Since I have been recovering from cancer this year, I haven't made as many forays into the countryside as usual.

Still, there have been exceptions such as this colourful foray into the Tipperary countryside and this rainy day adventure to a lime kiln.

Belfast's River Lagan cuts a snaking path through the edge of the city, the true city centre situated a little to the west over the now covered Farset river from which Belfast gets its name.

Béal Feirste is the Irish name for the second largest city on the island of Ireland, meaning Mouth of the (River) Farset.

A scene from the west of Ireland as storm clouds roll in.

Ireland's weather is variable, the country is influenced by westerly winds from the Atlantic predominantly but is also subject to Arctic and Siberian influences.

I do enjoy visiting the famous places in Ireland, there's Kilkenny, Dingle, Dublin and the Giant's Causeway to name a few.

But I also enjoy leading photography workshops in the non-famous places here in Ireland - those places that make up the bulk of the Irish countryside such as here in the above image of a typical woodland scene in spring.

Ireland is full of ruins, it's also full of church ruins.

Many of the ruins are scenic in their broken state, centuries of tumble down action, ivy growth and fine locations but few are more scenic than the ruins of Dunlewey in County Donegal.

The first line of advice here is: if you think a memory card is going bad, stop using it! Check out my tips at the bottom for how to keep your memory card working well.

Back in 2010 I was travelling the Irish countryside, much like I do today and I stopped to photograph the little visited Ahenny crosses in County Tipperary. These 8th century sandstone crosses are some of the finest early Christian stone craft in Ireland and the first to be made from stone rather than wood, hence they bear some details that come from the wooden crosses.

On a recent roadtrip through the Irish countryside, I found a fine field of rapeseed, also known as canola - one of the most widely grown plants used for cooking oils derived from its seed.

With a fine blue spring sky overhead and a bright wide field of golden flowers the colours reminded of the traditional colours of County Tipperary, one of Ireland's most scenic counties; and how appropriate because I was in County Tipperary at the time. The county's sports teams often play with blue and gold striped jerseys, particularly the Tipperary GAA team.

It was also one of the first days that I have been exploring with my camera since starting chemotherapy.

The coast of Ireland is perfect for landscape or seascape photography, and perfect for relaxation too.

Here, a stormy Atlantic sunset over County Kerry's Blasket Islands makes you just want to stop and watch. Which is what we did on a photo tour to Ireland's most westerly peninsula, Dingle.

Light is important in photography, especially in landscape photography.

I have written about the difference in light and its effects on the look and feel of a landscape image here.

The two images in this post is from one of my favourite places in Ireland, the west coast - taken two nights apart.

For over 10 years now Panoramic Ireland's famous Dublin Photo Tours have been taking locals and visitors alike around Dublin's famous and not so famous sights.

Yesterday was no exception with RM in from Austin, Texas. We headed off in the afternoon to explore some of the city's interesting places.

The weather was fine, and it was my first full tour after having had chemotherapy for cancer last week so I wasn't sure what to expect from my own ability.