Sidelighting, sunshine and shadow in the mountains from this week's visit to the wild landscapes of the West of Ireland.

We have had very fine weather this week in Ireland, with Sunday being the hottest day of 2023 so far.

I headed through the wide open spaces of Connemara to meet ES and JS who had arrived from the US, we met on location for an early morning photography workshop on photographing panoramic images.

And where better to photograph panoramas than here in the wide, wild west.

Both ES and JS are keen photographers although neither had made panoramas before. So for the morning here we made panorama after panorama.

First off the warm morning sidelighting and shadows on craggy mountains.

To learn how to photograph panoramas using your current camera including how to choose a location, camera settings and post-processing using multiple software contact me here at Panoramic Ireland.

A recent journey took me to north Tipperary and the town of Nenagh.

It's a fine, large town, though not the largest in Tipperary, that accolade goes to Clonmel in the south of the county.

Nenagh has a distinctive castle, or at least a tower - remains of the much larger original built around the year 1200 by the local Theobald FitzWalter, Baron Butler, whose descendents would become the Earls of Ormond and was constructed of limestone rubble.

It is tall, at around 25 metres, with additions built in the 1860s - the crenellations at the top.

Seen here on a bright spring day in this panorama with some of the walls of the original castle.

I discovered that Nenagh Castle is free to visit, and while visiting the town's tourist office I was informed that the local library, as well as the other libraries in Tipperary, also host free events and exhibitions throughout the year.

So I went for a coffee at the nearby Steeples cafe then headed to the library.

Irish jeweller and designer / maker Christina Keogh has an exhibition on in the library of beautiful silversmithing, gold and gemstones as well as traditional goldsmithing tools and will give a talk on Tuesday 18th of April in Nenagh Library.

Sidelighting in Ireland's Wicklow Mountains.

The scenic wilderness of the Wicklow mountain landscape is quite unlike anywhere else in Ireland, especially when combined with unusual cloud and weather patterns.

Here, sidelighting from late evening sunshine breaks through high cloud and illuminates the remote valleys.

2023 is a good year to visit Ireland, join Panoramic Ireland to photograph in Wicklow as well as Connemara, Dingle and Antrim's Giant's Causeway.

Dublin's Docklands underwent significant, almost complete redevelopment in the 2000s with the biggest names in the tech industry still building and locating in the area today.

Here in Grand Canal Square the public realm was designed by landscape architect Martha Schwartz and the choice of red paving blocks and these tall red glow sticks were designed deliberately to give a red carpet effect coming from Daniel Libeskind's 2,000-seater theatre.

On the right is the distinctive chequered pattern of the Anantara The Marker Hotel.

This is now a good-looking part of the city and the redevelopment has brought a lot of life into the area that was run down for many decades at the end of the 20th century.

Join Panoramic Ireland to photograph in Dublin at night on our award-winning photography tours and workshops.

It's an exciting time here in Ireland, Saint Patrick's Day has just finished, the Irish rugby team won the Six Nations and remains at number one in the world.

It is also the equinox, so we now move into the six months of the year when daylight is longer than darkness.

And while there isn't much in the way of summer colour just yet, the bright and fresh green of spring is on the way.

We're big fans of sunsets here at Panoramic Ireland, you'll find plenty of images of the evening golden hour throughout the site.

It seems that someone with artisitic skills and a spray can in Dublin is also a fan, after painting this sagely advice on a wall in the city centre of Ireland's capital city.

Join Panoramic Ireland to photograph more sunsets and get yourself away from too much Netflix, all you need is your camera.

High in the Irish mountains, three rocks sit overlooking an empty mountain landscape of peaks, ridges and valleys offering a good spot for a break to take in the view.

Okay, Ireland has no real height when compared with many other countries, but still for this island it's a high point with majestic views.

Perfect, you could imagine, for the three bears from the famous folk story to stop here and have a picnic whilst enjoying the scenic view.

Picture the scene, we're a year ahead and it's May 2024, a beautiful sunny day and below us the Baily Lighthouse and Dublin Bay with RTE, Ireland's national broadcaster on the other side.

RTE are preparing to host Eurovision, after Ireland's 2023 entry, Hawaii by Public Image Ltd (PiL) fronted by John Lydon, won the famous music competition in May 2023.

Well, that is the possibility as tomorrow night, Friday 3rd of February 2023 Lydon and PiL will be performing on RTE's The Late Late Show as part of a competition to find the country's entry for this year.

Hawaii is a paean to Lydon's wife of almost 50 years, their life together and one of their happiest moments together, in Hawaii. Nora now is living with Alzheimer's; the song, video and artwork are "... dedicated to everyone going through tough times on the journey of life, with the person they care for the most,” says John Lydon. “It’s also a message of hope that ultimately love conquers all.”

You can never guarantee snow in Ireland but it does snow a little every year even if only in the mountains.

Here, the famous MacGillycuddy's Reeks with Carrauntoohil the highest peak at 1038.6 metres above sea level, it is Ireland's highest mountain and only one of three peaks that top 1,000 metres.

The snow line can be seen easily and the tops of the peaky mountains almost match the clouds moving out of scene to the left.

These mountains sit on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, home of the famous circuit scenic drive the Ring of Kerry but are seen here from Dingle, the peninsula that brings you as far west as it is possible to go in Ireland.

The foreground is bathed in a golden glow, typical of the clear winter light on sunny days in Ireland.

Panoramic Ireland are running photography workshops and tours in Dingle, County Kerry in 2023. Use the Contact page to find out more or visit: https://panoramicireland.com/photography-workshops-ireland/book-a-dingle-ireland-photo-tour

This week has seen plenty of cold weather again, nothing too cold but enough for ice, frost and, in some parts of Ireland, snow.

So we headed into the mountains, to photograph some of the ice and frost, no snow here.

Here, on the climb towards the ridge and peak there was plenty of white on the hard forestry road.

And with the late afternoon sun was dipping just below that ridge, the perfect time for a starburst.