Christmas Holidays

I am just back from a few days over in Westport on a short break after all the rushing around before, during and after Christmas. The children love the idea of the holidays and are always asking when and where are we going next. This time we went over to the west coast, Westport Co Mayo. The weather was wonderful with nice sunny days (great for getting out but no clouds for my photography) and cold nights. I did manage to get out every morning for sunrise and evening sunsets because this time of the year the days are short with sunrise at 8:50 and sunset at 16:30 or there about. The above image was taken down on Keem Beach, Achill Island. You follow the road all the way along the island until you can go no further.  This is one amazing drive down towards the beach as the road is right on the side of the mountain with just a grass bank between the road and a couple of hundred meters drop into the ocean. The best piece of equipment any photographer should have with them is a pair of wellies. The tripod and myself were in the water for this image (my poor tripod goes through hell). The amount of visitors on the beach who were standing well back so not to get their feet wet, but not me and my tripod. I must have gave them a good laugh. I love the way movement of the water is captured (using a slow shutter speed) and the ripples patterns in the sand in this image. I have a load of images from here trying to get the water and sand movement sequence right and  I think this is the best one. Look out for more posts form this my final photo trip of the year. I will not be taking and more photos until the annual family New Years Day walk in the mountains.