Reflections Gougane Barra

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 Long Range

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.

Glenbeg Lough

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.

Eagles Nest

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"

Return to The Boyne

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.

Ramparts Navan

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

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.

Lough Allua

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.

Lough Dan Week ends

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

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.

Lake Ramor

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. 

Bunduff Lough

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.

Doo Lough Pass

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.

Mist on Lough Cullin

Here is your Watery Wednesday image.

The above image was taken a good while ago when the Viewpoints team, Peter Cox, Carsten Krieger and myself get together for a few days. This time we were in Co Mayo. After a really early start to the day to catch sunrise, we decided that breakfast was in order. However, never one to miss a photo, we spotted this view above. Breakfast will just have to wait a bit longer today.

The fun we had trying to get into position. We had to walk through some bog land and we sank up to our knees. We also could not find solid ground to put the camera and tripods down. We were wet and the smell. Who cares a quick drive back to the B&B, shower and breakfast. Nice.

Loch Lein 4

Here is your My World image.

This is the last in the Loch Lein series of image from the Killarney trip. Nothing much to add that has not already been said.

It was a very busy weekend. We had some wonderful weather here on the east coast of Ireland which made for a great day trip to Dublin Zoo for my daughters party with the neighbours. The animals were in top form also and got a few photo's ( 10 gig worth). The problem is these images are in colour and have no place on a black and white site. So sorry about that. If you want to see some in B&W follow this Link to my website and you can see from the previous visits.

Newfoundland Bay 3

Here is your Scenic Sunday image.

I started the week off with an image from Newfoundlandbay Killarney and now I will finish the week with an image from Newfoundlandbay. In this image you can see the two swans that stayed with me for the couple of hours I was shooting at this location. It was great to have a bit of company and some thing to talk to about my composition !

The wonderful cloud formations are just about starting, which are visible in the previous posts.

I must continue the "All about Composition and Your Camera". You have only Depth and Movement under Illusion and then we are into the final Chapter of Unity of Purpose, Matter and Manner. If you have missed the others check out the "Tips and Tricks" in the sidebar.

Enjoy the rest of your Weekend as we in Ireland have an extra day rest with the May bank holiday weekend (god knows the banks need the extra day >*&%^$ ).

Loch Lein 3

Here is your Sky Watch Friday image.

We continue the sequence of images from Lough Lein with the above image. In this image you have full view of the mad cloud formation which is partly in view in the Louch Lein post. Also you can see the path (just to the right of the tree) from the Loch Lein 2 post. The Castlelough Bay is a wonderful horse shoe shape bay on both sides of the castle.

As you can see I have change the style of the bog. I wanted to try and keep it as close to my main website style ( www.blackandwhite.ie ) as possible.

A mad busy weekend in store as it's my daughters 10th birthday, with a party for the class mates on Saturday then the neighbours on Sunday in Dublin Zoo and to round the weekend off the grandmothers on Monday (it's a holiday weekend here in Ireland).

Loch Lein 2

Here is your My World image.

First of, may I say a thank you too all for the comments on my images over the past couple of weeks. I have been very busy of late and have not got a chance to look t as many other sites as possible. Things are now back to normal now, so I have more time too look around.

I think I made history yesterday:-
The first Irishman to shoot some people outside Buckingham Palace in England and not get arrested by the police. ????????
Figure that one out and I will give you the answer at the end of the the post.

Now lets get back to photography. The above image is part of the series of images taken in Killarney a couple of weeks ago from The Lake Hotel as mentioned in the previous post. This one was taken form the Castle itself ( MacCarthy Mor Castle ). Again the previous post will explain all. It shows Lough Lein or the lower lake and what's called the Bay of Castlelough. This was most likely a small harbour to tie the boats on come ashore at the Castle.

What I like about this image is the path leads you into the image and the contrast between the shapes of the stones and the shapes of the clouds in the sky.

OK here is your answer to the riddle above:
The people were running and I was shooting them with a camera. Yes I am talking about the London Marathon. I was over in London at the weekend working on the marathon for a company called Marathon Foto. I was positioned right outside Buckingham Palace for over 5 hours and in that time took just under 12,000 photos of the runners.

On holidays in Killarney, the Turin Marathon and then the London Marathon, the reason for the lack of posts and comments.

Loch Lein

Here is your Monochrome Maniacs image.

What we have here is an image showing Tomies Mountain, Purple Mountain, Castlelough Bay and the MacCarthy Mor Castle. This is the view that can be seen from the grounds of The Lake Hotel. If you go to the link for the Hotel's website and download the Brochure pdf you will be able to locate my camera positions for the above image and the following post over the next few days.

Newfoundland Bay 2

Here is your Scenic Sunday image.

Newfoundland Bay, Upper Lake, Killarney, the image I was looking for before I turned around to find the views in the previous posts.

It was a long wait to get this image. I think I stood here for well over a hour talking to myself and a couple of swans, until the light was right. It's not the image I was after but we can't control the weather and have to make do with the conditions before us. So I waited to see if the sun would shine on the mountains in the distance. It came out for a minute or so and lite up the mountain top. And that was it, the image above. After the minute or so the light changed again but was too dull to continue. So I changed direction and got the images below.

Next week I will continue the series from Killarney with some images form the grounds of The Lake Hotel with views of Loch Lein or the Lower Lake.