Mononeil

Bridia Valley

2011-11-29T11:27:00.001Z

It sometimes rains in Ireland !

This was one of those rare occassions of rain in The Bridia Valley, Co. Kerry. I was on my way home from a couple days shooting and meetings with Peter Cox and Roger Overall about the next Episode of The Circle of Confusion video series. We will hopefully filming in the location for the next video, well that’s the plan. I didn’t drive fully into the valley as the weather was not looking great. I did manage to take a couple of images in-between the showers with a little break in the clouds over the background mountains. This is a wonderful location which needs some side lighting and a better composition closer to the valley to really show it as its best.

Maybe next time.

Reflections Gougane Barra

2011-11-29T11:26:00.001Z

Gougane Barra, is located 5km west of Ballingeary on the road to Bantry, Co Cork. On this fine morning on my way home form my good friend and fellow photographer Peter Cox, who lives next door so to speek. I stopped by Gougane Barra only to be greeted by a wonderful reflection in the still waters of the lake. The sun had risen and burned off the last of the low lying mist. It’s a perfect reflection and have fooled many by turning it upside down.

This was the start of one fantastic days shooting and only stopped by the fact I was running out of power for my camera. Remember to always charge batteries even on the last day before heading home.

The Gap of Dunloe

2011-11-29T11:25:00.001Z

The Gap of Dunloe, Killarney, Co Kerry is one of the must see location on the tourist trail in Ireland.

If you have ever being up at The Gap you will have gone passed this lake, Coosaun Lough, on your way to the bridge for the “normal” view of The Gap. Not me, I’m not normal !

On this afternoon I was down in Killarney to meet up with Peter Cox and Roger Overall to talk business about the upcoming new Episode of Circle of Confusion video series. When the elements are right don’t put if off to till tomorrow as I was going to do here. The choice: bit a small bit late for the meeting or miss this photo op. Sorry lads but you lost out and boy I was glad I when up to the Gap. It was magic and spent an hour photographing from this location and another one from the other side of the bridge. More about that image in a later post.

I love the reflections of the mountains and the water lilies in the foreground. The clouds and light were perfect for the composition.

Dinish Island Sunrise

2011-06-27T14:18:00.000+01:00

Just as you think your never going to get that image….

On this trip to Kenmare the weather was mixed. Not great for photography as we had too much haze mixed with low clouds all during the day and not much better in the mornings for sunrise either. On the last day of the trip all the elements came together and I got the sunrise I was after. This image shows Dinish Island, which is in the middle of Kenmare Bay, lit by the early morning rising sun. I used this wonderful side lighting to bring out the texture of the stone slipway and used the slipway to lead you into the image.

Three days of sitting and waiting for the light was worth it me thinks.

Blurred Forest

2011-06-27T14:16:00.000+01:00

Not your pin sharp wonderful B&W landscape that you come to expect from me, but something different.

The first Sunday in every month is set aside for a family walk up some mountain. Come rail, hail or shine, and in this case low clouds and mist, we go. All manor of clothing is packed into the boot of the car which leads to very little space for my big camera bags (must get bigger car not ). So I always carry my trusty Canon G10 with me on these trips.

Last Sunday the 5th June was such a walk ( Link to pic ) up Djouce Mountain in the Wiclow Mts. After a couple of wonderful sunny day with temperatures in the high 20′s, the sunscreen was packed. I can tell you now that never came out of the boot. At times you couldn’t see 20 meters in front of you and the higher you went the worse it got.

The challenge was on – to come away with a couple of image from the walk.

One such image is above titled “Blurred Forest”. With very very very bad visibility what are you to do ? During the walk through the forest the light levels very low and hand holding a camera to get a sharp image was impossible. Use this camera blur to your advantage. During the 1/6th second exposure I moved the camera in an upwards motion. The result was, I think, great. This got me think and I started to play with the different camera setting to produce my images and not the usual Landscape images I take.

I love the way the forest floor and the tree branches are completely blurred while the tree trunks are still visible. I also like the triangle shape the trees make which draws you into the image.

So if you go down the wood today…………..

Make sure you have low light and don’t bring a tripod.

The Long Range

2011-05-26T23:17:00.000+01:00

The Long Range is a stretch of water that joins Muckross Lake to The Upper Lake in Killarney National Park. It’s the same water in this image as in the Eagle’s Nest post (link here).

This time however I had a boat beside the foreground rocks which makes for a nice composition. The lines on the rocks lead you to the boat which leads you into the rest of the image. The weather, clouds and light was just right and I had to stop the car yet again on my way home from Kenmare. Well not directly home as I had planned to stop off at Peter Cox new Gallery in Killarney and give him a hand with framing a few images before the grand opening. This didn’t go to plan in favor of Peter as the light was to good to miss and being a photographer I knew he would understand.

Also my battery run out and this was the last image of the day. Another reason for a trip to the gallery to charge the battery for the afternoon shoot. As I have already said, the Eagle’s Nest is just off to the right and I was standing right where the boat is to take that image.

This is a classic example for returning to the same location again and again. You will either see something different or the conditions will be different and come away with another image as with me in this case.

Coornagillagh, Kenmare Bay

2011-05-16T18:24:00.000+01:00

I came across this location on the evening before but the clouds had rolled in and that was the end of the sunset. However the next day I came back this time a little earlier to see what it was like and go for a little walk around. The tide was low which made for so interesting foreground rocks to help in the composition. In the image above you are looking straight out along the Kenmare Bay with Iveragh Peninsula on your right and the The Beara Peninsula on the left. You can’t really them with this portrait format but I think it helps the composition with the way the rocks in the foreground led you into the image.

There is only one problem with this image- no sound. You can’t see them but you could here the Seals making some wonderful sounds. It added to the atmosphere and will be added to the list of locations for the next episode of the Circle of Confusion Video series. Can’t wait to hear the sound on the video in the background while we try any part with some advice.

Lackeen, Kenmare Bay

2011-05-02T22:25:00.000+01:00

I usually use Killarney as my base and travel from there when I’m down Co Kerry way, but not this time. Kenmare, Co Kerry was to be my base for this Co Kerry trip.

I now think after this trip that Kenmare is the best location as you can travel north to the Iveragh Peninsula or south towards the Beara Peninsula. Also the drive from Kenmare to KIllarney ( N71) is much better in this direction. We have had some of the best weather of late and I was hoping that it would continue for my trip. It was good and bad. Too much haze. Clear blue skies and strong haze might be good holiday weather for the beach etc… but not us landscape photographers.

The image above was taken one morning after a short drive out on the Iveragh Peninsula along “The Ring of Kerry” road to a place called Lackeen. I found this small Quay and stopped. The clouds were starting to break up so I decided to stay here and wait a while. In the image I am looking sound across Kenmare Bay towards the Caha Mountains on the the Beara Peninsula. I like the peaceful scene. The different shapes and tones of the trees and the cloud patterns. I bit of a difference between this image and the dark moody one from the previous post ( Castletownbere )

So the first image in the bag from this trip. Hotel was great. Food was great. Kenmare has jumped to the top of my list of landscape locations. I have only just scratched the surface of wonderful locations to photograph, so will be back again and agin me thinks.

More to follow from this trip including : Coornagillagh Quay, Cloonee Lough, Darrynane Bay, Glanbeg to name just a few.

Castletownbere

2011-04-21T23:46:00.000+01:00

The one that nearly got away.

After we finished filming the morning sequence for the The video we made our way back to Castletownbere for some breakfast. A hard thing to find - a coffee shop open on a Sunday morning at 8:00. So we waited and did a bit more filming down at the harbour. We also started doing the backup of the compact flash cards onto the laptops in the back of the jeep. The clouds were starting to break up at this stage which would lead to a very productive late morning and afternoon shooting. While the backup were being copied I noticed some wonderful light starting to appear over the harbour in front of us. A quick camera setup and a couple of images taken before the clouds and light changed and the show was over.

I love the mood in the image. The ripples on the calm water in the harbour and the single boat just on the edge of the light. Ok I did darken down the clouds and foreground a bit but this adds to the mood of the image. After a poor start to the day, getting up at 4:00, driving for 1.5 hours to capture the Super Moon set only to be greeted with the same clouds in the image above. This time the low lying clouds make the image.

Bad weather is good weather. It all depends on your mood.

The Reeks

2011-04-15T23:45:00.002+01:00

The Reeks or there full name The Macgillycuddy Reeks Mountain Range on The Inveragh Peninsula, Co Kerry. This image above shows The Reeks and The Gap of Dunloe from the main road ( N71 ).
If you are one of the many people who have download the video ( Photographing The Landscape - Episode 0: Cork & Kerry ) then you will have seen how the image was captured.
And if you haven't why not?
We had wonderful light and shadows with the passing clouds to play with at this time of the day compared to the weather conditions for the sunrise early that morning.
Listen the best thing to do is download the video because, well read the DVD cover notes :

"Follow Landscape photographers Peter Cox and Neil McShane as they plan a dawn shoot in Cork. Despite being frustrated by the weather, they will show you how to work with the conditions instead of against them and come away with some good images.
For the rest of the day, they take in some of the highlights of the Cork and Kerry landscape, revealing tips and tricks of the trade along the way. Oh, and there's plenty of banter and good humor as well.
Some of the things you'll learn in the episode:
-Ways to plan for the best photographs.
-Tips for getting great black & white landscapes.
- How to use graduated neutral density filters to balance exposure.
-How bad weather can make for good photographs.
-Shading your lens without a hood to prevent flare."

So there you have it, all my secrets are out for you to learn from.
Over the coming weeks I will post more images for this trip which didn't make it into the final cut of the video. Not that there not any good, it's just we had to stop some where.
I look forward to your comments on the video if you have downloaded it and if there is anything would guys would like for us to cover in the next episode, please let me know.

Landscape Video

2011-04-01T21:28:00.003+01:00

I am please to announce I have teamed up with Peter Cox and Roger Overall over on The Circle of Confusion website to star in a video series about Landscape Photography.

You can learn more about it on The Circle of Confusion website : HERE

Teaser - The Circle of Confusion: Photographing the Landscape, Episode 0.

Glenbeg Lough

2011-03-12T00:13:00.007Z

This is one of my favorite images from the four days down on The Beara Peninsula and it came out of disappointment. Let me explain:

The weeks leading up to the Beara Trip were spent looking over the Discovery Series of Maps from OSi (Ordnance Survey Ireland) to find suitable locations to shoot. One such place was Glenbeg Lough, Ardgroom. We have the lake surrounded by mountains a river flowing into the lake and a bridge over the river. All this looks like an interesting location. Looking at the details on the map and seeing the real life are two different things.

