The question is always: Does it snow in Ireland? Well, there aren't many days in the year when Ireland has snow, really only a few in a typical year and November is an unusual month to have a wee bit of the white stuff.

2024 has seen somewhat of a good dusting over the west and south of Ireland as well as the north. Actually, as is usual for Ireland, above 300 metres above sea level but there has been widespread disruption in places even lower.

Here, a snow-dusted landscape scene with a bright pink-orange sky behind, indicating according to time honoured tradition, the old phrase (red sky at night, shepherd's delight) that a good day tomorrow will follow, even if only tomorrow - ahead of Storm Bert set to hit Ireland this weekend.

Whether there is snow or not, Ireland is a scenic and at times magical place to photograph. Join one of Panoramic Ireland's photography workshops and tours in Dublin, Wicklow, Antrim, Connemara, Donegal and beyond to find scenes like these.

Panoramic Ireland's tours and workshops run all year round, when it's snowing like here in November or when it's roasting hot in July.

The year 2024 has certainly blessed us with plenty of opportunity to photograph the Northern Lights or aurora borealis here in Ireland.

Last night's amazing display coincided with my visit to a calm west of Ireland lake, photographing throughout the evening in different directions to make the most of the ever-changing celestial light show that is the aurora.

I wasn't in one of the dark sky locations, so I did have some light pollution at times, but the peacefulness of photographing the natural dance of colours across the sky with reflections recorded below.

Now, we can't predict the aurora very well here in Ireland but a typical photography workshop with me here at Panoramic Ireland can see you photographing such scenes.

To find out more, send me a message.

Morning sunlight somewhere behind the clouds in the west of Ireland. Before the heat of the day, low cloud and fog sit in the valley in front of the heather-clad mountains.

Photography in Ireland is always a mystery, the weather forecast may say good weather or bad weather but the day, and a journey through the countryside, often reveals a difference.

I'm rarely disappointed though. 

Here, on a photography workshop in the west, JK from Virginia in the USA wanted to spend time photographing typical (but not boring) Irish scenes so we headed for somewhere that I knew would have good visuals like this for the first location.

Thick cloud blanketed the rest of the landscape but here we had a view beyond, to the mountains and, in the foreground, sheep dotting the hillside.

A good start to the day despite a negative weather forecast.

From here we headed on to photograph coastal scenes as the low cloud lifted from the western countryside.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph - improve your photography, in the west of Ireland, in Dublin or somewhere else in the Irish countryside throughout 2024 and 2025.

A bright sunset behind deep cloud over the Atlantic fades to blue as night sets in on Ireland's west coast, the Wild Atlantic Way.

And it was a wild night on the Atlantic with the wind blowing, clouds forming and the cold spread of night after a long day of photography of Ireland's wild landscapes.

This was not a disappointing scene, rather one of joy and delight as the texture and colour of the Irish sky at blue hour made for fine scenes to finish a day of photography.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph on Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way with a Panoramic Ireland Photography Workshop / Tour in 2024 or 2025.

Peace descended over the west of Ireland at the end of yet another fine January day.

There was no direct sunset, instead a bank of cloud moved in and the sun slipped in and out of the grey band stretched across the sky, crepuscular rays emanating in many directions for 30 seconds or so at a time.

Ducks quacked, geese honked as the countryside began to darken before the long night, the time after sunset that we call the blue hour.

After many storms Ireland is experiencing an extended calm with respite from the incessant rain and wind of the last week of December which saw several storms including Gerrit, Pia, Geraldine and Henk.

I have been out photographing in the countryside and in Dublin this week and Panoramic Ireland's photography workshops and tours are open to book every day of the week throughout Ireland, subject to availability.

Join me to photograph in Ireland.

It's no secret that the West of Ireland is one of Panoramic Ireland's favourite places.

Join me in 2024 to photograph in the beautiful scenic surroundings of Galway, Mayo, Sligo and Donegal.

Here, the first sunset of 2024 in the west as the sun heads for the horizon. 

We've had the solstice on December 22nd, 2023 and around now, early January we see the mornings getting brighter earlier here in Ireland.

The winter solstice marks the shortest day of the year and from then on the sunset gets a little later until the start of January when sunrises also become a little earlier. 

So, lots to look forward to even though January and February are the coldest months on average in Ireland.

The days continue to get longer.

Panoramic Ireland's photography workshops and tours are running right through the coldest months, the spring and the warmest months of the year in Ireland - all year round - Join me when you visit Ireland.

Autumn is on its way here in Ireland, as we stopped to photograph the woodland stream beech leaves were falling constantly, not in large numbers but solely and constantly like the lightest snowfall.

Seen here, the bright reds of those fallen beech leaves lying on rich green moss-covered rocks alongside the woodland stream.

I'm sure there is some statistical analysis that can be done to predict whether a leaf will fall from its petiole, 20 metres to the ground, to land and become part of the photographer's image or be swiftly carried along by the stream which is fast-flowing and narrow, wide and slow in places, to flow towards the sea.

Or indeed to be thrown on to a rock and deposited there as higher water recedes.

The green moss here vibrant from recent wet weather, the same precipitation that feeds the stream and helps to bring those dried leaves to the ground.

And it's a scenic sight, reds and greens saturating this small corner of the Irish countryside.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph in Ireland's woodlands in autumn, spring, summer and why not in winter too - literally all year round; improve your landscape photography on location.

I often get asked about photography and visiting Ireland, one of the most common questions is "What is there to photograph when the weather isn't good?"

Well even in summer, like here in this image, the weather can be grey and often rainy but it's still scenic.

And yet it is how Ireland often is, not the bright sunshine and blue sky of typical postcard images. The landscape is sympathtic to the soft weather of an Irish day.

There's a poetry to the landscape in such conditions as here in Donegal and although I typically head for woodlands in grey weather, I do still enjoy photographing the open landscape with the distant grey of mountains melding in with the grey of the sky.

Join Panoramic Ireland to photograph in the Irish landscape throughout the year.

I took a return to Dublin's famous swimming location, the 40-Foot or Forty Foot on Dublin Bay recently.

Swimmers were braving the not-so-cold, but stormy waters of the Irish Sea south of Ireland's capital on Dublin Bay.

A beautiful place to swim, to visit and to photograph I'm sure you'll agree.

Here, one of my previous visits: https://panoramicireland.com/blog-ireland-guide/forty-40-foot-dublin-irish-sea-swimming

Not as famous as the better known stretches of coastal cliffs, this seascape is still a worthy contender for one of Ireland's most scenic.

An empty quarter scenic, with no one to be seen at all, it was relaxing to sit and watch the calm Atlantic until sunset clicking the shutter on our cameras every so often.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph Ireland's cliffs and scenic seascapes.