It was a warm evening in the west of Ireland last summer when we stopped to photograph at the famous Pine Island in Connemara, the western part of Galway.

There wasn't much sunlight left as clouds rolled in for a wet and windy finish to the day but the calm conditions we encountered here made the day's photography more than worthwhile.

An almost perfect reflection, low cloud wisping across the mountains and colourful sunset skies created an image that many say remind them of other places, not so much Ireland.

Even from those who have been here, the scenery is more reminiscent of tropical locales such as the Serengeti in Tanzania.

Pine Island is a place I visit often, join me to improve your photography in Ireland this year - places available throughout 2024.

It's now the week before Christmas 2021 and Ireland, like much of Europe and the world, is experiencing a sharp increase in Omicron variant Coronavirus cases.

For the moment, there are some public health measures such as 8PM closures for hospitality, those arriving into the country need to fill out a Passenger Locator Form and take antigen tests for five days after arrival; mask wearing has remained throughout in shops and public buildings.

With a late, and slow, start to the booster vaccination program, Ireland looks set to be badly hit with the more transmissible Omicron variant so we do expect there to be further measures introduced such as lockdowns or other restrictions on movement.

Because there are many uncertainties around Coronavirus and the new Omicron variant, I am again offering no-deposit-required bookings for January and February 2022.

Ireland is a small country, there is no doubt about that but it has surprising variation in geography across its landscape of 486km by 275km.

Here, one of the best known mountains in the country - especially around Dublin - is the Sugarloaf, the tallest peak seen here just right of centre.

This image comes from winter, on a Panoramic Ireland photography workshop in the Irish mountains.

The longer days of the year are on their way again, we are now more than 1/10th of the way through 2020 and Panoramic Ireland is running photography tours and workshops to Ireland's beautiful Dingle Peninsula.

Here in the image above, the sun begins to set on the Atlantic, on Ireland's most westerly peninsula with the Blasket Islands lying just offshore.

County Kerry is a favourite location for our photography tours and workshops in Ireland and Dingle is one of the most popular places in Ireland.

Join Panoramic Ireland in Dingle or Dublin for a photography tour in 2020. To find out more, Contact us or use the booking form below.

Situated in the corner of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland's largest county, the remains of Harry Avery's castle sit atop a hill on the edge of a valley.

The twin structures projecting up here were actually an unusual tower house rather than an outer defensive gatehouse.

Belonging to a 14th century Irish chieftain it was destroyed in the early 17th century by English forces who took stone from the site.

This scene reminded me of another castle, more famous, from my own County Antrim which I also photographed with a cow in front: https://panoramicireland.com/photo-tours-blog/cow-in-front-of-dunluce-castle-causeway-coast-antrim-northern-ireland

I do like photographing in Ireland in winter, the countryside is mostly empty and the weather can be fine.

Here it was a foggy day with little chance of a break in the cloud overhead so instead of heading for a big wide open scene we headed for a good little woodland where we could make use of the ethereal atmosphere that fog so often gives.

The beech trees were covered in almost luminous, bright green moss and the forest floor carpeted in red/brown beech leaves, and in between all of that the fog permeated the whole place.