We had finished shooting up on the Healy Pass and Lauragh Forest and started our journey further west for sunset when hunger struck. Stopping at a coffee shop in Ardgroom, Peter noticed a painting on the wall of Glenbeg Lough. Now don't get me wrong but painters have it easy. They start with a blank canvas and add or remove thing at will. Us photographers have a completed canvas and have to use whats in front of the camera lens. What greeted us on the drive up to the lake was nothing like the view in the painting. Missing was the car park, rubbish bins, public signs and the pipes going across the side wall of the bridge. And they say using Photoshop to edit your photos is wrong but.....

What a disappointment. We didn't even get out of the jeep and to top it off low clouds started to roll in and this put a stop to sunset. We did however drive along the shoreline to find a point to turn the jeep around and head home. Oh, but wait. I spotted the view above with the reads in the foreground and Skellig Mt in the background.

Not the images I pictured a week ago looking at the maps but I think a came away with a much better image. Once again a portrait format helps in the composition. The slight blurring or the reads from the strong wind blowing down trough the valley and the dark clouds, helped by the filters, hanging over the tops of the mountains adds the drama of the image.

I have a hard drive full of image to post still from The Beara Peninsula.

Lehanbeg Pier.

2011-03-03T22:09:00.003Z

Here is one of the first images taken form the Friday's evening shooting location, Lehanbeg Pier, Beara, Co Cork. The bad weather I was talking about in the previous post was clearing eastwards. We didn't get the full intensity of the setting sun due mainly to the low cover mist and fog which was to our benefit as we are shooting directly into the setting sun just out of the photo to the right. Long shutter speeds and a couple of ND Grad filters made for interesting effects on the water as it crashed over the sides of the pier walkway. The composition is helped by the mirroring angles of the foreground rocks and the pier itself. We came back to this location a couple of hours later and the water level had dropped by about 3 meters so it was safe to walk all the way out the the end of the pier.

Eagles Nest

2011-02-24T01:08:00.006Z

I'm back from a 4 day trip down to The Beara Peninsula with a good friend and fellow Landscape photographer Peter Cox. The weeks leading up the trip were spent looking over maps and we came to the conclusion that the Beara would be an ideal location.

The trip down is a 4.5 hour drive but I was going to make a detour on the way and stop off in Killarney. Leaving my home at 5:30 in the morning with clear skies above me. Short lived as I was driving into the bad weather.

If you are following me on Twitter or Facebook you will see some of the images taken with the iPhone. One such image link here was taken out the car window from the very same spot as the image above. However in that image the rain was coming down very heavy. Not a great start to the trip and was this a sign of things to come? You will just have to wait and see.

I have started the series of image posts with the last image taken on the trip. It's an image of Eagles Nest in the Killarney National Park from Five Mile Bridge along the N71. This is a image I have being after for a couple of years now as conditions have not worked out in the past but this they were perfect. A clear sky with the cloud pattern following the lines of the mountain. Some ripples in the water made by me standing in the water ( wellies, a photographers best friend ). I like the way the ripples make your eyes flow into the image. The looks I was getting from the many tourists taking their snap shots. What must they have being thinking?

Did I get any more images? Just lets say it's taken me a few days to go through the images and start the conversion process.

Stayed tuned over the next coupe of weeks to see the rest of "The Beara Trip"

Bundoran Sunset

2011-02-06T14:18:00.005Z

What a sunset. Pure magic.

Light, texture, shapes and tones by the bucket load.

This image was taken last year from the trip to Bundoran, Co Donegal. The amazing thing about this image was that I had the place to myself. Nobody around to get in my way. A ware occurrence for a landscape photographer. Did I have to travel far? No, out the hotel door turn right and down the steps.

I typical sort of Irish day with all the seasons during the day and come the magic hour the clouds lifted the the sun came out to play. It makes up for all the waiting around during the day. The last time I was up here I had perfect weather all day and it was going to be a wonderful sunset. But........

You see the dark rocks on the right? There is a diving board on the rocks and it's in constant use. On that evening the people got stranded on the rocks as the tide came in and the Air-Sea rescue helicopter and fire brigade were called out. No sunset image that time but on this evening I got the image I was after, OK a year late but very happy all the same.

A couple of ND Grad filter were used to balance the image. Using the Lee filter system you can angle the grads to suit the image which I had to on this image.

If you do a search with the word Bundoran on your left you will find a few more images.

Two weeks and counting to the West Cork/Kerry Trip.

Enjoy the week.

Sunrise on the coast

2011-01-23T11:30:00.004Z

As I was saying over in Twitter land ( follow here ), I went back through my image folders from last year with a new set of eyes ( mentally not physically ). You should do this at's amazing what you will find. Me, well I found five extra images that went thru the "mononeil" process. The image above being one of them. Take very early one morning along the Wicklow/Wexford coast. The sun had not risen yet and you can see the light rays fanning out from the clouds on the horizon.

I didn't think it would work as a black & white but you know it does. I like the way the rocks are very dark with just a hint of light here and there. The shape of the flat rock surface and the highlights makes your eyes flow into the image. In contrast to the sky and the light rays this foreground was very dark and to balance it out a bit 3 ND filters had to be used.

The project for the year has being selected and is in full swing. More on this later.

The first major trip of the year has will happen in February down around west Cork - Kerry.

Branch & Sky

2011-01-15T13:10:00.005Z

First post for 2011 and it took until 15th of January to post it.

December last year and January this year have being eventful to say the least. I don't thing I can take much more. Starting with Bronchitis, snow and freezing temperatures leading to no water for a couple of weeks over Christmas, then the flu kicked in. And now the sad news that my Granny died RIP. My turkey is still in the freezer and the bottle of Whiskey is still unopened that Santa left for me.

On the photography front, I still have not done any Landscape work yet. Plans are being worked on for a trip in February with Peter Cox. One commercial shoot last week and another one next week and a few more print orders to complete is keeping me going as well as finishing my notes for the 6 week Lecture series starting in February.

The image above was shoot from the carpark of client I was visiting a while back. I love the shape of the branches with no leaves and the dark moody sky. It depicts my mood and feeling perfectly.

Looking forward to 2011 with some big plans in the pipeline but first this:

I put together "The Best of 2010" news story over on the website. Link Here.

Good luck to you all this year and hope you will follow my journey through the year.

Snow Covered Ireland

2010-12-20T19:09:00.004Z

Ireland and the rest of Europe is going through a snow time for the past couple of weeks. Here in Ireland the fun has worn off everybody, even the children. And now the snow is back again right up until Christmas Eve according to the weather people.

What I though was just a Cold turned into Acute Bronchitis which means I'm stuck indoors for a week or so. I did manage to get out and get a couple of snow scenes on my travels. The above is one such. I'm not sure of the location. All I know it's between Kells and Virginia. I will get the exact location when the Doc gives me the all clear to go.

A simple image taken from the side of the road looking into a field across to a small forest. I love the way the image is layered with different shades of snow covered tress in the foreground to the wonderful cloud formations in the background. Also the image works much better in this portrait format then my 'normal' landscape as you are brought up through the layers in the image.

Funny thing happened to me while taking this image. Having to park the car on the side of the main road but not to close to the side due to the heavy snow on the roads. I forgot that cars would have to go around the car and off the clear road surface. In my case a 40ft truck came along at speed and traveled along the central part of the road which was still covered with heavy snow. The truck catapulted snow across the road in the direction of me and the camera. A quick jump was needed to cover the camera. I got covered in snow and slush. This resulted in my getting a cold and now Bronchitis. I should have left the camera and took cover myself. I think the image was worth all the medical bills ???

Return to The Boyne

2010-12-08T23:13:00.004Z

Meath and the East coast of Ireland have had 2 weeks of heavy snow fall and sub zero temperatures. Wonderful weather for photographers right? That's if you can get outside your house. The roads are just crazy. Snow falls during the day and then -12 degrees at night and the next morning it's an ice rink outside. This has being going on for days now.

Lucky I did manage to get out a couple of weeks ago before the heavy snow fall and got back to the Boyne River and get a few mores images. Full story and more images can be found over on my website : Link Here

You can see the greater volume of water in the Boyne as none of the foreground rocks are visible compared to the image in "A Boyne Diamond" post. By the time I got back up to the car my feet were numb. Thank god the fire was blazing when I got home. I broke my rule of backing up my memory cards first. This time I sat down in front of the fire until I got some feeling back in my toes. Not much to report on the dog front this time as I have the place to myself.

On a different note, I'm having great fun with another camera. This camera also can make and receive phone calls. Yes, I'm talking about the iPhone. I have two of them. Don't ask. The original one and the new iPhone4. I know the camera is not the best or is it? I have put a website together using wordpress just for photo taken with the iPhone. It's called iPhoneNeil and you can link to it here : iPhoneNeil website.

Skerries

2010-11-12T18:23:00.004Z

What is it me and dogs when I am out taking photo's ?

Last week Ireland got the tail end of hurricane Thomas and the weather services was giving out warnings about strong winds, low pressure and high tides with flooding warnings. Stay away from the coastal roads and paths. So what did I do? Drive over to Skerries, a small village on the east coast of Ireland on Sunday morning and go for a walk along the coast path with the wife and children. Don't worry the storms had not hit yet as it was a beautiful morning, blue skies and some clouds starting to roll in.

Along the coastal path they have built a platform for swimmers to get into the water. On this morning the tide was very high and coming in over the sides of the platform. Perfect, so I set up the camera and waited for the waves to come in and cover the concrete in the foreground. This would help with the reflections of the clouds.

Now I had a slight timing issue. You see there was this dog running and jumping into the water right in front of my camera position and I had to wait until the dog was out of the frame and the waves covered the foreground. I got the image I was after i.e. the one here. While I was packing my gear up the dog came over to me and stood there looking at me. But what did he do only shake himself dry and water went all over me and the contents of my backpack. Once again his owner was embarrassed and apologized. I just stood there wet but laughing.

The moral of this story : If I see another dog while out shooting I'm going the other direction.

More SkyWatch Friday images here : SkyWatch

A Boyne Diamond

2010-11-05T23:53:00.002Z

What do you do when your wife rings you to say that herself and the children are staying with her mother for the night? A free house, yes. Quick get the camera and tripod and get out of the house. Go figure?

Well on this evening when I got that very call I did indeed grab the camera bag. Well it never made it out of the car form that morning. As it was summer time I had plenty of time to get something to eat (photographers dinner on the go - takeaway fish and chips) and plan where to shoot that evening.

