Landscape

A beautiful location but on an overcast day with very little light, you really only have one option and that is for a long exposure. This is a 3 minute exposure of this iconic little jetty giving a lovely sense of stillness and balance.

After spending two years photographing in the Killarney National Park I began to shift focus from ' recording ' the dramatic landscape to capturing the very essence and nature of the place and the very special sights you can witness within it. Early morning is always my preference, any time of year and during a particularly long dry spell the water levels on the lake drop to the point where you can walk out to locations rarely accessible. Here I choose to focus on this wonderfully still scene instead of the coming drama ahead as first light hits the Reeks behind.

A lone Hawthorn Tree is backlit by the rising sun on a very unique morning in June. I had been camping out on high ground the previous night and unexpectedly had a very cold night on the mountain as a bizarre front of cold air moved down across the country. Once it was light enough to come down I did and sat in my car warming up as the sun began to rise. I noticed that as a result of the cold air, the light was unusually crisp and clear for a summer morning. I lined up a composition with the tree shading the rising sun and marvelled as the light wrapped around it and made an otherwise difficult exposure work perfectly. These trees are often left standing alone for superstitious reasons by farmers , especially near lying boulders, for fear of bringing a curse from the fairies on them !! Lough Brin sits in a beautiful valley at foothills of the McGillycuddys Reeks mountains in Kerry.

The area known as Lamb’s Head at Caherdaniel is a beautiful and dramatic place to explore. Winter or Summer, the sunsets here can be glorious, but I prefer winter time when the lack of many other visitors gives the place a very special feeling when exploring it.