Golden Hour Dawn Swim in March at the Forty Foot, Dublin, Ireland

Early morning is a time to experience the true beauty of the world, daylight builds before sunrise to bathe landscapes in golden hour colour.

I've written about this location before, it's the Forty Foot in Dublin and doesn't need a lot of introduction if you've been a regular visitor to the site. 

There is a special serenity to the morning, an ephemeral liminality as the short-lived golden light moves into bright daylight.

And at this time of year, it's getting bright around 06:00, with sunrise under an hour later.

Join Panoramic Ireland to photograph in Ireland throughout the year, especially at sunrise.

Blue hour and golden hour are the ideal times of day for coastal landscape photography.

Here, a small sea stack and vertical cliffs on Ireland's Atlantic coast catch the end of the evening's direct light, the warmth of which lends its name to the time of day - the golden hour as the light half of the year ends in Ireland.

Panoramic Ireland run seascape and landscape photography classes, workshops and tours all year round and right through the winter in Ireland.

To find out more use the contact page or email me.

There's a magic to be had photographing landscapes, a dependence upon the weather and, at the coast, the tide.

Planning for time of day, to catch the golden hour and the tide at the right time of course takes some of the uncertainty away but the Irish weather can provide interesting challenges.

For the first time in a while I ventured back to one of my favourite locations for landscape photography today.

And, although the prevailing conditions were cloudy and windy, for a moment late afternoon sunshine broke through to illuminate the mountain ridge and enhance the red hues of the bracken and heather covered landscape.

Seven sheep are just visible, grazing the meagre mountainside.

Even in winter, in late January, the weather was mild with temperatures of 11C.

The blue hour and golden hour that both occur every morning and evening are rightly considered by landscape photographers to be the best times of day to capture scenic landscapes.

Lasting for a short time either side of sunrise and sunset the ephemeral light is soft and colourful, sympathetic to the natural landscapes.