Living on the East coast of Ireland does not make for great sunsets most of the time, however there are a couple of places you can get a wonderful sunset. Not tonight as I hadn't got time on my side.

The river Boyne flows through the town of Navan where I live. I decided that I would go for a walk along the Boyne and if I was lucky just might get an image or two. There are a couple of place along the stretch form Navan to Slane where you can park your car and walk the path running beside the river bank.

I wasn't getting any luck composition wise for the first 30mins of the walk but then I started to here a sound of water flowing over and into rocks. This could be interesting. When I reached a spot on the river bank which opened out and was able to step down into the water to get the composition I was after I knew this should work.

The image above is not that image (might post that during the week). I was thinking that this was not the right time of the day to be shooting west into the setting sun. A morning time would be much better as the sun would to behind me and light up the river bank on the far side. Luck would have it that I had a tree in the middle of the river. Don't ask because I don't understand how this can be?

But I had a plan. A slight move to the left and up onto the bank to position the tree in the frame and use it to hide the setting sun. Foreground interest was the rocks and water. In the middle we had the tree in the middle of the river and the far bank with the trees was my background. I just had to wait for the sun to get onto position behind the branches and my composition was ready.

While waiting I did get to talk to a few people asking me what I was doing? and chase a dog who took one of my lens pouches out of my open camera bag on the ground beside me. I saw the funny side and no harm was done but the dog owner was very embarrassed.

Sorry, getting back to the image. I had to use a couple of ND grad filters to control the sky and get a slow enough shutter speed for control the water flow. The result is the image above. Not bad of a spur of the moment sort of thing while I could have being sitting down we my feet up in control of the TV for once.

"A Boyne Diamond" To find out what this means Click Here.

So the moral of the story : If you find yourself with a free house one fine summers evening get out and get a snap or two.

More SkyWatch Friday images here : SkyWatch

Donabate Walk

2010-10-30T12:19:00.003+01:00

Well now, it's being a long time since my last blogpost. A couple of reasons really but mainly working on other parts of the business and not enough time out in the field taking new images.

Another reason is lack of inspiration or rather too much inspiration.

"Even the most enthusiastic of photographers get the blues. And there's nothing more depressing than jealousy and a lack of motivation caused by overexposure to the work of others."

Well my friends that's me at the moment. But, there is hope. I have discovered a great cure for this particular form of photographic depression. Grab your camera and get out of the house and spend more time developing your style and vision rather than indulging in everyone else's.

So I did just that last week and went back to where I lived a few years ago. Donabate is a small village on the East coast of Ireland. Jump over to the website here to have a look at more images from Donabate.

It was great to get out on my own with the cameras and just walk around to try a get a composition that works. The image above shows the cliff path form Donabate to Portrane. It had being a clear blue sky all morning and then the clouds started to roll in which is more to my style. While waiting for the right light and composition you have plenty of time to think. And a lot of thinking was done this morning on the cliff path of Donabate.

I'm Back

Full of my own style, vision and Inspiraton.

Dinosaur Shadow in Wicklow

2010-09-16T22:47:00.005+01:00

Last week I went down to Glendalough, Co Wicklow for a walk with the family. Leaving the house early to avoid the crowds of people who visit Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains. It is a wonderful place to visit during the week as there is less people to avoid in your images.

After walking passed the Upper Lake (more on this in another post) and along the trail down towards the Mining Village. We had some wonderful weather, clouds and sun on the walk. And I was glad I took the complete Mononeil Camera equipment backpack with me this time and not just the compact.

I was able to capture a shadow of a dinosaur (hehehe) coming out from behind Lugduff Mountain on the left. The image also shows Camaderry Mountain on the right and Glenealo River which flows into the Upper Lake. Just below the shadows you can make out what is left of the building of The Mining Village. Mining for lead, zinc and silver took place for over 150 years and at the peek of production 2,000 miners were employed. Mining continued up until 1957.

The contrast difference between the sky and foreground was controlled by using 2 Lee ND Grad filters. This low-res jpeg might not show you but there is still detail in the shadows area of the mountain of the left.

I was able to come away with a hand full of images from this trip to Glendalough. One of the main reasons was to capture the Upper Lake. I have a couple of images but still not happy. I was enjoying my time down at the Mining Village that by the time I got back to the Upper lake the blanket clouds had rolled in and that was the end of my shooting. I will just have to come back again another time. The story of us Landscape Photographers.

More SkyWatch Friday can be found here

Droma Valley

2010-09-02T22:46:00.005+01:00

The Irish Weather is a funny old thing. Here in this image we have snow on the mountain tops with sun, wind and rain down in the valley. Only in Ireland can you have all this in the space of a day.

Droma Valley can be found on the Dingle Peninsula. Taken with my G10 as had packed all the main camera equip away. Stopped here too see what it looked like as it looked interesting on the map. A mental note to come back here and do a bit more exploring around.

Not many posts of late due too many things going on and not time to get out, take a snap or two and then process them on the computer. I'm still going through the image from my last trip up in Donegal. Also I did manage to grad an hour or two to get out one evening to the River Boyne and captured some interesting images. I will post them over the next couple of weeks.

Marathons are back on again with me being away every weekend in September.

More SkyWatch Friday can be found here

Another Drive-by shooting

2010-08-22T22:46:00.005+01:00

Well it happened again today, another drive-by shooting. This time they didn't even stop the car. Camera out the window as they drove by. Where and when?
It happened on the road out of Laragh, Co Wicklow towards The Sally Gap. You slowly make way up the side of the mountain by car and when you nearly reach the top the view opens out and Glenmacnass Waterfall comes into full view. Just pass the waterfall you can pull into the big carpark and walk along the banks for the river and out onto the waterfall itself. This time of the year and amount of water in the river will vary.
We had being camping down in Roundwood and were heading home the long way. I didn't want to bring the full camera pack with me, so the G10 was all I had. The image above is the view you have from the top of the waterfall.
What kind of person the would drive all the way out and up here and doesn't stop to even look. Whats even worse, sticking the hand out the window while the car is moving to take a photo.
This is one of the few things that makes me go crazy.

The Sugar Loaf

2010-08-17T22:36:00.008+01:00

A short break from The Mourne Mountains trip for a moment. I have said and will always say it's not the camera but the person using it that takes the photo. You have the eye to see whats in front of you and the camera. It's you who presses the shutter button at that specific time. You moved one step to the right the help the composition. You get the picture ?

When I got out for a walk/hike with the family I more than likely only bring my compact camera with me. Being the gentleman that I am I always carry the backpack with the food, water and rain gear. No room for the dslr, filters and tripod. The image above was one such image taken with my Canon G10 compact camera. We went for a walk up The Sugar Loaf mountain last sunday. On the drive up to the car park I noticed this structure and decided to make a stop on the way home to see if an image was possible.

I jumped the wall and waited for the sun to light up the side wall. I took a couple of images in landscape and portrait format. The portrait format works the best for this composition. Ok your not going to get a 40inch print form this but you will get a very nice 20x16 image and when you put this in matt and frame you have got yourself winner.

So, you don't need the top of the range camera. You do need to see better and learn to use the camera you have first. Keep your money and spend it on knowledge. Take a workshop. Plug plug hint hint ( workshop link )

More Skies can be found here SkyWatch Friday.

Spelga Dam Again

2010-07-25T23:23:00.003+01:00

After the mist lifted form Spelga Dam and sun rising over to my left, the beauty of the area started to appear. I moved back a bit from the last post to include the rocks on the shoreline to add some foreground interest. Also the light was wonderful on the rocks bring out that texture and different tones.

I had the whole place to myself that morning bar the people who were camping in a tent just from the shoreline. I never even seen the tent on the way down and nearly walked over them as I was walking backwards up the hill.

From here I traveled down towards the mountains you see in the background. More of them next week.

My Exhibitions has come to a close with some wonderful comments signed in the visitors book. A few print sales and workshops finished off the month of July nicely.

Next week will see me traveling up towards Sligo - Donegal area for a few days.

I am still going through the Mourne Mountains Images and Westport at the end of June.

So plenty for you to enjoy.

Spelga Dam

2010-07-15T23:36:00.004+01:00

I think it's time for a change. We travel up north this time to The Mourne Mountains in Co Down and a funny tale to tell.

We two months solid working for MarathonFoto finished I was ready to get out and shoot some landscape work. Checked the weather OK. Packed my camera bags, tripods and all other gear ready for the early start and left them down at the front door ready. I was going to shoot sunrise on my way up the North. One slight problem with all this preparation. I forgot todo one thing. Can you guess?

I woke up to the sound of my 7 year old son getting out of bed. That's funny, he never wakes that during the night. No I was wrong. What did I forget todo? Set the alarm clock. It was Saturday morning. I was not a happy chap. That was the end of that trip. So the following week I did set the alarm and let the house at 4 in the morning. What a wonderful sunrise I got and the rest of the day was fantastic.

The image above is an image of Spelga Dam. Mist started to roll in over the surface of the water to give this lovely effect. This lasted for about 10mins and was gone. I stayed here for a while longer and have some more images of the lake and surroundings.

So over the next couple of weeks I will bring you more images from The Mourne Mountains.

More Sky's over at SkyWatch Friday

Reenbeg Point Dingle

2010-07-01T20:34:00.003+01:00

We are coming to the end of my Dingle Trip images.

The image above shows Reenbeg Point, the mouth to Dingle Bay and Harbor. This is also the home of Fungie the Dolphin (Link here). This was taken form a cliff face on the other side of the bay. It was the every last images taken on this trip before I packed by bags and headed home.

Even though the first day and a half was a wash out the the rain, on the whole the Dingle Trip was great. The new camera system was put through it's paces and came out with flying colours.

You have The Mourne Mountains and Westport Trips to look forward in the coming weeks.

Have a good weekend and see you all again next week.

More Skys can be found here on SkyWatch Friday

Conor Pass Again

2010-06-24T22:25:00.005+01:00

OMG it's being 1 month since my last confession sorry Blog Post.

What can I say?
I have being very buzzy fly all over Europe that past month or two working for MarathonFoto. During this time I have taken well over 50,000 images of runners. The season is now over for a while so I can get back to doing some more Landscape work.
So where did I leave you?
Yes up on the Conor Pass on the Dingle Peninsula, Co Kerry. It's a funny old world here in Ireland but that's one of the many reasons I love it so much. In the last post you can see the snow capped mountains and storm clouds moving in. This image taken from the same spot but turned to my right, we have wonderful blue sky and some sunshine over the Slievanea Mountain. I love the play with the light and the shadows cast by the clouds on the mountain face.
After getting the new camera system back in April, this was the only time I got to use it. It has being sitting safe and sound in my backpack. Last week I did manage to get out and travelled up to The Mourne Mountains. Next week I'm off to one of my favorite location as a base for the week, Westport Co Mayo.
So it's this post for another week or I might get one uploaded on Saturday before I'm on the road again.
More Sky's can be found at SkyWatch Friday here.

