A quick post - bringing you a couple of links to the Photo masterclass series I did with Ireland's Outsider magazine. The series followed my trails around Ireland photographing the beautiful Irish landscape and coastline.
Links too these articles can be viewed at the following urls -
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/85b8da79#/85b8da79/72
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/d477c8f9#/d477c8f9/72
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/4d2f2963#/4d2f2963/70
How Photoimagery.net used to look
Since mid 2012, I have wanted to refresh my website www.photoimagery.net. For one reason or another it never happend, that is until I heard about Squarespace.com. A template driven site that makes managing your website and content so easy. Literally drag & drop. So after a couple of hours work it is up and running.
Let me know what you think.
Evening Light, Ireland
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.
Waiting for the light, Connemara
As an Irish landscape photographer, there are a few locations I try to avoid. The Cliffs of Moher and the Giants Causeway immediately spring to mind. Why? Probably because they have been photographed to death or because of the sheer amount of people that can flock to these locations.
Yep I know its stupid, however I recently got over this self-imposed exile, and spent a few days on the Causeway coast, seeking something different.
Giants Causeway, Northern Ireland
Getting something different is easier said than done, and in my quest I am wedged between some boulders that resemble giant mussels doing my best to avoid the incoming waves that are leaping up over the foreground rocks. With a camera tripod mounted and the focus set, I am waiting (there is that word again) for the sun to pop out from behind the clouds and paint the hillsides.
Moments later it does. Beautiful evening light spills across the coastline, and with an exposure of 1/6th of a second @F11 set I repeatedly trip the shutter, as each leaping wave does its best to soak me.
As darkness creeps in, the last of the dedicated tourist departs and somewhat amazingly I have this wonderful piece of coastline to myself.
Despite my best efforts at seeking something original I find myself staring through the viewfinder at a view that has likely graced a thousand publications. If I am honest its not hard to see why. Waves turned golden by the setting sun, pouring over basalt columns left behind by an ancient Volcano. What’s not to like! Is it original? No – but I’m happy I got to take my version of this iconic location.
Crashing waves - Giants Causeway Northern Ireland