In the depths of the Irish countryside, the sun rises slowly illuminating the rugged, mountainous countryside.

Clouds lift off the valley floor, wisping along the steep slope of the mountains as the early morning sunlight highlight the quartzite rocks.

Such scenes make some of my favourite landscape photography images. Empty of people, early in the day or late in the evening and dramatic lighting.

To photograph scenes like these, why not join me on a day photographing the landscapes of the west of Ireland in 2024 and 2025?

To find out more please feel free to contact me.

There is little more enjoyable in spring than walking through a woodland filled with bluebells.

Here, a path leading through the scene deeper into the forest.

Bluebells Hyacinthoides non-scripta carpet hillsides and woodlands in April and May each year in Ireland.

And here on the photography workshop in the Irish countryside saw us photograph in ideal conditions with sidelighting that wasn't too strong, little wind and we moved on to some of the area's rivers afterwards.

Join me in Ireland to photograph scenes like this, bluebells are gone now for the year but Ireland has something of interest to photograph all year round.

As I mentioned in a previous post, in Irish tradition the winter has started with the beginning of the dark half of the year after Halloween.

But that doesn't mean that Ireland is not a destination for off season travel, on the contrary, with fewer crowds and some of the best light the months of November through to March are ideal for seascape photography in Ireland.

Here as well as shooting with the sun, we turned to photograph the sea cliffs with the sun setting behind.

It is a difficult photograph to shoot a landscape like this contre-jour but the movement and colour in the sky, coupled with some good post-processing has resulted in a fine image that is in contrast to shooting with the sun and its clear light (image coming soon in a subsequent post).

Making use of the texture and feeling of this deserted Irish beach at sunset.

I will be regularly running seascape photography workshops throughout the winter in Ireland, for more information contact me through the contact page or send me an email (up at the top of the page).

As you may have already heard, July 19th will see a number of restrictions eased in regards to COVID / Coronavirus in Ireland.

The world's most restrictive lockdown will be no more, in time for the arrival of the Indian or Delta variant.

Travel into Ireland from overseas will be relaxed so if you are looking to find out more about travel to Ireland after Covid then look no further.

The Common Travel Area (Ireland and Britain) is separate to the EU Schengen rules, and travel from Britain will be eased to allow visitors to not have to go into quarantine. The hotels they use for mandatory hotel quarantine do little for the reputation of the country's tourism sector; no local would want to stay there and thankfully if you are visiting from Britain, the USA and Europe you won't have to from the middle of the month!

I often get asked about how the weather is in Ireland in winter.

Well, it's hard to say anything definitive but in general, Ireland is green all year round including in winter.

Just like in the image above from the west of Ireland in December.

Typically a winter daytime temperature will be around 5C but colder conditions and snow sometimes occur. The mild winter temperature is what allows the grass to keep its healthy green colour, blanketing the countryside.

I wrote recently about a woodland stream in Ireland - see here - and how we photographed the colour of the watercourse as it flows through the autumnal woodland.

Dublin City - the River Liffey and reflections.

Dublin looks fine in the evening with the gentle flow of the River Liffey, nightlights and clouds reflected in the smooth waters momentarily.