite Derry City being the City of Culture 2013 I have not yet led a tour there, any takers?

I was in Ballinrobe recently, a small market town in south Co. Mayo that had a population of 3,682 in 2011.

Like a lot of small towns in Ireland it is an attractive settlement with a colourful streetscape, impressive civic buildings and a decent sized river.

Nearby the countryside contains some of the best views in Ireland, the mountains of Mayo (have a look here for a winter panorama in Mayo with snow, mountains and a rainbow), the unique lakes of Lough Mask, Lough Corrib and Lough Carra are all within easy reach today. There are forests, waterfalls, ancient remains and mediaeval tower houses sitting in the green, drumlin-dominated landscape.

After leading a photo tour in the area I stopped in Ballinrobe for some dinner. In the town square or diamond, I noticed a Stars and Stripes flag flying over a statue that, on previous visits had not been there.

I was not sure if I would go to the coast this morning.

Late to bed last night and a forecast that suggested the south of Ulster would have better weather today was making me reluctant to bother.

Today was one of those days, I had nothing big planned but I had a meeting in Belfast scheduled for the afternoon. And as always I had a plan to head to the coast for sunset even if today’s weather was not going to be kind in providing warm sunset colours.

The meeting in Belfast was cancelled at short notice, postponed by mutual agreement to later in the week. So instead I headed towards Wicklow for some landscape photography.

Wicklow is known as the Garden County and is situated south of Dublin. Home to some of the best locations for landscape photography in Ireland it is an easy choice, mountains and valleys, lakes and rivers make up this county.

A recent photo tour booking took me to Belfast and Co. Down for a photo tour with Barbara from Maine.

Barbara had been to Dublin before and wanted to go somewhere different, having spent many vacations in the usual tourist spots like the Cliffs of Moher, Dingle and Galway she wanted to see a different part of Ireland.

I suggested Northern Ireland as an alternative when she first contacted me. I grew up in Northern Ireland and I still know it very well just like the rest of Ireland. She thought this was a good idea, on visits to Ireland in the seventies and eighties she would never have considered going across the border. ‘It was never a consideration’ she told me.

She still wanted an urban based photo tour so I suggested Belfast; I described it as a changed place from what she knows it as. Like any city there are places to avoid, but tourism has really gripped the city and the rest of Northern Ireland. Belfast has a real character of its own, Barbara thought it was a good plan and we decided to meet in the early afternoon.

Today I took a good long walk through Dublin on a photo tour with an out-of-towner, Jeff from Toronto, Canada.

Jeff booked a few weeks in advance, something I always suggest you do to guarantee availability and we planned to start early in the afternoon. With sunset at 16:45 we made a plan to get some low light and night shots in the city centre.

My favourite images today came from Christchurch, it is a location that almost all visitors to Dublin visit. I usually come past here on a photo tour, and it brings me to an interesting point that because Dublin is quite a flat city it is an easy city to walk around.

Galway Bay, from Salthill at Sunrise - Long exposure photography

I had reason to be in Galway early this morning. With the shortening of the days my arrival before 06:30 meant that I was just in time to get the pre-sunrise light known as the blue hour. On this occasion I wanted to go to Salthill, to the Blackrock diving tower located just off the Promenade. It juts out into Galway Bay looking towards the mountains of Co. Clare on the other side.

The blue hour is that period just before the sun rises above the horizon when the sky and everything in general appears to be blue. It's beautiful, even if you aren't a photographer just to get up and head to the coast, or to a mountain where you have a good panoramic view of your surroundings. Try it sometime!

There is also a blue hour after sunset every evening, although I believe that the morning is undoubtedly the best - in the summer there is usually no one up and about that early, in the winter it is often very chilly and that makes you feel more motivated.

The blue hour is followed by the golden hour, after the sun rises. Neither really lasts for an hour, it's really a phrase to denote a length of time - it depends on your latitude and the time of year.

For the photographer, the low light at this time of day requires a tripod and a long exposure.

A Panorama of the Mourne Mountains at Sunset

A panorama is defined as an unbroken view of the whole region surrounding the observer. It is also a term used to refer to an image with a wide aspect ratio, in other words, an image with a ratio of more than 2:1 - twice as wide as it is high.

A spherical panorama is also known as a 360-degree panorama and an example can be seen here of a 360-degree panorama of Trinity College's Long Room Library in Dublin.

I often create panoramas and find the wider aspect very pleasing and it also solves some problems when subject matter is too wide for even a wide lens to comfortably take in.

On this evening I was headed to 'Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea'.

Take a Photography Experience in Galway

Panoramic Ireland are now taking bookings for our residential photography courses situated in Galway in the west of Ireland.

Book now for €1550 for our popular four-day workshop, half-board in a lakeside house with a maximum of three participants.

Itineraries will change depending on the weather, but every day here in the west of Ireland brings at least one great photo opportunity, and what an experience it is to spend a few days in the region, to really get to know it, and to improve your photography.

Day courses are available for €330 and longer courses can be tailored specifically for you.