Lackabane from Coolcrean, Caha Mountains, Co. Kerry

I was standing in the river when I made this. That helped with the composition, less so with staying dry.

This is the Kerry side of the Healy Pass, looking west towards Lackabane. The cloud was sitting right on the summit, low and heavy, the kind that settles in and makes the whole valley close and quiet. A stream runs past the remains of an old farm building here, dropping down towards Glanmore Lake, which is out of sight below. It was a dirty day. Cold, wet, rain showers passing through one after another. The kind of conditions where most people would stay in the car, and fairly enough.

But this is a very Irish image to me. You don't need dramatic light to make a good photograph. Flat, diffused light on a day like this does something particular to colour and texture. The grasses on the hillside, the stone of that ruined wall, the water moving over rock. Everything becomes richer when it's wet. I was soaked through by the time I'd set up the tripod, but the weather was just starting to lift as I made the exposure. A slight brightening above the valley, the rain easing off. Those transitional moments between one weather system and the next are often where the best photographs happen. The Caha Mountains don't get the attention that some parts of Kerry do, but days like this are why I keep coming back!

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