No Gorillas
As the mist rolls in it gives a feeling of isolation. Trees pop from the grey…
The Old Ruins look alone… there is a sense of loneliness and time standing still….
Pulled Back In… Willingly
Its been a bit crazy over the last two Months… The weather turned grey… the light flat and a backlog of shots still to go through…
My youngest brother finally found someone to take him of my mother and father… I was of course chosen for Best Man … after all I am… infamously now by both brothers as they now have made me their Best Man… so its there fault. He had an amazing photographer on the day who put everyone at easy… and thankfully it wasn’t me… so I just took a few shots where I got time to in between the madness… I always loved doing the details and ring shots… I will leave the rest to their own Facebook and and Instagram pages… here it was just a small memory for me… may they have a happy ever after…
The Obscure
At any given time you need to be open to seeing what may be abstract and obscure to everyone else but you see something that you know the camera will see and create an image worthy of a hotel corridor..
Totally Random
Do you see the light… sometimes there are long days of complete overcast cloud cover here in Ireland, we are used to it I suppose, but when you bring your camera out each day and nothing jumps out… everything seems two dimensional or flat… you can use this and can sometimes be its own thing, but after 5 days you may not be inspired… you leave the camera turned off weighing you down knowing I should just shot but why… if you have nothing in front that inspires you want to shoot then don't…but then a small window of light bursts out for a few minutes… it’s gone again in an instant but if you are quick enough…
Tied up in Knots
Trees being choked by trees or vines… living tighter and tighter together as time passes by… I do find it fascinating the differences textures to be found…
I’m in the Dark Here
It is odd that I still bring the camera out on the evening walk now that it is getting dark from late afternoon…but when I don’t have it there is always a possibility I will see a shot but I am old school so I don’t use my phone…
I was not going to bring it on this particular evening when I suddenly came across this street light situation before me… Just bring the camera… you don’t have to turn it on..
but you might regret it…
Last of the Autumn Colour
It is only a matter of time before the leaves last fall for another year… there is a small window where the colours are at full peak. I have noticed of the last few years the change is not always at the same time… Climate is playing its part… we just watch and wait for another Autumn to pass us by…
Lost and Found
I have always wondered what happens to the things we lose on a walk. Most of the time it tends to be something a baby or child threw from a buggy or hat falling from your pocket…
Just remember… some good person will pick it up and place somewhere safe for everyone else to see what you lost… but most times it may be left where was cause nobody wants to know why you walked with a breakfast tray and lost it…
Watcher in the Water
When we take a photograph I tend to see it as a small time capsule… a frozen moment showing us what was happening or what or who did it look like in that exact moment in time. The landscape always changes but it is subtle. You don’t see yourself change day to day but anyone who haven’t seen you in a long time will notice…
The same with landscapes, a storm rolls in, trees fall, branches break and we have lost a piece… if you walk by a year from now would you even notice something is different… changed…
This is a shot taken back in 2021 of the Boyne River looking towards the Newtown Bridge. Take note of the large tree on the right…
Somebody decides to remove a tree from a back garden… do we notice it while it stood tall or was it until it is gone and we wondered what was that before…
Twilight Beckons…
The evenings are getting shorter… soon we will have daylights brings us those dark dark evenings… My camera will be working less so the posts may not be as frequent… don’t be so excited… I mean what are you doing look at this stuff… go and get a hobby or watch You Tube… These are the ramblings of a Mad Man…
Darkness Falls Across the Land
Harsh shadow is a complicated subject. It gives dimension to a subject or can add a touch of mystery… or some three dimension aspect to our images…
Grounding an object to the landscape…
… but again no shadow has its own qualities…
The Bulls Ass End of Navan
A few weeks ago i had an hour to kill in Navan. I brought my camera along but had nothing in mind to shoot. Street photography is a bit of a trend now but it is something I find very hard to do…
Do you take photos of people you don’'t know… or sit in the shadows like a wildlife photographer in a hide patiently waiting. Not for me I am afraid… so I turn back to the details again, Looking for something that catches my eye…
While photographing some railings by the Parish Priest Home I heard a voice say ‘get any good snaps’… the Parish Priest is looking down on me with the look of confusion as I was lying on my stomach on some steps trying to compose an image… Now i ask myself which is more awkward… shooting strangers without permission or explaining my reasons for photographing what most people would walk past…
Just a Small Piece at a Time
Do you need to see every thing … Does it make sense to show it all if you don’t see a photograph before you. Yes you can take a shot just to have as a memory, there is nothing wrong with that, but sometimes you may see a small piece of a something that catches your eye and the benefit of such an image is to leave the viewer guessing what else is there… what else am I missing…
Its Been a Minute…
I had hoped to be regular enough on this blog as I am taking shots most days… However life, work and the day to day to tend to mess with your own internal algorithms. There is a back log of images I have yet to put up as i pick the topics that should keep me going as the winter closes in and the sun retreats to Aussie…
The darker evenings are closing in so there are not to many opportunities to capture images in the dark without a tripod or a dog who wont sit still….
