Introduction
It’s only human to slice off a year in a life and consign it to a retrospective of how well the time was spent and what lessons can be carried into the next year as if that makes the slightest bit of difference. As John Lennon wrote ” Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans”. And so I’m to make no plan for 2024 and just live by the day – letting fortune, co-incidence and the wind take me wherever it may. And I’m quite content to sail in that boat.
Subject Matter
As nature photographers, when we consider what we choose to photograph it’s clear that a number of influences come into play. The first is the season. The second is the weather forecast for the day we choose to take photographs and the third may be an inspiration – a book, a television programme, a photograph we see or a conversation. Sometimes, I reach a T junction close to home – left leads me to the sea and right to the hills. I often look in the rear view mirror and the decision is made by the car behind wondering why I’ve stalled! Left or right – either will do. In nature, the source of inspiration is endless.
2023 A Narrative
In 2022, I concluded the year persevering with woodland photography in Glendalough/ Glenmalure, Co Wicklow and produced an image of a leafless birch in rain and mist. This encouraged me to continue the pursuit into 2024. January frosts in Trooperstown and Vartry held potential but I struggled to create a single half decent image. Switching to infra red, I climbed high above the Glendalough valley to photograph the Scot’s Pine trees there. And I was pleased with the results. A single day to Raven Point, Wexford was bitterly cold with stark afternoon light – memorable as the location revealed potential with small dunes surrounded by an incoming tide. And so the weekends of January passed by and the photographic year was up and running.
I was delighted to take on the role of chairperson at Greystones Camera Club this year. I enjoyed the work immensely but each weekend my thoughts were somewhat consumed by organising the following week’s event as you would expect. The other aspect to consider when involved in a camera club is that the monthly competitions naturally determine your subject matter dependent on the theme. This is advantageous in learning new skills – I’m a firm believer that trying other genres of photography lends itself to improving your general skills. The flip side to that coin, is that as a hobbyist, time is very limited.
Early February – a last minute decision to travel to the north Antrim coast to photograph the spectacular seascapes there – flat as a pancake light failed to spoil the novelty of the locations. Waxing lyrical at the club about the causeway coast, we organised a club trip there at the end of March and a great weekend was enjoyed in good company.
During the first half of 2023, I could not take any wildlife photos as I had a fall and damaged my D850 in September 2022 – however I could still use the flip viewfinder and single point focus so that tied me to landscapes until I replaced the camera in June 2023 with a Z8. I decided to apply for a Fellowship distinction with the IPF – themed on native Irish woodland. Whilst the images were already taken in 2021/22, I underestimated the task at hand in arranging the panel and fine tuning post processing. But once completed, a single print run of the 20 images worked well and there was a tonal harmony between the images. I was extremely unsure of the panel as it mixed flowers, mammals and insects and did not expect for it to pass. However, I was delighted that it did pass on March 11th at Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise – a great day out and a big thanks to Eugene for travelling down and sharing the day with me.
My spare time in April was mixed between a couple of visits to Tomnafinnoge Wood in search of a bluebell image – largely unsuccessful and organising the club’s exhibition which was worth the effort when we all gathered around our images on the opening night of April 27th.
In mid May, myself and Lisa decided to take the camper for it’s first trip abroad on our annual holiday. Brittany was the location. Of course, I had to take the camera! What a wonderful road trip and adventure – many happy memories to treasure and a few images I was content with to take home and process. And on the subject of processing, for some unknown reason I enjoyed more than ever the time spent processing images – becoming lost in a landscape on the screen – dodging and burning with my Wacom board and pen.
As an aside, I created 11 vlog style videos in 2023. This was a considerable output for the year as the effort to film and edit the videos is quite intensive. Previously I used a Sony RX100 camera for vlogging with a Zhiyun crane 2 but I switched to an iPhone 14 – initially I was very happy with the results and the ease of use. But it’s clear the phone utilises software over glass to produce the end result with a small sensor and I decided to search for an alternative. Having assessed reviews of the latest Sony pocket cameras (EV1/EV-10), I decided that the 2017 RX100 was a match for each of them and have stuck with that. We’ll see how it goes. I’ve also picked up a DJI wireless mic as yet unused. I very much enjoy making the vlogs and have noticed it forces me to edit more images than I normally would – to include in the video and therefore hopefully improve my post processing.
June, July and August brought rain and wind that largely scuppered plans to spend time taking macro images locally in the east Coast Nature Reserve and in the garden. We purchased some wild flower seeds and after roughly turning over an old veg sowed the seeds with little expectation. The increase in the number of species and individual insects was noteworthy based on my memory of 2022. The highlight was witnessing a Comma butterfly go into the chrysalis state and I waited 21 days for the butterfly to emerge. I also acquired a dedicated macro flash and a Laowa 2.5-5:1 macro but had limited to time to try out – hopefully next year the summer will be calm.
A June visit to the Saltee Islands allowed me to test the auto focus features of the Nikon Z8 and it did not disappoint. An unexpected email from leading photographic magazine “Outdoor Photography” in the UK ended in a 4 page spread featuring my work in the July edition. I received a stunning Peak Design bag that’s still in the wrap as it’s too good to use!
A couple of trips to Tacumshane in September confirmed the test but autumn came quickly and I reverted to woodland photography. I was eager to discover new locations and I scrambled and pottered around the upper slopes of the Derrybawn loop in Glendalough with limited success – actually I don’t think I took one image of note in 4 trips!
And then disaster struck – whilst preparing a talk my hard drive fell from a table and I lost all of my 2023 RAW images! I am still waiting to see if they can be retrieved. Luckily I have processed many of the images and have exported TIFFS/JPGs.
In October, I took the campervan to Scotland for a landscape photography trip and ventured as far north as Torridon to be greeted by Storm Babet – scuppered again but I did manage a few images that I was delighted with from Glencoe. November brought an influx of Short eared Owls to Ireland 5 reported in Newcastle, Wicklow for the first time in many years but I have yet to capture a good image of one in 3 trips down the road.
It’s late November as I type these notes. It’s hard to comprehend how the year has disappeared – it’s like watching the days spinning by from a fast moving train. Preserving and printing photographs is a wonderful way to retain the stories that accompany each image. And storytelling has very much been part of the year – I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being invited to a number of camera clubs to talk about photography – a real honour to treasure, meeting many good people along the way.
So to conclude, may the wind fill my sails and take me wherever it pleases in 2024 – once it doesn’t blow in summer to hamper my macro photography!
Until next time
