Dunquin Pier

This is Dunquin Pier, Dunquin, on the Dingle Peninsula Co Kerry. You can get the Ferry over to the Blasket Islands visible in the background from here. The path down is unbelievably steep and I don't know how people walk up and down this winding path. Mind you it makes for a great foreground interest in a photograph. I have seen a few images of this Pier shoot closer and tight to the frame but I decided to take a wider view and capture the Blasket Island in the background to give the image a little extra bit of interest. Does it work ?

I would say yes as that's what a had in mind when I got to the location after I ran back to the car during a quick 10mins rain shower. It was very windy and I was standing right on the cliff edge which made me a bit uneasy as I don't like heights or rather looking down over cliff edges. So I was holding onto the tripod so that it wouldn't blow away and for my life.

I will continue My Dingle Trip next week after I get back from England that's if the airlines are able to fly again due to the Iceland Volcano that is causing chaos over here in Europe. I have to shoot the London Marathon on Sunday fly home and then back to England a day later to Canon for training on new equipment.

So see you all this time next week and have a good and safe weekend.

More Skies here at SkyWatch Friday.

Coumeenoole Bay 2

We continue on My Dingle Trip series with another image form Coumeenoole Bay.
In this image the headland is now lit up by the rising sun over Eagle Mountain behind me. This is the head land behind the cottage on the right in the last post. Taken about 45 mins later you can see the sun has risen high enough to lit up the foreground and cast some interesting shadows with the rocks. Again the Blasket Island can be seen on the horizon.
I was finished shooting down on the Coumeenoole Beach and was walking back up the path towards where I parked the car when I looked over the wall to see this viewpoint. A quick hop over the wall and set up the camera. I liked the portrait version better as there was nothing of interest in the open water to the left. The version has better composition and impact with the shape of the rocks leading you into the image.
This was the last image taken that morning as I headed back to the hotel for a well earned shower and full Irish Breakfast.

Chapter 3 to follow next week.

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Coumeenoole Bay

Easter Holidays are now over and mind & body refreshed yes ?

It's being a while since my last post, looking at the date on the last post 21st March. I was away down to Co Kerry for a few days last week with a couple of new toys to play with and test.

Got a new car. Well when I mean new, I mean new to me as it's 8 years old. Funny thing is I payed twice the price of the car for the new camera and lens combination. Typical photographer right ?

We ( the family ) headed down to Dingle, Co Kerry for a break and I used this to put the 5Dmk2 and 24mm TS-E mk2 through some field tests. The results are only wonderful. Now I will have to upgrade my Mac computer to handle the very large files. I think my bank manager is going to cry if he sees me again.

When we go down this direction, we normally stay in Killarney and go to Dingle on a day trip. This time we used Dingle as our base for the holiday. A few days before we left I planned out locations to goto and shoot using maps and Google Earth. However this being Ireland plans changed. Explain later.

The Dingle Peninsula is one of Ireland gems for photographers and the road around Slea Head to Dunquin and onto Ballyferriter is just wonderful. The image above show Coumeenoole Bay and Great Blasket Island in the background. No joke, this is the view form the side of the road as you drive around Slea Head. Just imagine what it must have being like to live in that cottage and open your front or back door to that view ?

Now getting back to the plan. It rained for 18hours non-stop. All I could do was look out the hotel room window and hope that tomorrow would be better. So one and a half days lost. Mind you the children didn't mind as they came home with lots of goodies from the Kids Club in the Hotel. It was definitely worth the wait as the weather the next day was spot-on.

So, stayed tuned for chapter 2 in My Dingle Trip.