The West of Ireland is full of landscapes like this Connemara panorama with rugged mountains and rough pasture.

It is also home to locations like this one at Pine Island.

On a bright winter's day the west is full of character for the photographer and visitor alike.

At the end of that beautiful hike in the mountains, after the day looked to have finished early with a snow-storm darkening the sky, this is the reward of a bright and colourful sunset.

Looking out from the snow-filled mountainside towards the sun as it passed across the horizon, there was the sound of silence save for the sound of our shutters, a gentle breeze and the call of some crows.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, for a private photography landscape tour in the magic of Ireland's mountains, snow or no snow and suitable for all levels. Honestly, if I can climb it then so can you.

Find out more and feel free to ask me any questions.

See more like this: Path to the Sun, Ireland in Wnter

The snow appears to be gone for the moment but while it lasted the landscapes of Ireland's mountains were transformed.

No doubt we will see more before the summer arrives.

To join me on a photographic expedition into the mountains, contact me here.

See more of the journey into the mountains on this YouTube video.

Panoramic Ireland's favourite images from March 2017

I have uploaded my favourite images from March 2017 on to my YouTube channel here split into three parts for ease of viewing.

If you want to view the full video it is available just here on this page, see below.

Enjoy and if you do like it please sign up for the newsletter or subscribe on my YouTube channel.

Do stop by to say hello!

February 2017 saw me photographing a lot of studio images for my site darrenmcloughlin.com but I did venture out into the countryside both on my own and while leading tours in Dublin, Wicklow and Kilkenny.

Snow made a return during February 2017 and crocus flowers were in full bloom. The coast of course was a perfect destination with stormy weather and beautiful winter light.

Have a look at the YouTube video here for the show.

As I write this the clock is about to turn past midnight and into Monday 25th December 2017, Christmas Day.

I have been working hard on many projects this year, currently on my best of images - my personal favourites from the past twelve months.

Here is one of my favourites, a setting sun lowering through the sky over Northern Ireland - rays shining across the green countryside and high into the bright blue sky.

Your support throughout this year, and previous years has made all of this possible and I look forward to continuing into 2018, chatting on social media, via emails and indeed meeting you on tours here in Ireland.

To book a photo tour, one-to-one photographic advice and mentoring session from anywhere in the world or to buy one of my prints please use the contact form in the top menu.

Fraoch mór is the Irish name for heather, Calluna vulgaris and it can be found over large parts of the Irish landscape.

It is also known as ling and it prefers acidic, boggy soils that cover the upland areas of Ireland. These are places that often, at first glance, appear barren with vast open tracts of treeless ground with only heath in view as far as the eye can see. But when the heather is flowering the uplands are filled with the sounds of bees busy collecting pollen. From April to August, before the pale purple colour bursts across the Irish countryside, ground nesting birds such as skylarks can be seen and heard hovering overhead.

A recent photography workshop saw us finish up for sunset at a famous Irish location but on the way we stopped here to capture this rural scene of green fields and sheep-dotted mountain ridges sidelighted by the low summer evening sun.

An old fence runs into deep waters from the shore.

I stopped here after a photography tour to capture this blue, wave-filled scene and used the fence to add interest into the image.

On a recent photography workshop to the Antrim Coast, specifically the Giant's Causeway, in between shooting images I made some video of the stunning UNESCO World Heritage Site that is close to where I grew up and studied at University.

I have written about the Causeway in recent weeks, you can read more about that here and to book a photography tour or workshop on the Antrim Coast please contact me here.