While museums and many indoor attractions are currently closed in Dublin - including the Long Room Library and Book of Kells at Trinity College as the city is is on a three-week lockdown - the rest of Ireland is open.

Exploring the Irish countryside with camera is not a new endeavour to me but for much of this year it has been a difficult one with travel restrictions in place.

Here, deep in rural Ireland I found some old miners' cottages.  A remnant of a previous economic collapse, the industry here halted due to cheaper imports from overseas; soon after the mine closed and the miners left to find new work - often heading overseas to where those cheaper imports were coming from.

Join me, actually on a photography workshop in Ireland, or virtually by keeping up to date with Panoramic Ireland's travels in the Irish countryside by subscribing to the newsletter below.

Ireland is usually seen as the Emerald Isle, with its abundance of green landscapes and old buildings.

Weather plays a big part in the mood of the Irish countryside, and often the conditions make it difficult to photograph those stereotypical, iconic scenes.

Soft scenes like this, with waves washing gently over pebbles below a grey sky - most of the green here seen in the colour of the ocean, make up a large part of the landscape photographer's collection in Ireland.

For when the weather isn't quite a s good as it should be.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to learn how to photograph coastal landscape scenes like these.

Bright sunlight and architecture always works well in photography.

What often doesn't work is shooting against or towards the sun, contre-jour - as seen here in this image.

Photographing through the windows here has allowed me to make the most of the tricky lighting, giving a starburst effect and emphasising the strong sunlight and shadows in the window heads.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph scenes like these, to make the most of the weather, lighting and the Irish countryside with its myriad attractions.

I have written about Connemara here on panoramicireland.com many times before, including here.

It's a place that I know well, a place that I have photographed many times. Often I have stood in the rain, capturing the misty scenes of this part of Ireland, many times I have captured fine sunsets and explored the region's beauty.

Here a scene of fast moving clouds and ruffled water zooms past a tree-laden island and barren mountainside, a riot of colour.

Croagh Patrick Brocken Spectre and Ringed Glory

Ireland is a magical place, many myths and legends abound of superheroic endeavours and mysterious peoples.

That magic didn’t disappear centuries ago either, it still exists.

Good news that Ireland will begin to open up from Monday 8th June 2020 but even better that Panoramic Ireland's photography tours will recommence at the end of the month, 29th June 2020.

With a little caution and our, as always, physical / social distancing keeps you safe with no big crowds and a safe, relaxed experience.

Join Panoramic Ireland to photograph anywhere in Ireland, from Fair Head to Mizen Head.

From June 29th onwards...

Nestled on the banks of the River Suir bordering Tipperary and Waterford lies a small graveyard, old and overgrown like so many in Ireland.

I visited this quiet and peaceful place in Spring 2020 just a few weeks before the lockdown.

Here at Churchtown the Sun was shining, the birds tweeting and spring flowers were growing.

The grave of Tipperary man, world record holding athlete and founder of Ireland's Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) Davin, is hard to miss with prominence over the River Suir.

As we all know by now, Coronavirus or COVID-19 is affecting life in all parts of the world, here in Ireland the situation is no different.

But the plan by the Irish Government to relax the lockdown restrictions in stages does offer hope for life to begin to return to some degree of normality.

It would appear that by July 20th Panoramic Ireland's photography workshops and tours will be running again, albeit with all the physical distancing that being in the open air allows - lots of course!

Scenes like the one above await!

Panoramic Ireland can meet you anywhere in Ireland and organise a day of photography to suit your travels or your locale, from Fair Head to Mizen Head; urban Dublin to rural Sligo.

And of course it is possible to make a provisional booking, with no deposit required until closer to the time - just contact me for more information.

In the meantime if you can't make it to Ireland, are based overseas or are not able to travel inside Ireland then why not take an online photography session with Panoramic Ireland, that's me, to learn how to improve your photographic skills, improve your artistic vision and learn more about Lightroom and Photoshop.

Few autumn landscape scenes can be more alluring to the photographer than a woodland stream with waterfall.

Here in Tollymore, one of Northern Ireland's most scenic forest parks, these elements combine beautifully at the beginning of autumn as water falls between the stepping stones on the River Shimna under a canopy of bright green gently beginning to fade towards the reds, yellows and browns of autumn.

No wonder then that the producers of Game of Thrones, HBO, chose this location to film some of the famous TV show, Northern Ireland being home to most of the filming.

And no wonder it is a place that Panoramic Ireland visits often, when travel restarts why not join me at the famous forest park or along the coast of County Down close by.

Despite the Coronavirus pandemic stifling access to the countryside in April 2020, nature continues on and the green hillside landscapes of Ireland are looking lush right now.

Green is of course the colour most people associate with Ireland with its fields of grass, hedgerows and woodlands filled with deciduous and coniferous trees.

Sometimes it is misty and rugged like this scene, sometimes bright and lush like this one.

While we can't get out and about with current restrictions, it is possible to take a private, one-to-one photography session online with Panoramic Ireland, that's me by the way, via this page: https://panoramicireland.com/photography-workshops-ireland/online-photography-class-tutorial-professional-photographer