Bogland: Macro and Intimate Landscape Photography In mid April 2025 I decided to return to the raised bogs of County Offaly. Conditions were unusual and not ideal for photography – not a single cloud seen in 2 days – is that a record for Ireland! I visited two small bogs and had them exclusively to…
A Brief Pivot to Street Photography
A Brief Pivot to Street Photography From time to time, we may find ourselves meandering down a pathway and wondering how and why we took that direction. Usually it’s a brief foray into the unknown and we retreat quickly and resume our intended journey. Street photography has been such a pathway for me over the…
Eight Photographers Travel to Glencoe (Greystones Camera Club)
Eight Photographers Travel to Glencoe (Greystones Camera Club) When a return trip to Glencoe with friends at Greystones Camera Club was arranged for early February 2024, I knew the craic would be mighty and hoped for snow clad munroes and valleys. Three weeks before we took the short flight to Glasgow, I checked the weather…
Local Photography and Low Expectations: South Beach Greystones
Local Photography and Low Expectations: South Beach Greystones This weekend the Greystones Camera Club meetup was in an all too familiar location somewhere between the cove and the north end of the south beach in Greystones, not far from our clubhouse. We’ve shot the cove, the rocky shore that stretches to the south beach and…
Creating a photographic calendar
Creating a photographic calendar This is the sixth consecutive year I’ve produced an end of year calendar to celebrate the photographic year past and by doing so herald in a new photographic year. The selection process is good fun. My wife, Lisa and I go through a shortlist of images iteratively until the final print…
Photographic Distinctions: Preparing a panel (IPF)
Photographic Distinctions: Preparing a panel (IPF) The Irish Photographic Federation (IPF) is the umbrella organisation for photography clubs in Ireland. The IPF conducts distinction sittings where photographers submit panels of mounted prints for critique. Successful panels are awarded the relevant distinction. There are 3 levels of distinction to be undertaken in the following order; Licentiateship…
Infra Red Landscape Photography
Infra-Red Landscape Photography In taking the small leap from the Nikon D810 to the D850 a few years back, my D810 was left disconsolate on the shelf collecting dust. Never one to let a good tool go or become redundant, I decided to put it to use by conversion to infra-red. Little did I know…
Macro Photography: A Slightly Different Approach
Photographing insects in the field demands higher shutter speeds, a steady hand and a smaller aperture of c.f9 to ensure sharpness. On warm summer days, insects are mobile and easily found. However they provide minimal opportunities to carefully compose an image – they are too busy flying, feeding and living life. Choosing a complementary background…
Winter Wetlands: Photographing Whooper Swans
Winter Wetlands: Photographing Whooper Swans A winter wetland has always held a special place in my heart. It presents a unique wildness largely derived by winter wildfowl arriving from Arctic landscapes in early winter. The drama is intensified by birds of prey drawn in to harry prey during the short, cold days. The nervousness of…
Snaefellsnes: Landscapes and Orcas
Each trip has a hook, a spark, the first thought that urges us to log on and book those flights. For Snaefellsnes in March 2017, it was not the world of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth, nor the looming draw of Kirkjufell as a landscape photography icon. It was a bridge…