Conor Pass

2010-05-06T23:37:00.003+01:00

On the way home form the Dunquin Peir shoots I noticed that the tops of the mountains were snow covered. So after a quick shower and Irish breakfast in the hotel, I headed back out again for a quick drive up to the viewpoint at the top of the Conor Pass.

The Conor Pass is the highest mountain pass in Ireland. It is situated on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, on the road that crosses the peninsula between Dingle Town and the coast the other side. The Mountains the Pass crosses are the Brandon Mountains and contain Ireland's second highest peak Brandon Mountain at 3127 ft. From Dingle Town the road runs some 4 1/2 miles rising to 1500 ft as it winds its way to the pass. There are wonderful views of the coast. At the Pass there is a carpark where you are confronted with this magnificent sight. The road then carries on down towards Brandon Bay past cliffs, a waterfall and lakes

A short walk up the Conor Hill on the left of the car park and this was the view in the image above. Snow covered mountain tops and low storm clouds. However to the right was clear blue skies and sunshine ( the next post ). It was very windy up here and I was glad I had the spiked feet on the ends of the tripod legs stuck into the ground.
I waited for the clouds to move and the sun to light up the tops of Geathane and Brandon Peak which were covered in snow. I had the place to my self up here which was great. It was only on the short walk back down that a car pulled up, two people got out and took a snap with a compact camera and back into there car. Total time 20seconds. It am always amazed by these type to people ( tourists ? ). What must the thinks when they are looking back thru their images. Take the extra time to take in the view and this includes smell and sounds. For me when I look back at an image I have taken I see the view but have all this information with me to enjoy the image more.

Have a good weekend and talk soon.

More Skies can be found at SkyWatch Friday

Dunquin Pier

2010-04-22T22:24:00.004+01:00

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

2010-04-15T21:08:00.004+01:00

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.

For More SkyWatch Images Link Here

Coumeenoole Bay

2010-04-06T21:10:00.004+01:00

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.

Priory of St John.

2010-03-21T20:24:00.004Z

The first image taken with the new Canon TS-E 24mm F/3.5L II.

The Priory of St John, Trim, Co Meath taken this morning on a field trip with 12 of my students from the class on Photography I teach. I didn't manage to take a bucket load of image as I was too busy looking after the passing on a few words of wisdom.

When I did take an image. What results. Stunning is all I can say. Centre to edge sharpness is wonderful. Crisp, clear and contrast all wonderful.

Ok the low-res jpeg image here will not do it justice, but the export form Aperture viewed at 100% in Photoshop or Loupe in Aperture looks like is needs not unsharp mask applied.

Back to the image. We had to wait a short while for the sun to come out from behind the clouds all day. This was great for the students as they could see that a difference it makes to their exposure and the way it subject was lit up. Also they also learned position of the sun in the sky plays a important part in a photographers knowledge which no text books can teach you.

I think at the end of the day they all went home very happy campers. Now I have to wait until next Tuesday nights class to see their results.

Black Castle Wicklow

2010-03-17T22:09:00.003Z

We are now at the end of our Wicklow & Wexford Coastal journey with a photo of Black Castle which stands on a rocky promontory over the sea. We spent a god while here trying to find the best viewpoint and light.

This image above shows whats left of the castle to its best compared to the Google search images found on the Internet in my opinion. It's taken further down the coast than normal along a cliff path. However the foreground interest leads your eye nicely into the image and to the final resting place of the castle itself. We had to wait for some people to move out of the shoot and for the sun to reappear from behind the clouds. This angle of morning light is used to light up the face of the cliff and castle which is again the reason for this viewpoint.

You can possibly get a better image of the castle walls in detail from the other side but would be shooting into the sun and the castle would be in complete shadow. A return visit at a different time in the year is on the cards.

Wicklow Coast Continued....

2010-03-11T20:27:00.008Z

We continue on our Wicklow & Wexford Coastal tour with the image about. After our wonderful breakfast mentioned in the pervious post and collected the now fully charged batteries form the house we headed south passed Brittas Bay. We found a lovely small bridge and river. Following the river through a field we came out onto the sea front in the image above.

Wonderful line and clouds are the composition in this image. I still had my wellies and over trousers on and kept them on for the whole day. It might not look the prettiest but it gets the job done and I am warm and dry.

I will post the images of the bridge and surroundings during the coming weeks as they are interesting in that : what you can find and photograph when out and about looking and exploring.

Have a good weekend and remember to bring your camera out with you.

For more SkyWatch Friday images Link Here

Brittas Bay Sunrise

2010-03-06T23:59:00.004Z

We have done a u-turn here and gone south down the Wicklow coast to Brittas Bay for an early morning sunrise. It didn't look like it was going to be any good. We had a big empty beach to play with and some small sand dunes. Instead of pointing the camera into the sunrise to the east I decided that turning and looking north along the beach and use the rising sun to side-light the foreground interest. We started to get some lovely cloud formations which added interest to the sky.

I don't know what happened but my batteries started to loose power very quickly and had to take a couple of images then remove the battery and place it inside my clothing. Just leave it a that and say nothing more on the subject as to the position of the battery. I had a spare backup battery in the car to continue on shooting that day. I presume it was the cold that was effecting the performance of the batteries.

We decided to head back to the house used as our base ( thanks Gavin's Mum & Dad ) and get a complete charge to my dying batteries. Also a good time to get breakfast. A hot coffee and a Full Irish Breakfast Roll down by the harbor. This will bring us nicely onto the final images to be posted during the coming days.

The Monochrome Weekend and many more can be found here .

Kilmichael Strand

2010-03-03T20:19:00.003Z

We continue on our journey up the Wicklow Coast with an image from the sand dunes behind the beach of Kilmichael Strand. We had a wonderful afternoon sun to play with casting shadows and a warm quality to the light. Using this light to great use in the long grasses in the foreground and lighting up the countryside in the background.

While waiting for the right light, camera setup, check your twitter feed on you phone. How wonderful technology is today that you can be standing in the middle of a beach and still be connected to the world. Alone but not alone, well besides from Gavin standing right next to me that is.

Just after we had taken these images a man on a horse appeared and went straight into the water and that was that. No more reflections in the water. I did manage to get a couple of images of this but I think it does not work as the rider and horse takes away your interest in the light and shadow detail which for me is the image.

I think I have a few more image to show you before we get to the end of our journey in the series on the Wicklow Coast. So come back again and continue your journey with me.

Wicklow Coast

2010-02-26T18:53:00.003Z

Here is your SkyWatch Friday image.

Don't even go there. What can I say I'm hooked on the portrait landscape.

You might have noticed that I changed the name of the last post because I got the name of the location wrong. So I am calling this one Wicklow Coast until I ask my Sherpa Guide ( Gavin help ? ) whats the location for the above image.

The light was very harsh so I waited for the sun to go behind the clouds before I was happy with the light levels and composition. Again we waited for people to disappear from off the sand dunes. You can't see it but I found a football in the long grass just in front of me. So if anybody lost a football it's there.

So this is the second image from the Wicklow trip and we are moving up the coast from the last post and I will continue on the journey up the coast for the next post.

Have a good weekend and see you all next week.

Clones Strand

2010-02-24T23:51:00.006Z

Well now, I have being mad busy the past couple of weeks. During this time I did manage to get away for a few days shooting down on the Wicklow/Wexford east coast with a friend of mine Gavin Lyons. Gavin, who is Irish now lives in Austria came home and we meat up last Saturday at some crazy early hour in the day/night.

We spent the next couple of days going up and down the coast stopping off every now and then take a photo or two. The image above was taken on the Saturday down on the rocks over looking Castletown Beach. We climbed down the rocks to get our composition right. I'm not going to mention names or anything like that but someones lens ( not me ) decided to make it's own way down the rocks and land safely on the edge undamaged luck would have it.

We waited for the right conditions. The clouds were starting to arrive after a completely blue sky that morning for sunrise. We also had to wait for the right moment were there was no people on the beach and the waves crashed up onto the rocks to add a bit of drama to the image.

I think I got enough images to keep me going for a good few weeks and you will be the first to see them here on my blog as soon as I process and post them. You can look forward to images from Ballymoney, Castletown, Kilmichael Point, Clogga, Brittas Bay, Ardmore Point, Wicklow Head, Lighthouse and Castle.

Giant's Causeway

2010-02-12T23:17:00.004Z

Well look at this, another portrait orientation landscape.

And yes I did go to the doctor for help. He said stop turning your head sideways.

The Giant's Causeway, Co Antrim, a World Heritage Site is one hell of an interesting place to visit and photograph. For one reason, to get a image with no people in it. A very tricky thing to do. However if you are a "real" photographer you go at some crazy time in the day. The above image was taken at around 5 in the morning me thinks on my trip to the Antrim Coast last November. At this time of the day you can drive your car down if you know your way through the car park maze.

The weather was overcast which made for a not so interesting colour sunrise ( I was with my good friend Peter Cox )but I think this image works very well in good old black and white. The shape and texture in the rock formations and the smooth water with the reflections of the clouds is interesting.

I promise this will be my last one. Well not really. Have a look at the Antrim Gallery on my site and you will see a few more images.

Have a good weekend and talk soon.

Skerries Lighthouse

2010-02-06T12:28:00.003Z

Please don't adjust your monitors.

The worm have turned.

Yes you are not seeing things.

A portrait Landscape.

If you have being following my blog for a while you will have noticed that I have never posted a portrait style landscape image. The reason for this is well I don't see in portrait. I visualize the final image in me head as a b&w landscape. I know I have missed a good number of images by not taking portrait style but I just can't see them.

The image above of Skerries and the Lighthouse was taken from the same location as the previous post with the G10 on a tripod. However in the Landscape version I have you can see the car park and the children's playground. This did not help in the composition as I wanted the large rock in the foreground to lead you into the image and to the Lighthouse on the horizon. I could not position myself and the elements to suite.

I had to turn the camera & ball head ( even looked up tripod manual to find out how to do this ! ). By doing so the elements and the composition work. Even a bird moved into position in the sky for me. Will it be my last composition this way? Who knows, but I will visit the doctors and see if there are drugs to help me overcome this problem.

