An early morning trip to Northern Ireland's famous Antrim Coast, my home county I was born and brought up not too far from the Giant's Causeway and Dark Hedges that are now enjoying a level of world-famousness that has taken most of us by surprise.

Panoramic Ireland’s photo tours have been listed on Discover Northern Ireland’s website in the activity section complete with some information on what Panoramic Ireland offers in photo tours and workshops throughout Northern Ireland.

The information is specific to Northern Ireland where I have created photo tours in Antrim, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone. Strangely, despite Derry City being the City of Culture 2013 I have not yet led a tour there, any takers?

I was not sure if I would go to the coast this morning.

Late to bed last night and a forecast that suggested the south of Ulster would have better weather today was making me reluctant to bother.

A recent photo tour booking took me to Belfast and Co. Down for a photo tour with Barbara from Maine.

Barbara had been to Dublin before and wanted to go somewhere different, having spent many vacations in the usual tourist spots like the Cliffs of Moher, Dingle and Galway she wanted to see a different part of Ireland.

I suggested Northern Ireland as an alternative when she first contacted me. I grew up in Northern Ireland and I still know it very well just like the rest of Ireland. She thought this was a good idea, on visits to Ireland in the seventies and eighties she would never have considered going across the border. ‘It was never a consideration’ she told me.

She still wanted an urban based photo tour so I suggested Belfast; I described it as a changed place from what she knows it as. Like any city there are places to avoid, but tourism has really gripped the city and the rest of Northern Ireland. Belfast has a real character of its own, Barbara thought it was a good plan and we decided to meet in the early afternoon.

A Panorama of the Mourne Mountains at Sunset

A panorama is defined as an unbroken view of the whole region surrounding the observer. It is also a term used to refer to an image with a wide aspect ratio, in other words, an image with a ratio of more than 2:1 - twice as wide as it is high.

A spherical panorama is also known as a 360-degree panorama and an example can be seen here of a 360-degree panorama of Trinity College's Long Room Library in Dublin.

I often create panoramas and find the wider aspect very pleasing and it also solves some problems when subject matter is too wide for even a wide lens to comfortably take in.

On this evening I was headed to 'Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea'.

Armagh View

The view over Armagh City and the central plain of Northern Ireland is green and impressive when seen in the summer. In the foreground the uplands of the Fews area in South Armagh are giving way to the drumlin belt country that extends from Co. Down on the Irish Sea, through Armagh, to Co. Mayo on the west coast of Ireland.