Wreck of The Irish Trader

I have often led photography workshops to the beach at Baltray for one reason - the shipwreck of the Irish Trader seen here surrounded by the Irish Sea on a very windy day.

The ship was run aground here in 1974 during storms in the Irish Sea and it has remained on the flat sandy beach ever since.

Panoramic Ireland - Photography Classes in Ireland

This year I am running several photography classes around the coast of Ireland, from Antrim to Dingle these classes are suitable for all levels from beginner to advanced and all you need is a camera. It doesn't matter what type of camera you have, there is no snobbery here.

Sunny Spring on the Shannon

The longest river in Ireland or Britain, the River Shannon flows southwesterly from its source near the border with Northern Ireland beyond Limerick to the Atlantic Ocean on the west coast of Ireland, a distance of 360km.

Over the past year I have spent many days photographing on the Shannon, appreciating its calm waters, big skies, reeds and wildlife, this is an exciting place for a photographer. Reflections are the order of the day here.

The west of Ireland, lake at sunset.

With waves crashing ashore from westerly winds, it was bracing but not bitter. The colours coming from the sky more than made up for any shortcomings in air temperature and the views alone were breathtaking. 

This was a scene that I had wanted to get for quite some time, to photograph this western lake on a great evening with plenty of atmosphere. I took a few exposures with this deviating from the typical landscape photographer's choice of long exposure, sometimes more drama can be created with a shorter exposure.

I led a photography workshop this week in Dingle, Co. Kerry. The westernmost part of Ireland, Dingle is a peninsula of rugged beauty, waves lash the coast that in places is sandy, or rocky as seen in this image. Offshore lie the Blasket Islands, whose inhabitants were forcibly removed from island life in the 1950s.

The town of Dingle, known locally as An Daingean, is one of the prettiest in Ireland. Colourful streets, a working harbour, mountains and 52 pubs all contribute to the appeal of this popular town on Ireland's newly created Wild Atlantic Way.

2014 is Year of the Horse in Chinese culture. Despite spending much of my time with horses and having photographed them throughout Ireland in 2013 I have neglected to post about our four-hooved equine friends until now.

Here is an image of two of the most photogenic horses that I photographed last year during the summer, this time in the southwest of Ireland.

Eight hooves, four ears and two tails stand underneath a western sky.

Horses, the west of Ireland and long summer days. With a camera, a picnic and some fine weather. Perfect. Would you rather be anywhere else?

The West of Ireland - Irish Stream and Mountains

The winter in Ireland is generally mild, the weather systems coming in off the Atlantic usually bring changeable, warm conditions. On occasions and in recent years there have been prolonged cold spells with snow turning to ice and lasting for weeks at a time and roads looking like in this picture.

But usually snow will only last for a few days at most outside of the mountains. Here in the west of Ireland, Co. Mayo in this case, there were conditions bringing in 160km/h winds and driven rain yet inland in Co. Mayo's mountains it was relatively calm and precipitation was falling as snow.

Panoramic Ireland's Dublin photo tours have been listed as one of the top five things to do in Dublin by the Travel section of the New Zealand Herald.

Sitting alongside Dublin's most popular tourist attractions in the guise of The Guinness Storehouse, The Book of Kells in the Long Room Library at Trinity College and the tourist mecca of Temple Bar, our photography tours were commended for their tailored, one-on-one basis.

Ancient Irish Woodland

I have written about ancient woodland in Ireland woodland before. In certain parts of Ireland the remnants of ancient woodland survive, here is one such place nestled high in the mountains inaccessible from the demands of the wood cutter.