Have a good weekend and see you here again next week.

The Monochrome Weekend starts here

Skerries Walk

2010-02-03T23:06:00.005Z

Question : Do you bring a camera with you when you go out for a walk ?

If the answer to the above question is no then why not?

I bring a camera with me at all times when a I go out for a walk with the family. It may not the the high-end DSLR's I own but the G10 goes with all the time. It depends on the location and what type of walk we go on for choosing what to bring ie the full backpack and tripod or pocket camera. Mind you I will always bring a tripod with me. There is still life yet in my old and battered tripod.

The image above was taken on a Sunday walk around the seaside village of Skerries in north county Dublin. There was a strong clod wind blowing. I know as my newspaper let fly all over the public playground. It was funny to see grown adults running around trying to catch my newspaper. When we arrived there, we got a bit too eat and then went for a walk. The sky was clear and blue (not to my liking) but I could see that the clouds were a coming. While the children played on the swings etc. I slipped away to find a location a take a snap or two. Again the strong winds was blowing and I was blessed in bringing the tripod.

I did manage to get a couple of image from this location. You might be able to see the Mourne Mountains on the horizon. But it's the lovely side lighting and shadows in the foreground that interests me. That S curve in the sand and the shadows leads me nicely into the image. Waiting for the clouds added to the background and finished the image off.

So another Question : Are you going to bring your camera with you next time ?

I hope your answer will be yes as you never know what image you will go home with.

The Beacon

2010-01-30T13:09:00.007Z

Here is your Monochrome Weekend image.

I have being rather busy of late and have not posted here in a while.
So here we are then, The Baltimore Beacon, Co Cork. Do you remember a while back I went down for a few days to Peter Cox. Well the reason for this trip as well as staying with Peter was this very image. I was requested by a client to get a image of the Beacon for them. Little did we know that Cork would have the worst flooding in living history. We did manage to get out and follow the coast.

The above image is a near copy of one I did many many years ago when I was starting out at photography and did not know what I was doing. Looking at the two images they are very alike apart from the foreground. And that's what makes this image. The foreground rocks draw you into the image and towards the Beacon.

I like a good foreground, something to lead your eye into the scene and add a sense of depth and scale, so the image looks 3D even though it's only got 2. You would be surprise how many get this fundamental element wrong.

That's all for now. Have a good weekend and hope to here your comments on this image.
Don't forget to follow me on Twitter and Facebook.

Showcase 2010

2010-01-23T23:37:00.004Z

Hi all,

I will not be posting for the next week or 2 until after the show I am attending now.

See the LINK here for more details.

Normal service will return the following week. Until then have a good weekend and see you all again later.

Black & White Ireland Exhibition

2010-01-16T21:00:00.000Z

I am please to announce that an Exhibition of my work will be on display in the Dublin Camera Club Gallery from today 16th January and will run for the next 7 weeks. A 30 strong selection body of work from the past few year will be on display. The Gallery is open free to the public every Saturday from 11am to 5pm.

So please drop in, have a look and leave a comment.

Bective in the Snow

2010-01-14T23:05:00.005Z

Here is your SkyWatch image.

Well the snow has gone, well from most parts of Ireland that is. I didn't get out much to get some snow images. Don't know really but was not that interested as I could not travel to the locations of interest. I did manage to get over to Bective Abbey, near Trim in Meath and got a couple of images before another snow storm came along. You can just about see the start of it from the cloud cover on the right of the image. I lost the rubber feet on the end of my tripod legs taking this image. No worries as it gave me the chance to buy the spike ends for the tripod which I have being meaning to buy for a long time.

If you have being following me on Twitter or Facebook you will know I am putting the 30 Images together for my Exhibition in Dublin Ireland called Black & White Ireland with will open next week. I will let you know times and location etc. on Sunday for all people who wish to go along and see my work up close.

Talk soon.

Ramparts Navan

2010-01-09T18:57:00.004Z

Here is your Monochrome Week image.

Global Warming ( it's bloody freezing here in Ireland ). This clod snap as they are calling it has being going on for 2 weeks now. The temp went down below -10 last night and the pipes in the attic are frozen.

Ok, some other countries are having even colder weather, but there in Ireland we are not use to this cold and snow & ice.

The image above is The Ramparts in Navan, Co Meath. Another one from our New Years Day walk along the River Boyne. As you can see the river is frozen in parts. Mind you I say it's completely frozen now. I must try and get down there again on Sunday as it forecast for more snow and freezing temperatures of -8 tonight.

You can now follow me on Facebook if you want

Link Here to Neil McShane ( aka Mononeil ) on Facebook.

New Year's Day on the Boyne

2010-01-01T15:47:00.003Z

Here is your Skywatch Friday image.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL

Hot of the press ( well bloody cold mind you ), the first image processed and taken this morning while out with the family on a walk to clear the heads after a week of eating an drinking as if there was no tomorrow. We usually go for a walk in the mountains on New Year's Day but the weather put a stop to this. The roads are in a bad state with no gritting in Meath.

So we made the short trip down to the River Boyne in Navan. I didn't think I would get anything of interest. However the above image ended that theory.

If the first image on the first day of 2010 is this good I am looking forward to a very productive year ahead. I hope you have a good year also.

Bective Abbey Walls

2009-12-20T13:16:00.003Z

Here is your Monochrome Maniacs image.

Another image taken on one of my Monochrome Workshop weekends. This is the inner walls of Bective Abbey, Co Meath. We had a very overcast day which made for very poor landscape images for the whole Abbey. A quick walk around and inside the Abbey we were able to capture the details in the walls because of the soft defused light.
The students could not see the image I had in mind but after we got back and uploaded the image onto the computer and did some very small adjustments. Bingo. They started to understand, which the whole idea of the Monochrome Workshop.

More than likely this will be my last post before Christmas.
So I thank you all for your comments on my posts during the year and hope you have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

PS Lets hope Santa brings us lots of presents ( eg new cameras, lens,etc.... )

SunFlare

2009-12-14T21:40:00.005Z

Here is your Monochrome Maniacs image.

It's been a while since my last post. Catching up after a couple of Christmas Craft Fair's. Printing and posting images. I also teach a two day Monochrome Workshop. This weekend just past was one such. I enjoy teaching and explaining the methods used to achieve my style of black and white photography.

Interesting, if not completely mad image taken on the workshop. It shows Newtown Abbey, Trim, Co Meath at sunset ( well before sunset ). Normally I would not do such a image but I kind of like this image. I have another image taken from the same spot, again at sunset, but at a different tie of the year. Just goes to show the different positions of the sunset during the course of a year. Link here to see the other version.

Baltimore Beacon shoreline

2009-12-03T21:54:00.003Z

Here is your SkyWatch Image.

Our final location, Balitmore, Co Cork and the Baltimore Beacon. The problem is that I can't show you the image I want to show as the client has not seen the image yet so is would not be good practice to show you. Mind you if you go over to Peter Cox website Link Here, you will see a version of the image I have but mine is in b&w and none of that tilt and shift. Peter has a got story behind the image so jump over and read it.

Welcome back.

The above image was taken down on the shoreline looking up at the Beacon. I like the way the waves play with the clouds in the sky to draw your eye into the image.

Ballydehob Bay

2009-11-26T20:32:00.003Z

Here is your SkyWatch Friday image.

Continuing on our journey towards Baltimore with traveled along the coast roads and found this spot where a river floes out into Ballydehob Bay. Again the weather was perfect. Wonderful light and clouds for us to play with.

The ripple effects of the river as it flows out in the bay leads your eye nicely into the image. I was standing up on a tractor and trailer to get some extra height so that you could see the river flow. At normal ground level, it's not visible. The sky plays a perfect role in the image with the clouds adding some interest in the background. Funny thing was that if we had being shooting more to the left or right the sky had no clouds and made for a dull image.

Again this is in stark contrast to the flooding happening all over the west coast of Ireland. Out on the coast we had perfect conditions but inland chaos.

We will continue on the journey next week, so see you then and have a good weekend all.

Lough Allua

2009-11-24T22:17:00.005Z

Here is your Watery Wednesday image.

Ireland is having the worst flooding in living history down in the south and west of the country.

The above image might be a wonderful piece of "Art", but can you spot the lake, field and a road? No. Well they are there somewhere. This is Lough Allua, Ballingeary, Co Cork taken last friday. That's the funny thing about the Irish weather. Two day solid heavy rain and winds and then a clear blue sky the next day.

Looking at this image would think peace and clam, and only 20km down the road, complete chaos with the main streets in the city under 1 meter of water still.

This was the very first image taken on that friday when we did manage to get through the flood water and make our way towards the coast and our final destination of Baltimore.

IPPA Panel

2009-11-22T15:21:00.003Z

Here is your Monochrome Maniacs image

Well it's been a while now, so here is 4 images. You will have seen them before on the blog. But the layout is for the IPPA Photographer of the Year Awards. This is my Portfolio of images for the Landscape Category. What do you think ?On another note, I was away down in West Cork with my good friend Peter Cox for a few days shooting. When I mean a few days, it turned out to be only one day as the rest of the time we were flooded. The weather is the worst in living history for the amount of rain is unreal. We did manage to get out of the car by means of the windows and nothing to bad. Wait for the water to dry in the engine and we got out of trouble. On friday last the 20th you would not believe the wonderful conditions we had compared to the previous couple of days. And boy did we make the most of it. I should get to post a couple of images from this trip during the coming weeks.

Lough Dan Week ends

2009-11-05T20:20:00.004Z

Here is your SkyWatch Friday image.

We will end the week with another one from my walk down at Lough Dan. This image was taken on the way back after lunch down at the lake. The foliage is overgrown a bit and the track is just visible.

The rolling clouds and the changing light was just wonderful and even though I only had my G10 with me, I have managed to get some images that look perfect even when printed up to 20x16.

Looking back at my Library of images in Lightroom I have a nice collection of images form Lough Dan numbering about 15. I feel this will become a life long project of mine.

Lough Dan Again

2009-11-01T15:14:00.003Z

Here is your Monochrome Weekly image.

For once I'm early today with my post. Weekend off what with Halloween.

I am still going through the images from the Lough Dan walk last Wednesday. The image above is down at the lake itself. You can continue along the path and walk around the complete lake or as we do we stop here and have our lunch. When the light is right you just have to go with it and in this case drop your sandwich and run. The sun came out and lit up the foreground while the right side bank of the river was still in shade. Again hand held with the Canon G10 compact camera.

What's in store next week ?

