Zigzag clouds in the morning - altocumulus undulatus above the west of Ireland.

Over the years I have photographed many types of clouds but this is one of the most interesting skies that I have trained my camera on.

Early morning in July on Galway Bay and the diving tower at Salthill saw the formation of this dramatic skyscape but it was not until we got to Lough Corrib with its calm waters reflecting the unusual clouds above that the scene looked so impressive as to make you stop and breathe it all in. A moment never to be repeated, unusual enough that in 20 years of photographing the Irish landscape I have never seen similar before.

The landscapes of Ireland are renowned for their verdure. In a typical year the summer temperatures rarely exceed 30C and in winter mild temperatures mean little hard ice and snow.

This is not a typical year however, a harsh winter with several major snow and ice events and now a long heatwave with little rain since the end of May mean that typically lush scenes look yellow and brown like in this image above.

Many trees are now also turning autumnal with green leaves changing to brown, hedgerows with fuchsia and montbretia usually ablaze with reds and oranges too are lacklustre.

Most people are saying that it was in 1976 when they last had a summer like this and certainly the summers of late haven't had anything more than a day or two at a time of good weather.

It's quite amazing really, not a need to bring a rain jacket and often 16C overnight meaning that the countryside is warm enough to enjoy in the evening without long sleeves.

Photographically it is a challenge as many of the days so far have had only bright blue skies without clouds for interest and contrast in the landscape.

And of course that famous green has disappeared, for now. I'm sure it will be back when the rain and cooler temperatures return.

Panoramic Ireland's photo tours are available in Galway, Dublin, Cork and everywhere else in Ireland, join me and learn how to photograph the beauty of Ireland's landscapes.

Pine Island is one of the western region of Connemara's key attractions for landscape photography and one that I return to often. Next visit, April 2023.

The trees here are Scots Pine, a native evergreen tree that tends to grow tall and slender, it has red coloured wood and tends to add a lot of interest to landscape images of the west of Ireland.

Here we have a long exposure scene with reflection and some wind on Lough Derryclare's surface.

Sometimes it is easy to think of landscape photography in terms of the right light, the golden raking sunshine illuminating the countryside in front of the lens.

And it is true that landscapes with lighting like this are without doubt impressive and beautiful.

Hello and welcome to the redesigned panoramicireland.com. I have been working hard on the site over recent weeks and have now had some time to get out with the camera on my own terms.

I've led several photography workshops in Galway over the past few days and today I had a day to myself that didn't include website designing.

It's Saint Patrick's Day, the 17th March, so I went to see the nearest parade and that was Galway. It was sunny again today just like last year in the small Atlantic coast city.

I went for a walk in the woods in the west of Ireland recently, a great evening with low light shining through the trees.

The only sounds were those of the camera shutter and echoey footsteps as I walked along the stony paths with a background soundtrack of forest birds.

Sunset in the northern hemisphere is occurring earlier and now that we are almost in November it will be even earlier, this weekend sees the time change with the hour going back.

This evening the golden rays of light usually seen after 20:00 in the summer was now lighting up the landscape and sky of western Ireland from after 17:00 and this image is from just an hour later, before sunset.

White clouds at sunset tinged pink and orange by the last rays of the setting sun in Ireland's West, blue sky behind; this is a landscape photographer's ideal.

I had made the short trek down to this lake in the west of Ireland, with very changeable conditions earlier in the evening there wasn't much to hope for in terms of landscapes but just as I arrived the skies cleared and some colour burst forth.

An afternoon in the west of Ireland with sun rays and waves from a Galway lake.

I waited as the camera exposed a few long exposures and afterwards set a faster shutter speed to capture the sunlight bursting through the clouds. Alongside this I captured a timelapse of various lake scenes from the west of Ireland.

This video is a timelapse taken on one stormy November afternoon in 2014.

After a manic few weeks that saw me meeting the President of Ireland, photographing some of the biggest artists around at Electric Picnic and leading many tours including a 10-day coastal odyssey along the coast of Ireland, my first visit back to what is one of my favourite locations allowed me to take some time and relax with golden light and calm conditions.