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Darren McLoughlin

Irishman and International travel photographer in search of the best bits of Ireland. Leading photography tours and experiences in Ireland.

Contributor to New York Times / Sunday Times / Irish Times / Echtra Echtra and Eonmusic

Cancer survivor.

Ask me about travel in Ireland or about photography in Ireland.

Ireland's national airline, Aer Lingus has announced pretty good deals for travel from Boston to Shannon in the west of Ireland and New York (JFK) to Dublin.

Return flights and car hire giving you six nights in Ireland start at $499 per person including taxes and charges and these prices can be used for travel all through the winter and spring 2023.

The price is based on two people sharing a car and travelling together but what a perfect way to see Ireland, with a friend travelling around the quiet backroads outside of the tourist season, to photograph scenes like those below.

But you only have until October 14th to book the Aer Lingus flights, take a little longer to think about a Panoramic Ireland photography tour.

For extra, flights from other US cities can be booked as can an automatic car if the manual (stick shift) option doesn't appeal.

Ireland is a fine place in the off season, so enjoy the above collage of autumn, winter and spring images as well as the gallery below.

While you are travelling around in your hire car why not meet up with me for a half day or full day to photograph the colourful Irish countryside where you are in the quieter months.

To find out more send me an email or use the Contact form.

Panoramic Ireland's photography tours and workshops operate all year round in Ireland, see the Emerald Isle without the tourists.

Find out more about the Aer Lingus deals here.

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Wednesday, 05 October 2022 21:01

Cloudy Autumn along the River, Ireland

Autumn is upon us here in Ireland, we have passed the autumn equinox and now the length of daylight is shorter than night.

Last week I was photographing in County Roscommon at the inaugural Night and Day Festival which featured Irish and international artists - more to come on that soon.

This week I have been photographing in some woodlands in the Irish countryside, the weather was a little challenging but the workshop with NS from Virginia, a first time visitor to Ireland, went well as we covered long exposure photography and how to photograph colourful scenes.

Here we left the woodland to photograph along a wide, fast-flowing river to another section of colourful woods on the opposite bank. This is a scene that looks best in the autumn months.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph Ireland's rivers, woodlands and countryside in autumn, winter, spring and summer.

Tuesday, 04 October 2022 23:36

Green Roads, Red Berries in Ireland

Green roads are a favourite place for Panoramic Ireland and what better time than late summer or autumn to visit these scenic conduits through the Irish countryside.

Here red hawthorn berries, blackberries, ash trees, ivy and many other points of interest fill the scene in a rich scene from Ireland's west.

What better place to visit on a cloudy day in Autumn?

Join Panoramic Ireland to photograph green roads, Irish landscapes and the fine cityscapes of Ireland.

The Dark Hedges are one of the most famous locations associated with Game of Thrones.

But of course for those of us from the area, from the fine Causeway Coast and Glens of Antrim, it was always a scenic avenue.

Here, a view into the canopy of those centuries-old beech trees.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph in Ireland. From the Antrim Coast to West Cork.

Sunday, 11 September 2022 00:31

Two Donkeys in an Irish Field

Two friendly Irish donkeys in the Irish countryside, a field of green and yellow under a drumlin.

The donkey, Equus asinus would have been a common sight in Ireland before the age of the tractor, now a rare enough treat to spot these friendly creatures although I have photographed and written about them before here on Panoramic Ireland.

The drumlin is the hill in the background with cows, a drumlin (Irish word used in geomorphology) is a hill formed by glacial action - the ice moving along flat ground and sculpting it through mechanical action.

A mostly bright and sunny Electric Picnic, held in the grounds of Stradbally Hall in Ireland's County Laois in September annually, is now over until next year.

I made the return to photograph at the largest festival in Ireland, this year the Picnic was back after missing 2020 and 2021.

Seen here, enthusiastic fans watching Irish band The Coronas on a warm sunny September evening in Ireland's midlands.

Tickets for Electric Picnic 2023 go on sale this weekend.

Wednesday, 31 August 2022 00:42

Black and White Landscape, Ireland

I usually do prefer to work with colour images, for more than 99% of the photographs that I make they are in colour.

But every so often I do enjoy a good black and white image such as here in this landscape image of a tumbledown cottage amongst the mountain scenery from the west of Ireland.

Join Panoramic Ireland to photograph scenes like this from the Atlantic fringe of Ireland - photography tours and workshops operate all year round.

Ireland has no shortage of fine mountain and valley scenery, despite having no large mountains - nothing over 1,040 metres above sea level.

Here in late summer, one of many such Irish landscapes, the small buildings with tin roof, rusted from years of exposure - standing out amongst the green of the west of Ireland, mirrored in the bright colours of the rowan berries from the mountain ash in the foreground.

A cloud filled sky creates a light and shadow patchwork over the steep slopes of this countryside scene.

Join Panoramic Ireland to photograph in the west of Ireland.

Thursday, 18 August 2022 20:19

Sunlight on the Stones, Giant's Causeway

There is no doubt that the Giant's Causeway is one of the most scenic places in Ireland and it definitely one of Panoramic Ireland's favourite places to photograph.

Here, some of the 40,000 basalt columns of the causeway receive the last sunshine of the day before the sun sets for the evening.

Crashing waves cover the lower rocks during a long exposure.

To learn how to photograph seascapes, long exposures like this join me, Panoramic Ireland, for a photography workshop on the famous Antrim Coast and Giant's Causeway all year round.

Find out more here: https://panoramicireland.com/photography-workshops-ireland/northern-ireland-photography-workshops-photo-tours/book-a-photo-tour-in-northern-ireland-causeway-coast

Such a colourful scene as Cirsium vulgare, the common thistle, provides pollen for the brightly coloured red-tailed bumblebee or Bombus lapidarius in the Irish countryside.

The red-tailed bumblebee is a common bee in Ireland although according to a 2006 NPWS report it was listed as near threatened.

I could have sat and watched, and indeed photographed, these bees all day as they came and went but on I then went leaving them to their industriousness; finding another scene to photograph as the hot summer day baked the landscape all around.

It is interesting to note that the red-tailed bumblebee is reported as being almost absent from agricultural areas in Ireland and yet this is exactly where I found it, the edge of a large barley field in the Irish countryside that had an abundance of flowering thistles at its edge. A good sign hopefully.

The field was a-buzz with bees of different types including the buff-tailed bumblebee that I wrote about in a recent post.

Join me to photograph bees, boats and beaches at blue hour in Ireland on a Panoramic Ireland photography workshop.

Red-tailed bumblebee, Bombus lapidarius on thistle flower in Ireland, Summer 2022
Red-tailed bumblebee, Bombus lapidarius on thistle flower in Ireland, Summer 2022

 

Red-tailed bumblebee, Bombus lapidarius on thistle flower in Ireland, Summer 2022
Red-tailed bumblebee, Bombus lapidarius on thistle flower in Ireland, Summer 2022
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