Well back to normal with the teaching after the school holidays. I think I have a commercial job or two to do. I have to start the selection process for the images to print and frame for the Christmas Fair starting in December.

Hope you have a good week, and talk soon.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T17:21:00.002Z

In Love Again

2009-10-29T19:20:00.003Z

Here is your SkyWatch image.

I'm in love again and this time it's a camera.

I took a few day holidays as the children are on a mid-term break in school. I sent tem to the mother-in-laws for a couple of days. So myself and the good wife went for a walk in the Wicklow Mountains. Lough Dan is one of my all time favorite places to walk and take photos. We packed the lunch and set off on our walk. The weather didn't look the best on the drive down to the mountains but when we got there it was wonderful. In a way I was happy not to have all my backpacks and tripods with me. I did however bring my compact digital Canon G10.

And here is the "in love again" part. What a little treasure of a camera. The results are wonderful from this little camera. The above image is one such image. It shows the pathway down towards Lough Dan itself. Hand holding with one hand and a ND filter in the other. The light was changing all the time on the walk. I have a wonderful selection of image from the walk and some lovely portraits of Mrs Mononeil.

I have this camera a while now and not used it in a long time. It's back again in my camera bag and will be used a lot more from now on when we ( the family ) go out for walks at the weekend. I will post more of the images taken from the walk next week.

Have a good friday and weekend.

Clare Island with Lr 3 beta

2009-10-22T22:46:00.004+01:00

Here is your SkyWatch image.

Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta was released to the public today. You can download if for free and use it the next few months. It's the full version with not limits. Download link here. I use Lightroom Ver2 on my Mac's. I put the Beta version3 onto my laptop just in case it conflicts with my older version. I don't think it will but just in case all the same.

Why I'm telling you this? Well this is the first processed image straight out of Lightroom Ver3 Beta. Nothing added but love and a b&w conversion.

The image above is Clare Island form Atlantic Drive, Achill Island, Co Mayo. Taken last June while staying in Westport. What I did was import my last couple of trips away to test and play with this version. I think this letterbox crop suits this image as there was no foreground of interest.

Hope you have a good weekend. I am going to be very busy this weekend with the Dublin Marathon on the bank holiday Monday. With 14 photographers from Ireland, 6 from England and a few more from Germany and America to look after.

Oh no, can't tile the kitchen this weekend either. How sad I am ( hehehehe)

Sugar Loaf

2009-10-18T20:25:00.004+01:00

Here is your Monochrome Maniacs image.

You are not going to believe this but I found one of those magic cards that gets you out of doing the kitchen tiles. It says "Go for a walk in the mountains cards". Now all I have to do is find another one for next weekend.

Yes we did go out this weekend walking in the mountains and when my 6 year old son picked the mountain, that was that. Car was packed and lunches made. The mountain in question is The Sugar Loaf Mt in Co Wicklow. Not a very big one, but very steep rocks near the top all the same. We all made it up with not trouble and had lunch up there. The weather was not the best leaving home, light rain, and we didn't think a walk was possible. However as I always say and do "Just get out and go". In the end, it was a bit cloudy and overcast but nice all the same. I also did manage to sneak the camera with me. My pocket compact camera, in fact this goes with me everywhere.

The above image was the last one as we headed back to the car. All the other image were of the family and you know me they don't get posted. The rest of the landscape image are kind of dull, what with the light not right. But this image turned out very nice indeed.

Hope you all had a good weekend and see you again soon.

Donegal Bay

2009-10-16T00:23:00.004+01:00

Here is your Skywatch Friday image.

The past few weeks have flown by and it's Friday again. Very important, no make that a life or death situation has being going on in my house this week as my daughter's school project had to be finished and handed in on Friday. Each had to pick a different country and she picked Austria.

The Internet is a wonderful tool for information on everything. "Daddy can you find out about this". "Can you print this". It never stopped all week. The things we do for our children. That's the reason why I am late with this post.

Now the image above is of Donegal Bay from Mullaghmore head very early one morning. Each time I left the hotel at around 4:30 to drive the short distance, I gave the night porter a heart attack.

A long exposure of 20 seconds or there about was used. The grad filters were also used because of the difference between the sky and the foreground rocks was to big for the camera to handle.

Hope you have a good weekend, as I will be tiling the kitchen walls, so no photography for me then.

Stone & Water

2009-10-11T19:25:00.003+01:00

Here is your Monochrome Maniacs image.

While waiting for the right light and movement in the clouds, I do get the chance to look around for interesting patterns in the sand or water. In this case it was the light reflection on the ripples in a pool of water right beside the legs of my tripod that caught my eye.

Other than this I can't say anything else about the image as I can't remember. I used my backup camera for this image. Now that I think about it, it's from the shoreline around Bunatrahir Bay, Ballycastle, Co Mayo. I must go back into my Lightroom library and find out the details.

Have a good week all.

Gougane Barra

2009-10-09T18:58:00.006+01:00

Here is your SkyWatch Friday image.

A bit late but none the less a wonderful sky over Gougane Barra Forest Park. I can't believe that it's nearly a year ago since I was down there. You can see another post form this Link.

If you look at the large version, that's not a spot but the moon. We had wonderful side lighting, as you can see from the light on the fence posts. Also the patterns in the sky are half clouds and airplane trails.

I am into a second week of teaching and enjoying myself. All the students came back the following week. Either they are interested or have nothing else better to do with in evenings.

As you can see from the posts below, more animals images from the Zoo.

I believe it's my wedding anniversary this weekend, so I might not be around next week if I have nothing planned ( which I don't woops ). Oh well it was good while it lasted.

I hope you have a good week end and hope to see you next week ?

Baby Chameleon

2009-10-05T23:02:00.002+01:00

A Camera Critter image

One of the six baby Chameleon in Dublin Zoo. This one may be no bigger than a 1 euro coin, but he could move fast. And try to get a clean image with no movement was fun. As I was saying in the post below, I did manage to get am image when converted to b&w that the background had enough tonal separation so that it would work.

If it's your first tie here from the Camera Critters site than you can click on the Animal Link to take you to all the animal posted on the site.

Elephant Shower

2009-10-04T23:42:00.004+01:00

Here is your Monochrome Maniacs image.

Well no black and white landscapes for you today. Too much work on my hands at the moment. Two weddings to finish and another full weekend down at the Zoo. Above is one of the images I was ask to get of the Elephants when they were being cleaned by Gerry, one of the Keepers. There is a big international talk on Elephants in Dublin Zoo next week and a selection of images will be used in the lecture to highlight the work and enclosure in the Zoo. I also had to photograph a baby Chameleon, which was smaller than a 1 euro coin. Small, but they can move. I might show you that image tomorrow. I am not happy with the b&w version, it lacks contrast. It was taken as a colour so my choice of backgrounds is too close to the colour of the Chameleon when converted. Ah, I will give it another go and see what happens. This image works because of the contrast between the dark Elephant skin and the bright water spray. The composition not to bad either.

Skerries Today

2009-09-27T21:54:00.003+01:00

Here is your Monochrome Maniac image.

It's been a good while since I have taken any black and white landscapes of late. Too busy, a good complaint in these troubled times. You get to a point where you don't care any more. I have reach and passed that point now.

Back to photography. This image was taken today over on the east coast in a place called Skerries. We went for a walk around the village and beach area. I managed to slip away from the family with my camera and tripod. How did they get into the car? It's a mystery. Traveling very light, camera, 24mm tilt&shift lens and cable release. I managed to get a couple of images around the shoreline from Red Island. Red island is what they called the land around by the harbour. In the image above you can also see Colt Island.

This was a straight shot ie none of my usual grad filters. Processed using DXo Optics and dodge and burn in Photoshop.

What's in store for me this week coming:

Monday sees me heading down to Dublin Zoo for the Launch of the book on the history of the Zoo. Many of my photos are included. Tuesday is the opening night of the "Art of Photography" course I am teaching for the next 8 weeks. Wednesday is the opening night of "Digital Photography for Beginners". Another 8 week course I am teaching. I think I will bring a photo of my family with me as I don't think I will be seeing much of them. ( Good or Bad ? ).

Hope you have a good week and drop by during the week to see more B&W Landscapes.

Bundoran Sunset

2009-09-24T19:35:00.004+01:00

Here is your Skywatch image.

It's being a week since my last post. I can't believe that week has flown by. I was away in Turin last weekend shooting a Marathon. I'm also putting the finishing touches to two adult education night course on "The Art of Photography" and "Digital Photography for Beginners". After buying a 500mm lens it's still in the box and have not got the chance to use it yet.

Enough of that, the above image was taken from my last family holiday in Bundoran this year. The great thing about this location is that the hotel we were staying in was just to the right of the cliffs in the shot. So a simple was out the car park and bingo here you are. But the down side as I was saying in the last post it's too close to the hotel and you will get a fair amount of people out walking on the beach. ( Oh if I had a shotgun !!!!! ).

Again with shooting into the setting sun, the exposure can be very hard to get right so that the highlights are not blown out too much. In this image I was able to control them just right with the help of my ND Grad filters. The tide was also right so that the foreground rock helped the composition.

Have a good weekend and see you next week with a couple of more post I promise.

Dunluce Castle

2009-09-17T19:01:00.003+01:00

Here is your SkyWatch image.

This is another one of the famous visitor attractions on the Antrim Coast, Dunluce Castle. It's located between The Giant's Causeway and Portrush. Usually to get to this viewpoint you have to climb down the cliffs on the left side ( out of view in this image ). However on this occasion we had an easy walk down a man made wooden walkway. Hence the reason it's not in the above image. We were blessed with the weather and a low tide also. It was tricky to get the exposure right as the foreground rocks were in shadow and the sky was very bright. Using a couple of ND Grad filters and some dodge&burn I was able to balance the image nicely ??

Once again we had to work fast. Why ? The plague of all landscape photographers, the wandering tourist who just walks into the frame and stays there. Because of the walk way it was easy fro people to get down here and we had two families with children to content with this time. We should bring in a law so that photographers can shoot tourists ( and not with a camera ).

In the mean time have a good weekend and see you here next week.

Tiger Cubs & Mother

2009-09-13T19:43:00.003+01:00

Here is your Monochrome Maniacs image.

I made a quick visit to Dublin Zoo today too see how the Tiger Cubs are doing. They have doubled in size and weight since I last photographed them. Not the best conditions for photography. Clear blue sky, very sunny and loads of shadows. The above image shows the Tiger cubs with their mother.

I am planning a 7:00 start new weekend to get full access to the Tigers before the Zoo opens as this is the best time to get an image of them all together

Mullahgmore Sunset

2009-09-10T19:08:00.001+01:00

Here is your SkyWatch Friday image.

