It is the first evening of our Connemara Photography workshop and we are nestled amongst the golden dunes of the Silver strand in South Mayo. Conditions are wonderful. Dune grasses dance in the wind as the evening sun picks its way along the strand and up the flanks of Mweelrea.

Later that evening, dining on fine food and wine in O’Dowds of Roundstone, the talk is of the dreaded 6.30 a.m start.

The following morning, with Orion hanging low in the cool Connemara sky, five sleepy souls depart the warmth and comfort of The Anglers Return on a pilgrimage to greet the morning sun.

iPhone Pano - Participant at sunrise, Connemara Workshop

A little later, standing on the shore of Lough Inagh, Connemara slowly slips on its finest Autumn coat. Like some Field Marshall, I am prancing up and down between tripods, gesturing towards a mountain, preaching about light, exposures and composition.

A weekend of fun, fine food and friendship passes all too quickly, and in no time at all, we are standing on The Toombeola bog outside Roundstone where a flurry of shutters greet the rising sun as it turns the landscape golden.