Allihies Coast, Cork

Some people around here call it the Beara Bowl. Once you see it, you understand why. The rock layers form a natural amphitheatre, angular slabs of slate stepping down toward the Atlantic in tight, almost geometric rows, with the sea funnelling between the cliffs into a swirling pool at the centre.

I've been visiting this spot for years now, photographing it in all sorts of conditions. This particular evening is my favourite of the lot. A grey, thoroughly Irish kind of evening, overcast with that soft, flat light that does wonderful things for colour. The long exposure smoothed the water into something milky as it poured through the channel, and all the texture in the slate and lichen came up beautifully. Yellows, greys, deep rust tones on the upper ledges.

The Beara Peninsula doesn't get the same attention as Kerry or the Cliffs of Moher, which has always struck me as a bit of a shame. The coastline around Allihies is genuinely extraordinary. Raw, exposed, and the geology is remarkable. These formations look almost architectural, as if someone laid them out deliberately. The composition here has a completeness I find very satisfying. The lines pull you in naturally, from the layered rock in the foreground down to where the water gathers, then your eye lifts to the headlands and mountains across the bay. Not every location gives you that so readily!

Read the story behind these photographs, a walk out along the Beara Peninsula.