The sky above the west of Ireland, in particular Connemara, is more impressive than those of the rest of Ireland.

Big, open blue skies and stormy skies stretching for miles are the likely scenes awaiting the photographer and visitor alike.

Panoramic Ireland's photography workshops run all year round in Connemara, in Dublin and throughout Ireland.

Contact me today to find out more about the places and options for 2021.

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.

Now little more than half an outline of a shipwrecked boat, the rotting planks that make up Bad Eddie's Boat, marooned on a Donegal beach since 1977, may soon become a more lasting figure if locals can raise enough funds to recreate the tourist attraction as a stainless steel work of art.

Overlooked by the long abandoned Óstán Gweedore, the monolithic hotel perched above the beach in Bunbeg, Bad Eddie's Boat is to be surveyed by a team from Queen's University in Belfast with the intention of recreating the structure as Ireland's first piece of submersed beach sculpture.

Seen here in 2014, the sea has not been kind to Bad Eddie's Boat. Eddie brought the French-built ship ashore here for repairs in 1977 and it has remained here ever since, providing interest to locals, visitors and artists alike.

Bono and Clannad recorded a video here for their famous track In a Lifetime back in 1986.

Photographing seascapes in Ireland is never boring. The varied geology of the Irish coast makes it interesting to say the least.

Here along the Wild Atlantic Way many rocks are evident, sedimentary layers are visible inclining out of the Atlantic while behind igneous rocks form the foreshore.

The rough sheep grazing land stretching uphill is dotted with rocks.

More seascapes can be found here with information on Panoramic Ireland's coastal photography workshops.

Sunset is a magical time in photography, along with sunrise it makes up the best portion of the day for landscape photography.

Here, on the edge of the Atlantic, on Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way is sunset over the Aran Islands with a red-orange glow.

To learn more about photography during the current Coronavirus / COVID-19 quarantine, why not take a personal online photography workshop with me any day of the week, any time of day to suit your timezone via Google Hangouts, Zoom etc.

Contact me to find out more - sessions from 45 mins to 1 hr 15 mins.

Learn how to use Lightroom, Photoshop or other editing software and manage your image collection as well as photography concepts such as depth of field or sunset photography and post processing.

Learn from a professional photographer who has photographed for the biggest names in worldwide publishing.

Today, 17th March, is the feast day of Ireland's patron saint (one of three actually) Saint Patrick and it has been marked with a doodle on Google's search pages of Ireland's Cliffs of Moher.

I know that the Cliffs of Moher are one of the most famous and iconic places in Ireland but I do find it interesting that Saint Patrick never visited the cliffs, nor did he actually visit County Clare.

According to local tradition in County Clare, Saint Patrick blessed the county from across the River Shannon before heading to the north of Ireland.

It's just an observation and I have added my own sunset image from the Cliffs of Moher above.

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.

The sun sets on another day, another solar year passes, the days get longer from now on - Ireland and the northern hemisphere pass the the winter solstice.

In Ireland the winter solstice has long been an important point of the year, Ireland's most famous monument at Newgrange is aligned with sunrise on the winter solstice (December 21/22) - read more here.

Reflected in the western beach Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way greets the colourful sunset, beaming from sheeny sands.

Sometimes the Irish weather is not pleasant for photography but with patience and local knowledge it is possible to get fine images of the rugged, green Island in the Atlantic.

We went to Dingle in search of bright colourful scenes of mountains and the Atlantic coast like from this occasion a few weeks ago: https://panoramicireland.com/photo-tours-blog/coumeenole-beach-dingle-kerry-slea-head

What we got, however, were the remnants of Hurricane Dorian blowing across Ireland's most westerly peninsula.