Nocturnes

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.

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

This image was made on a beautiful still evening - one of a very few we got in the late summer of 2008!
It captures the peace and serenity of this wonderful location - St. Finbar's Oratory on the island in Lough Gougane Barra. About an hour after sunset, night was closing in. There had been a wedding in the oratory earlier, and so the door was open and the lights on. Ribbons and other decoration can be clearly made out through the door in a large print.

This lone tree is a magnet for local photographers. and was particularly beautiful on this evening. The red light on the clouds is not sunrise, but streetlights from the nearby village.

This image of Ballycotton Island and lighthouse was made late at night. Two exposures were necessary to make it - one to capture the lighthouse, island and water, and the other to capture the starfield and sky.
The result is an image that is a true representation of what it was like to stand on the cliffs looking out on this fantastic scene.

Made during my trip to visit the Bull Rock Lighthouse in early Summer, 2010. This image was made on the way down from the old fog signal station and shows the illuminated lighthouse against the empty sea beyond.
As this is a night image, the exposure was long and thus the waves and clouds are completely smoothed out, creating a timeless look.

This photograph was made in the evening after the lantern had come on in the lighthouse. The open door is very inviting - lighthouses were always very hospitable places. Unfortunately, since automation more often than not the doors are barred as there's no one present. When work is ongoing, for a brief time some of that old hospitality comes back to life.

We don't get much in the way of thunderstorms in Ireland, and when one does arrive it's usually pretty mild. On this evening, however, I experienced a storm that seemed stronger than anything I'd encountered while living for 10 years in the American mid-west.
Once things calmed down enough to permit photography, I grabbed the camera and this is the result. I love the dark tones and the way the lightning has lit the underside of the clouds.

One of the advantages of living in a remote area is that often you don't need to go much further than your front door to get some wonderful images.
I was working on some projects in my home office when I looked out the window as the sun was setting. A beautiful crescent moon was low in the western sky, so I grabbed my tripod and camera and went outside.
The wonderfully subtle tones in the sky and the gradual transition from bright to dark, combined with the fact that the dark side of the moon is visible (due to earthshine) make this an image I'm very happy with.

Night photography is one of my favourite pursuits. This image, made about thirty minutes after sunset looks out over the Glantrasna Valley on the Kerry side of the Beara peninsula.
I made a couple of photographs here, but something was missing. So I waited until a car was about to come into view and then started this two minute exposure. The resulting light trail of its headlights follows the curve of the road and links the left and right sides of this image.

Made on the evening of March 7th, 2011, this image shows the International Space Station and the shuttle Discovery flying over the hills of Gougane Barra.
Just a couple of hours before, Discovery had undocked from the ISS to return to Earth for the last time. Discovery was leading the ISS in its orbit, so both took the same path across the sky and appear as a single trail. However, at the left side of the image, you can see the fainter trail that is the shuttle by itself - the ISS ended its track in this photograph where the line brightens again.
The orange-red light in the bottom center of the picture are the lights in the Gougane Barra valley.

The moon rises above the flooded Gearagh near Macroom in Cork.

Baltimore, Co. Cork is a popular sailing destination, and perhaps more so than most Irish coastal towns has a strong maritime tradition.
One piece of evidence for this is the beacon rising on a point above the town, at the entrance to the harbour. Known as "Lot's Wife" due to its resemblance to that unfortunate Biblical character who was turned into a pillar of salt, it was built by order of the British Government after the 1798 rebellion.
Across the channel, you can see Sherkin Island, one of the many islands in Roaringwater Bay. The Sherkin Lighthouse winks red across the water, marking the other side of the narrow entry to Baltimore Harbour.
This image was made about 45 minutes after sunset, which accounts for the rather blue/magenta colour and the movement in the clouds.

The moon peeks out from behind haze and cloud shortly after rising above Myross, Co. Cork

Noctilucent clouds are a rare sight. Only visible when the sun is below the horizon, they are the highest altitude clouds on earth, right on the edge of space. One evening in June 2014, there was a particularly beautiful display which I captured near my home in Ballingeary.