Fraoch mór is the Irish name for heather, Calluna vulgaris and it can be found over large parts of the Irish landscape.

It is also known as ling and it prefers acidic, boggy soils that cover the upland areas of Ireland. These are places that often, at first glance, appear barren with vast open tracts of treeless ground with only heath in view as far as the eye can see. But when the heather is flowering the uplands are filled with the sounds of bees busy collecting pollen. From April to August, before the pale purple colour bursts across the Irish countryside, ground nesting birds such as skylarks can be seen and heard hovering overhead.

After a day when the weather was supposed to have been better, the evening's stormy sky changed to bright golden sunshine at sunset.

But only for a brief moment or two.

This image is of that sunset light, the embedded post below is of the stormy sky just before sunset and after the day's rain had ceased.

That's how the Irish weather goes, it's difficult to say if the weather will be good or bad but there is always going to be something worthwhile for the photographer.

I always leave for the day with a plan for landscape photography, and adapt according to the weather and other factors.

To learn how to photograph in any conditions such as these or these contact me using the contact page.

I found this old stone bridge recently, having photographed the valley in which it sits I climbed down off the road, slipping most of the way on the steep incline that was boggy and wet.

Thankfully the ground was soft.

Cobh, a port town in Cork Harbour is best known to the world as the last port of call for RMS Titanic, the ill-fated luxury liner that sank on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic in 1912.

It is now best known to over 140,000 cruise visitors per year who disembark from 69 vessels as the pretty seaside town that is close to some of Ireland's best sights. It has recently been voted amongst the best cruise destinations in Europe, coming in only behind Amsterdam.

If you are visiting Cobh or Cork on a cruise or other style of holiday then let Panoramic Ireland, that's me, show you the best places to see and photograph with one of our photography tours. 

One of the southwest of Ireland's most iconic buildings, Ross Castle is a tower house or fortified dwelling dating from the late 1400s and is typical of the architecture of the period - wealthy and powerful families lived in such defensive structures.

Seen here after sunset as the blue hour approaches, clouds race across the sky and the waters of the river run calm to give a good, but not perfect, reflection with its bright artificial lights.

A recent photography tour in the west of Ireland encompassed several sunrises but of these this was the most impressive.

I have written about Northern Ireland's locations associated with Saint Patrick in this post and since it is Ireland's national saint's day once again, that's the 17th March for those of you who don't know, why not show off some more locations with links to the snake-banishing, shamrock-wielding Welshman who became a hit in his adopted country Ireland.

And where better to include, other than the spectacular Croagh Patrick mentioned here, Dublin's Saint Patrick's cathedral, a well in Tipperary, and Cashel also known as Patrick's Rock in Irish.

Wicklow in the morning, this is without doubt one of my favourite images.

Working on assignment for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel magazine I had the task to capture representative scenes of Ireland - landscapes, green, classic Dublin buildings.

On a rare quiet day taking a break from leading photography tours in Ireland I headed to one of Ireland's most famous landmarks - the Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary.

It was a cold and rainy March afternoon as rain spread across the plain obscuring the distant mountains before clearing long enough to enjoy the view again.

Atlantic storm Doris is due to strike the northern half of Ireland during the early hours of February 23rd 2017 when winds of up to 120 km/h are predicted for parts of the country and a status yellow weather warning in effect for all of Ireland and a status orange warning in effect for many counties.

As I write this post it is still quite calm and it got me thinking about this image from a few years ago from Ireland's Atlantic coast, part of the famous Wild Atlantic Way.