Another classic Sunset in Black & White.!!!

While on a photo trip in Co Mayo I headed up towards Co Sligo for sunset. And what better location than Mullaghmore. The exposure difference between the foreground rock and the sky was so great two ND Grad filters had to be used ( Lee 0.9 and 0.6 ). I know some of you would say "bracket and hdr". No thanks. I take each image as it was my last frame on a roll of film and try to get the image as near to perfect in the camera. But as they say and I say it's the final image that counts not the way got there.

Enjoy the weekend and see you next week.

Lake Ramor

2009-09-08T22:18:00.002+01:00

Here is your Watery Wednesday image.

Jumping back a couple of years for this image. What I can remember, this image was taken on a cold winters morning. The mist was lifting off the water as the sun was starting to shine through the clouds. I was testing out a camera the Canon 400d / Rebel XTi with the kit lens. I don't think I would be happy to enlarge the image above 10x8 as you will start to see the softness around the edges. However with the L series glass on the camera it was OK. It just proves the point I have being telling my students how want to upgrade their camera to the latest model. Invest in the glass (ie Lens) if you want to improve your photography. I can safely say that you have only used between 20-50% of the functions of your camera.

Larrybane

2009-09-07T19:41:00.003+01:00

Here is your Monochrome Maniac image.

As I have said before I don't display images of my family. I also don't take portrait landscapes as in the above image. I did for this image however. It was taken went I was up on the Antrim coast a while back now. The location is called Larrybane. The two major visitor locations on this coast would be The Giants Causeway and The Carrick-a-Rede Rope bridge. Larrybane is the location of the rope bridge. When we arrived here the car park was completely full of visitors fro the rope bridge. I had mentioned to Peter about this spot, so we drove passed the car park and down the path towards the over overflow car park. We had the place to ourself. A short walk down towards the water edge and you have a wonderful view of the Larrybane Cliffs and the Rope Bridge. The above is the view you have as you walk down the path towards the bottom of the cliffs. You can see Rathlin Island on the horizon and using a Polariser the sky has turned black.

When I am out taking Landscape images I visualize them in the Landscape format not this portrait format and find it very hard to like any image in this format. Have you any thoughts on this? I will post the Landscape version and we can compare the images with a quick poll to find out which you like best.

Bundoran Sunset

2009-09-03T23:34:00.005+01:00

Here is your SkyWatch image.

It's being a while since the last time I put up an image on Sky Watch Friday. No particular reason, just the way thinks have worked out and not having the time to sit down and go through the images from the last couple of trips.
The above image is from my last photo trip away to Bundoran, Co. Donegal back in August. Taken after sunset down on the beach. The tide was out which made the foreground a bit more interesting with the pools of water and reflections on the wet sand. The clouds look blurred that's because the shutter was open for 30sec.
No mistakes were used in the making of this image as it's from the same location as the "Art or Mistake" post.
You can also see another sunset from Bundoran taken a good few years back in this post: Link Here.

People's Photography

2009-09-01T21:56:00.003+01:00

The above image shows my display for The Peoples Photography open air Exhibition around the railings of St Stephens Green in Dublin over the weekend.

Over the two days, I sold a few images but the main reason was handing out the business cards to get the name out. In the end I handed out nearly 250 business cards.
I received great reactions to my work which was great to hear. Following on from this I received a couple of requests for my Monochrome Magic Workshops and a marketing company are interested in using one of my images for a ad campaign.
Also I was beside my good friend and fellow pro Peter Cox, and we had an enjoyable and productive couple of days.

What a Week?

2009-08-23T14:32:00.003+01:00

Here is your Monochrome Maniacs image.

A face only a mother could love?

Well you might have gathered that there has been no posts on Mononeil for a while now. I have a good reason. The image above is the reason. Here is the story :

I don't do People photography and I don't display images of my family on the web, but this time I have. This is my 6 year old son Craig with ice cream all over his face and minus his two front teeth. And that the problem, his missing front teeth.

While out playing with the other children a couple of weeks ago now, he was kicked in the face with the result of his front teeth coming loose. No problems we though, his baby teeth, just let them fall out normally. After a couple of days they were still hanging on and starting the cause him problems eating. So we went down to the local dental hospital. After a short operation he was minus his front teeth, the ability to talk, eat, and swallow.

We gave it a good few hours for the anesthetic effects to go but he was still the same and getting worse. The next day he was still the same not talking, swallowing and eating. We got him to the doctors and they did not understand what was wrong with him. Now I'm worried. Back into the car and drove to the hospital ( within the speed limits Mr Policeman, not ).

To cut a long story short, he had a reaction the the anesthetic. Also after the numbness, his brain did not understand what had happened in his mouth. I stayed in the hospital with him to try and teach him how to use his tongue again.

All is well now and I am playing catch up with my commercial work, blog and printing my images for the Peoples Photography Exhibition this coming weekend.

Art or Mistake ?

2009-08-11T00:38:00.006+01:00

Here is your My World image.

Well is it Art or Mistake ?

You can decide the correct answer.

To me it was a big mistake. The modern camera and auto focus.
The story goes like this : On my camera I separate the shutter button from the auto focus controls so the a press of the AF button on the back of the camera will do the focus. So I decide on the composition, select my point of focus then move the camera into the final position and lock down the tripod controls. Simple right ? Now all I have to do is press the shutter button to take the photo.

Not for the 10 or so images, one of which is above. What happened here was the the camera's controls were put back into default mode so to speak. Shutter button does exposure and focus. In the image above I focused on the wonderful lights on the sea front amusement in Bundoran and then composed the scene. When I pressed the shutter button the camera went hunting for a focus point some were in the sky and gave up by the look of things. Now I have 10 image with out of focus lights from Bundoran.

The lesson to learn for this wonderful piece of 'Art' is : Always change your camera back to YOUR default setting. In my case I did not change my camera back to what I would call Landscape Mode as I am a landscape photographer. The camera ( Canon 5D )was used for something else before I went away on this trip and I did not change it back again.

In my defence : it was very late after a long day, very dark down on the beach. I don't like changing lens near sand. The image does not work that well in b&W anyway etc............
That's why I love the Canon Eos 1D series cameras so much as you can set all the modes up a specific way and save that in your My Menu Settings. I have Sports, Wildlife and Landscape saved here so with the press of one button the camera is set up ready for action. And that's not the best part. You can save these setting onto a CF card and load them into another camera.

That's My World for today.

Bunduff Lough

2009-08-09T20:49:00.002+01:00

Here is your Monochrome Maniacs image.

First up for you this week is an image of Bunduff Lought with Benbulbin and Tievebaun Mountains in the background.

The funny thing is that this was a image I can across will out very early one morning. I was over on the other side of Mullaghmore Head for a sunrise image on the coast ( more of this during the week ). Where I saw standing the light and clouds were not right for me. However I could see that the cloud front had broken up and the sunrise was shinning through to my left. A pack up and into the car and try and find a suitable location.

After a while and a couple of u-turns ( not a problem at 6 in the morning ) I can across this lake. All the conditions were right with the added bonus of the reflections of the clouds in the still lake. Benbulbin Mountains (on the right) had it's top covered with some low clouds while Tievebaun Mountain was lit up with the sunrise.

In the end I was very pleased with the mornings work even if the image I was after did not happen, this one made up for it. There will always be another day, and in my case a few more sunrises to come.

As I said in the last post I will be posting some of the mistake made over this trip and lets hope you will learn something from them. Tomorrow will be the first of them, so stayed tuned.

I'm back from holidays.

2009-08-09T10:37:00.003+01:00

Well I'm back from my holidays/work in Donegal. Weather was great, children enjoyed the surfing and I got to get up at 4 in the morning again. At time it was worth it as the light was wonderful.

What I have I got in store for you over the coming weeks?
More form Antrim and my latest trip to Donegal. Who is willing to show their mistakes online? I have a few classics to show you. We all make mistakes but it's what we learn from them that matters.

Colliery Bay and Fair Head

2009-07-30T18:28:00.004+01:00

Here is your SkyWatch image.

Back to my last trip with Peter Cox to the Antrim coast for the Skywatch image today. After a good mornings shooting it was time for a break and some lunch. We stopped in Ballycastle for the food and then drove over to the coast road to enjoy the wonderful coastal views while we have over lunch. A quick drive further up the road which ends in a dead end, we came across this view of Colliery Bay with Fair Head on the horizon. You can just about make out Scotland under the clouds on the horizon also. We stayed here for a while for the clouds to move and get a bit more light on the face of Fair Head.

I hope to get the family portrait of the Tigers this Saturday before I go away next week to Donegal.My base will be Bundoran near to the boarder with Sligo. I have visited here before and will be again after a couple of images. I might be able to post some images during my stay in Donegal if I bring the laptop with me to do some rough processing work.

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

Brother & Sister on Public view

2009-07-29T20:01:00.003+01:00

Here is your Camera Critters image.

Visitors to Dublin Zoo will be able to see the new tiger cubs, alongside their mother Sigra and father Kepala from today. If you have being following my blog you got to see them weeks ago. All the TV and newspapers got access to the cubs today for the press release.

Doo Lough Pass

2009-07-26T23:39:00.002+01:00

Here is your Monochrome Maniacs image.

I'm jumping back to the Westport trip for this image. I took about 2 frame at this location. It's about as much time as I could handle those 'Midges' before going mad. My god they get everywhere and you can still feel them all over you even after you do the funny dance and jump into your get a way car.

Back to the image. What you see here is the road from Louiseburgh to Leenaun (R335) ie the Doo Lough Pass and the lake, Doo Lough itself. On the right we have the Sheeffry Hills and on the right we have the Mweeelrea Mountains.

I had to wait in the car for a couple of hours for the rain to stop and I think I fell asleep for a bit of that time. Well it was 5:30 in the morning when I got here so a quick snooze was aloud.

Elephant Rock

2009-07-23T22:08:00.004+01:00

Here is your SkyWatch image.

I know it's Skywatch Friday, however this image is not about the sky but the rock in the shape of an elephant.

I have seen some wonderful image form the location at sunset/sunrise in colour but none in B&W. All the time we were up on the Antrim coast I was first dying to see this rock and to get am image for myself. The first time we arrived at the Elephant rock, Ballintoy was on a very dull and overcast evening with no chance of an image to do it justice.