My Fuji cameras do have a built in image stabilizer which has allowed me to shoot some images hand held while I try to get River to sit still. At least 1 out of every 27 images is not a bad hit rate isi’t it? I suppose that is what I will keep telling myself…
All Things Heavy Metal
Every afternoon and evening, the dog reminds me it’s time to go.
Same route, more or less. Pavement still warm from the day. Fence posts casting longer shadows now. The world looks tired but still awake. That’s when I start noticing the metal again.
A piece of Iron sticking out of a wall, dulled by sun and grit. A scrap of wire catching light in a way it didn’t yesterday. Rust blooming on a drain cover like it’s in no hurry. These things don’t ask to be seen, but they’re there waiting, like everything else.
I don’t go out with a plan. No project, no checklist. Just a pocket camera or my phone, and whatever’s waiting underfoot or half-buried in gravel. A bracket, a screw, a bent hinge. Things that once held something together.
Most people pass by without looking down. I don’t blame them. The world’s loud. But there's something calming about spotting a piece of forgotten steel at the end of a long day. It’s solid. Honest. Doesn’t try to be anything it’s not.
The dog doesn’t care, of course. He’s got his own priorities which is mostly territorial messages on lampposts. He waits while I crouch to frame a rusted bolt or the shadow of a chain-link fence on galvanized pipe then takes a tug on the lead and i start over again recomposing. I tend to average 4 shots to 1 that don’t have panning motion. If I get one first try its a small win.
There’s no message in it. No story, really. Just the act of noticing. A pause in the rhythm. A strange kind of stillness made of metal and afternoon light.
Just a Little More Colour
When you spend most of your time seeing the world in black and white, switching to colour can feel like entering an entirely different dimension. Black and white photography encourages a kind of visual attention to light, shape, contrast, and texture that often gets softened or overshadowed in the presence of colour. Without the emotional pull of hues, you rely more on structure, mood, and timing to make an image speak.
But shooting colour doesn’t just mean adding back what you’ve left out—it’s an entirely different way of seeing.
The first thing you notice when shooting colour after a long stretch in monochrome is the sudden weight of colour. It doesn’t just sit in the frame quietly as it pulls, pushes, distracts, sometimes even overwhelms. A red coat, a green wall, a pale blue sky compete for attention in a way that tonal range never does. What was once a clean composition in black and white can feel chaotic or flat when colour enters the picture. It forces you to recalibrate, to ask different questions: What’s the emotional temperature of this image? What colour story am I telling? Is the subject still the subject?
If you’re patient, you start to feel the rhythm of it. You begin to see colour, not just as information, but as atmosphere, tension, or harmony. You find yourself chasing that one patch of light that turns a mundane moment.
Interestingly, coming from black and white gives you a kind of edge. You’re already trained to shoot with intention. You’re used to stripping away, to making hard choices about what belongs in the frame. That mindset doesn't disappear it simply adapts. You start to treat colour not as the default, but as a powerful design element. And when you do that, even the simplest scenes take on a new depth.
Ultimately, switching to colour is less about abandoning black and white and more about expanding your vision. You’re not changing who you are as a photographer you’re just learning a new language.
And sometimes, in the middle of a chaotic, oversaturated world, you find a moment of colour that sings as quietly and powerfully as any black and white frame.
The Calm after the Storm
There’s something magical about photographing clouds after a storm. The air feels cleaner, the sky a little wilder, and the light dances like it knows it just survived chaos.
This past weekend brought heavy rains and rumbling skies. But as the storm moved on, it left behind a breath taking canvas of shifting clouds, glowing horizons, and deep contrasts. I grabbed my camera, stepped outside, and watched as the world slowly caught its breath.
Photographing clouds after a storm is about patience and presence. The sky changes by the second with thick, moody grays give way to golden beams and soft, cottony edges. No two moments are the same.
Storms may bring disruption, but they also leave behind beauty in their wake. Sometimes, you just have to wait it out …. then look up……
