Nocturnes

The pre-dawn light illuminates the lower monk's garden on Skellig Michael. The Small Skellig and the mountains of Kerry lie in the background.

The Small Oratory on Skellig emits a welcoming glow under the stars with the Kerry coast and Small Skellig in the background.

This image was made about an hour after sunset. The last vestiges of colour are visible in the sky over the horizon, but the cool blue of night pervades the scene.
The causeway stretches out ahead with the foreground hexagons wet from spray. The thirty second exposure has left the waves a blur.

One of my favourite nocturnes, this was made late at night at Long Strand. The light on the horizon is Galley Head Lighthouse. The Milky Way dominates the sky, and the light on the rocks in the foreground is a portable studio light I brought along. As there was no moon, without that, there would be no light on the foreground.

I love shooting nocturnes - night landscapes. The night sky is a very beautiful thing, and is underappreciated as so many of us live in cities where light pollution hides all but the brightest stars.
Combining the beauty of a dark sky with a dramatic landscape is a real joy for me. So, here's this photograph of the Skellig islands from Valentia island at the tip of the Ring of Kerry. The constellation of Orion dominates the sky above Bray Head while moonlit clouds scud across the frame. The Great Nebula of Orion, M42, is just visible at the end of Orion's Sword.

The constellation of the Plough hangs above the mountains of Allihies on the Beara Peninsula in this image, made under moonlight.

The winter stars rise above the monastery of Skellig Michael on a calm night.

Boughil More and Boughil Beg, two large sea stacks on the western edge of the island of Inishturk stand sentinel beneath a starry sky.

Photographing from Hag's Head for the first time, I discovered this canyon at exactly the right moment. The moon was just rising through the slot - a circumstance I couldn't have planned better.

Welcoming light spills out of some of the beehive huts that make up the Skellig Michael monastery on a calm night.