After I said goodbye to Peter as he set off on his journey home to West Cork, all 7 hours of a drive, I decided to head back to Ballintoy for one more try. This time around the weather was a bit better, but nothing like the last few days we had. The storm clouds were rolling in at this stage. I waited for some movement in the clouds so that the sun would make an appearance from over my left side to give some contrast and shadows.

Well here is my attempt at the Elephant Rock, Ballintoy, Co Antrim.

White Head

2009-07-21T23:48:00.004+01:00

Here is your Watery Wednesda y image.

This is called White Head or Kilnbane near Ballycastle, Co Antrim. You have one major walk down hundreds and hundreds of steps to get to this location. Not bad going down but going back up OMG. We did not get to this location this time round as I think the climb would have killed us. So this is an old image I dub up for you today.

The reason for this is I am having a few problems with my computer systems today. One is having a Kernal panic ( what ever that is ), another is locking up when I open Firefox after it was updated and my main Mac will not access the Internet for some unknown reason. So I am back to my old G4 running PPC Linux (tech talk sorry) to upload this. Lets hope after a goodnight sleep all will be well in the morning.

The Skerries Islands

2009-07-19T19:17:00.005+01:00

Here is your Monochrome Maniacs image.

While on our drive into Bushmills for dinner ( ie fish&chips ) we spotted this wonderful view. We had to find a high place on the road to stop and shoot. We stopped the car on the side of the road that leads up to the Gaint's Causeway causing a bit of a traffic jam. Who cares? A quick jump out of the car with camera in hand. No time to set up tripods, filters etc... Just a aperture adjustment to take care of the camera shake while hand holding the camera. Oh yes with was also raining as you might can gathered. The funny looks we got from passers-by as we walked back to our car.

The Skerries are a small group of island just of the coast of Ramore Head, Portrush, Co Antrim. You can also just about make out the Inishowen Peninsula, Co Donegal in the background.

The Dark Hedges

2009-07-18T20:32:00.002+01:00

Here is your Scenic Sunday image.

I was away all last week up on the Antrim Coast with fellow Viewpoints photographer Peter Cox. We had a very productive and enjoyable time. Mind you it was hard work getting up at 4 in the morning and not getting back to the B&B until around 11 that night. I shoot in black and white ( that's if you didn't know already) while Peter is a Colour man and mainly during the hours before and after Sunrise/Sunset. It will be very interesting to see the different style of image the two of us will produce. So to keep a track jump over to Peter's website HERE but don't forget to come back and try not to be seduced by that colour stuff.

What we have here is a very interesting tree lined road in a place called Chathamhall near the village of Stranocum, Co Antrim. It's an amazing sight to see and it's not taken out of some fantasy novel. Many other photographers have taken this very image before and I do believe Peter has this very image (in colour) on his website.

This was the very last image I took on this trip to the Antrim Coast. You will be able to see some more image including Fair Head, Colliery Bay, Ballintoy, Elephant Rock ( you will understand the name when you see the image), Port Moon, Dunlace Castle just to name a few. I have not had the time to process all my image yet, sorry any of the image bar this one as it's been not stop on the commercial photography side of things ( happy days ).

So see you all next week with more from Antrim.

Away on Antrim Coast

2009-07-14T17:38:00.002+01:00

I am away until Friday this week on a Trip to the Antrim Coast. I hope to get a couple of nice images from places like Murlough Bay, White Head, Ballintoy, Port Moon etc...........

Today Tuesday the weather has been wonderful all day. However the rain clouds have arrived. Lets hope they move before sunset which is around 10:00.

Bellacragher Bay

2009-07-11T18:22:00.003+01:00

Here is your Scenic Sunday image.

Number three in the series from Westport. This shows Bellacragher Bay with Claggan Mountains across the water. The people who built or lived in this house along time ago had a wonderful view across the bay. The bay in questions is found as you take the road out of Mallaranny on towards Achill Island. I found the ruin a while back but did not have the right light. This time I got the light I wanted and also the sky was not too bad either.

Bartraw White Strand

2009-07-09T22:05:00.004+01:00

Here is your SkyWatch Friday image.

Back to my normal black and white landscape posts for you with the second in the series from the latest Westport trip. The image is 180 degrees view from the first image (Bartraw Beach). I have moved up into the sand dunes and facing into the rising sun. You can see the way the sun lights up the tops of the grass and it was very hard to try and balance the exposure as the lower right portion of the sky was very bright.

Me & Me Tigers

2009-07-08T23:15:00.004+01:00

I had to show you the image taken by one of the Keepers of me holding one of the cubs ( the female ) form last Saturday. It's not the most sharpest of image as I think the Zoo Keeper turned the dial on the camera instead of pressing the shutter button because it was set to f16 at 1/20 second. I am now their Official Photographer and will be documenting their stay at the Zoo with photos every couple of weeks as they grow up.
Just in case, I'm the one with the glasses on this head.

Brother & Sister 2

2009-07-06T20:07:00.004+01:00

Here is your My World image.

This is My World at the moment. The new Tiger Cubs at Dublin Zoo. I am just putting the finishing touches on the images for the press release this week. They will be in colour, but you can see them first in wonderful B&W.

Bartraw Beach

2009-07-06T18:25:00.003+01:00

Here is your Monochrome Maniacs image.

We start this new series of image with the very first image taken form the latest Westport trip. It was taken very early on the morning of my first day in Westport. At this time of the year sunrise is around 4:30-5:00. This was taken about 6:00 in the morning. The sun was over my left shoulder as you can see the shadows from the rocks in the foreground. Al the elements were right for this image. The tide was out so the rocks in the sand were visible. The sun low in the sky for wonderful shadows and side lighting. The pattern of the clouds was interesting and Croagh Patrick was visible in the background. I know you can't see it but there was a wonderful warm colour to the sand and grass. This can be used to great effect in black and white photography as the normal mono tone grass and sand take on a more interesting texture when converted to black and white using your red or orange filters. ( ie wonderful contrast )

Brother & Sister

2009-07-05T00:13:00.005+01:00

Here is your Scenic Sunday image.

I couldn't wait any longer to show the Tiger Cubs from Dublin Zoo.
I know it's not your usual Scenic Sunday image but who cares?
It was just amazing to see the cubs and to hold them on Saturday morning. Oh yes I did manage to rattle a few 4gig memory cards worth of images. The female is on the left and the male ( with the bigger head ) is in the right. No names yet. As with most animals in the Zoo they usually have a competition for the children to give the animals names. As theses two are not on public view, so no names, except for few who had the chance to see them while I was in the enclosure taking this and many more photos.

So except to see some more tiger cubs and images from my recent trip to Westport next week.

Melmore Head Sunrise

2009-07-02T21:58:00.003+01:00

Here is your SkyWatch Image.

Not your average Sunrise image either, what ?
Just back from the "working holidays in Westport". The reason for the What The Duck post below.

We had a wonderful time over in Westport. I think my children were with us, but don't think I saw them for more than 10mins at a time.
I did manage to get out and take a couple of images. Some wonderful, some good, some bad and some very sad images. More on this during the coming days. Of the 500 or so images 70 have gone through the first stage of post processing in DX Optics and are ready for the conversion process into b&W. It won't be until next week or maybe the weekend before I will have the time to work on them.

The "working holiday" time table was as follows: up at 4 in the morning and shoot until around 9. Back to the hotel for breakfast and out with the family doing the usual holiday thing. Back to the hotel for dinner. Back out again at 8:30 in the evening until 10:30 followed by a couple of pints at the hotel, then bed. My holiday "workflow".

Getting back to the image above. It was taken form Melmore Head, Rosguill, Co Donegal a while back while away on a weekend trip the the local camera club. I managed to get a couple more bodies to get up at 5 in the morning to catch sunrise. It was a learning experience for them and they enjoyed it and more importantly they now understand the magic of Landscape photography.

What The Duck

2009-07-02T18:35:00.002+01:00

Clew Bay Sunset

2009-06-27T22:05:00.002+01:00

Here is your Scenic Sunday image.

Well this will be my last post for a few day as I'm off to Westport today to try and capture even more wonderful sunsets. The above image was taken on my last trip to Westport. This was taken at the Bartraw, White Strand Beach looking out over Clew Bay.

I was shooting straight into the setting sun at this location. However, waiting for the sun to set below the distant mountains, I was able to capture the above image with not too much difficulty.
Only one 3 stop ND Grad filter was used to balance the sky and the reflections in the foreground water. You can add this one to "My Classic Sunset" series, but maybe not that interesting?
What do you think?

I will have access to the Internet etc... (God Bless the iPhone), but as I already said no posts. Oh ye, just in case you are wondering, I will have photo's of the Tiger Cubs next week for you after the Zoo go public with the news story and images. You know the proverb " don't count your chickens before they hatch".

See you all next week and have a good one.

Your Classic Sunset II

2009-06-25T19:42:00.003+01:00

Here is your Skywatch Friday image.

OMG only one post since last friday.

I have being very busy with commercial work and the Zoo this week. Next week will be the same amount of posts as I will be away over in the West of Ireland until Thursday. I hope to get at least one image up of the Tiger cubs for sunday/monday.

Here is another one of "My Classic Sunsets". It's again from Oldhead , Westport. The location is the same as the last post with only a move to the right by a few feet.

Hope everyone has a good weekend and talk to you all again soon.

Oh yes, lets hope this wonderful weather we are having here in Ireland lasts another week.

Mr Daddy Kepala

2009-06-23T21:31:00.004+01:00

Here is your Watery Wednesday image.

I have being very busy of late and so no posts for the past couple of days.

If you have being following my blog lately you will have seen image of this fellow before. Well now we have to call him Mr Daddy Kepala as he is the proud daddy of two cubs.

I was down in the Zoo at the weekend to get photos of all the new babies and also the world record attempt for the biggest Teddy Bears Picnic with stands at over 34,000. Dublin Zoo hold that record already but the Teddy Bear Picnic was held in Zoo's all over the world on Sunday last.

The Tiger cubs are too small and I would not disturb mother or the cubs with flash photography as they are still indoors. So you will have to wait until next week to see them. I will be taking the photos at the weekend and then they will be released to the public.

Your Classic Sunset

2009-06-18T19:48:00.003+01:00

Here is your SkyWatch image.

Well Ok not your normal classic sunset image, but it's one of my sunset images in good old black and white. ( what else is there ? )

This shows Clew Bay and the Nephin Beg Range across the bay. It was taken from the beach at Old Head in Westport during a wonderful sunset.

I believe that Westport is my next trip away at the end of the month. I will be looking for a few more different locations along the wonderful coastline of Co Mayo to add to my collection. Sunsets like this one will not be available as its a different time of the year and the sun will be setting in a different position.