It's a busy time for Panoramic Ireland at the moment, the long summer days see me busy leading photography tours and workshops in Ireland.

I have also been photographing a lot of music concerts, but on a rare quiet evening after photographing for a client I made my way to one of my favourite places to photograph.

Here, stone circles and alignments sit amongst long grass and wildflowers as the June evening sun begins to set.

It was a fine evening, alone in the countryside with only birds and the sound of the wind to disturb the silence.

Although we are close to midsummer, there are still plenty of fine summer evenings like these to photograph in Ireland for 2022. 

Join me to photograph in places like this or in urban Dublin, Belfast, Cork.

For availability check out the booking pages on the site or send me an email with your dates, places and interests.

A recent visit to the Antrim Coast, one of the finest sections of coast in the world, saw me heading off to Rathlin Island pictured to the left in this image.

A quiet evening with a little cloud, and unusually for the Antrim Coast, little wind, saw some colour and movement in the scene as golden hour gave way to blue hour.

There was little to stop me from staying here photographing this scene for the night except for an early start the following morning.

An hour or so of changing conditions and changing my viewpoint up and down this short stretch of coastline allowed me to photograph a specific image. then to bed and ready for the next morning.

Visiting Ireland? Join me to photograph on the Antrim Coast, in Dublin or in Connemara during 2023.

Sunset in the west of Ireland, the spring equinox occurred today March 20th, this sees the sun pass the equator and means that all places on earth effectively receive the same amount of night.

In Ireland, the days started to become longer than night on the 18th of March, a few days ago - this is known as the Equilux.

Here, a few moments before sunset on the equinox the bright and colourful sun edges towards the horizon to mark the official start of spring, even though meteorologically spring begins on the 1st of March and in Ireland, traditionally it begins on the 1st of February or Imbolc which is also Saint Brigid's Day.

At the moment daylight length is increasing by over 4 minutes per day, every day in Dublin although that rate of increase will begin to slow all the way to June 21st when the days will shorten again.

Of course, in Ireland seasons are not fixed and there is quite an overlap between winter and spring, we can still see snow and hailstones in April and heatwaves in February and March - one of which is predicted for the coming week.

Ireland is currently under a blanket of snow and while spring has started snow is not unusual in March. 

Indeed a few years ago, in 2018, we had heavy snowfall on Saint Patrick's Day and much of the month we had heavy snow with the 'Beast from the East' - although that term has taken on new meaning in recent weeks.

It will only be a short snowfall though, there is no more in the forecast and it will mostly be melted in a few days.

Time to look forward to the longer days of late spring and early summer.

Above is a fine sunset from the west of Ireland.

Join me in photographing the landscapes and coast of Ireland in 2022, send me an email to enquire for availability or ask any questions.

There is some wild weather on the way for Ireland this week, stormy winds and rain.

I am planning a visit to the west of Ireland soon and have been looking through images from previous visits.

Here I found this one from 2014 when the late evening sun, partially obscured by fast moving clouds, momentarily illuminated the rocky mountainsides above the lake.

It probably wouldn't be a bad place for a swim, but on this occasion photographing along the entire west coast of Ireland was the endeavour.

Next visit will be for photography as well, but maybe after that a little bit of time to have a picnic and a stroll or even swimming in this fine mountain valley lake.

Why not join me to photograph in Ireland's wild landscapes or in Dublin.

Sunset in the mountains, Ireland, the sun goes down.

Valley lakes reflect the last of this day's light as the sun edges towards our apparent horizon on the mountain ridge; glints of brightness in the dark from quartzite rocks.

Thin Lizzy's haunting final single The Sun Goes Down is about more than this quotidian natural event, yet as one of my favourite songs, I feel it fits with this image quite well.

Of course, now at the end of November we are seeing early sunsets in Ireland at approximately 16:30 and we will soon reach the shortest day of the year.

Winter is a fine time for photography in Ireland, short days mean that sunrise and sunset are easier to be up and out for, the crowds of summer have gone and often a good winter storm brings interest to the coast.

Join Panoramic Ireland's photography tours in Ireland all year round, not just when the sun goes down - when it comes up as well.

Today, August 31st, marks the end of summer - meteorologically speaking - as the three hottest months of the year have now passed.

The weather has already begun to change with cooler temperatures and full, grey skies overhead in recent days.

That of course doesn't mean that the good weather is gone for the year.

Oh no, we are just about to get into the brightly coloured season of autumn where we still get plenty of sunshine and all that character in the countryside.

Why not join me, Panoramic Ireland to photograph in autumn, winter, spring or summer in Ireland.

Ireland has seen some weather in the past few weeks of summer 2021. A heatwave covered the island in a thick layer of warm air with temperatures regularly in the high 20s Celsius, even reaching 31.4C.

Then, the inevitable rainy weather where now, a week later, we are seeing rain and wind and unseasonably cold weather of 14 to 16 degrees Celsius.

Yet it's not all doom and gloom, the weather often gives landscape photographers a fine spectacle at sunset.

That's what we got tonight as a full day of rain cleared to give a cloudy sunset with spreading rays of orangey-red light across the sky. Quite an experience, initially we saw the rays of sunshine lighting up the landscape so turned to find the view obscured somewhat as we were photographing from behind a tall hedge; after spending some time and effort climbing through hawthorns and elder to get a clearer view of the final burst of colour in the sky and were not disappointed.

Join Panoramic Ireland, that's me, for a landscape photography adventure in the Irish countryside.

Sometimes it's just as simple as this, the sun goes down and you're in the right location.

Here, the Atlantic and the sunset fast approaches. The sun appears from behind a thick band of cloud just before it sets in the west on the autumn equinox when day and night are of equal length because the Sun moves across the equator.

In 2024 the autumn equinox is at 13:44 on September 22nd.

The days have of course been getting shorter since the summer solstice but here at the autumn equinox summer truly leaves us in Ireland and the shorter days are balanced out by longer nights.

The sun will of course rise in the east again on the following morning but we will see less and less of Earth's lifegiver until December 21st when the day length reaches its shortest.

Join Panoramic Ireland on a photography workshop, in person or virtually, in Ireland during 2024 and 2025.

I wrote a few weeks ago about that magical moment on top of Croagh Patrick with a wide open panorama and brocken spectre - an atmospheric phenomenon.

You can read about that here, this was on that same fine climb with the plains of Mayo spread out below, the long stony path leading up into the cloud line and the landscape that awaits beyond.

For me photography is about capturing moments and creating a sense of place - Ireland really is my place, from the western landscapes to urban Dublin.

And with my cancer journey over the past two years it has been places and moments like this that keeps spirits high, sometimes reminiscing and sometimes getting out into the countryside to photograph.