Tag landscape photography

From snow to coast.

George McNeill 6 Comments

This time last week I was digging the snow from the drive, taking photo’s in the snow. A week later and bar the mountains the snow is gone, well for now. Here in Ireland the weather can change in an hour. With a cool breeze and sunshine that gave no heat I headed for the coast. With heavy rain showers and a bitter wind I sat with a coffee and watched the bird life feeding in the mud flats left has the tide receded. With the return of the no heat sunshine I grabbed the camera’s and went for a walk. Below are a few of my shots from the day.

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Relax now this is the only bird shot this week, a couple of Redshank’s feeding around the mud flats.

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Fishing boats and one of the markers at the mouth of Strangford Lough. In the back ground is the Isle of Man, Looking closer because of the use of a telephoto lens.

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Kilclief beach looking the Irish sea towards the Isle of Man on the horizon.

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Then I spotted this, photo below.

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Parked in the wrong spot…. the colour of the toy car caught my eye on the walk back.

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It was the sun hitting the seaweed and lichen on the rocks that drew me to this photo.

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My final one of the day.

Thank you for visiting my blog, feel free to comment. What you like ,dislike etc.

Enjoy your weekend.

George.

 

 

 

 

A mixed bag.

George McNeill 11 Comments

Went to bed Thursday night and the fields were green, woke Friday and the place is white. First snow of the year and it was evening before I could get time to head out of a walk around the local roads. There’s not a lot of great shots around here with it being just grazing and most of the old buildings pulled down and new homes replacing them. The one weekend it would have been great to be free I’m busy, snow just won’t last more that a few days here. Anyway back to a few photo’s.

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Beside these trees there was a lovely old ruin, a home from over around 200 years ago with a little history.

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Scroll down the page in the above link to read the story of this spot.

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Not much traffic here.

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Above details and textures.

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Winter sun.

These next Photos I caught at the last minute and were shot to be silhouettes has I metered off the black bird with spot metering against the bright sky.

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This next shot is not something I do often but I enjoyed creating this. It was taken down by one of the many small lough’s we have around here.

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And we have some visitors here at the moment, Redwing’s migrate here for the winter along with the Fieldfare both members of the Thrush family.

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Above this is the Fieldfare.

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The Redwing is the one in the foreground.

The next set of Redwing photo’s see the bird spit out a Hawthorn seed from the berries they were feeding on.

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Did not know till I process these photo’s I had caught this, all the bird shots where taken with a 600mm and chopped in production. One more to go.

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In this photo we have three Fieldfare’s and one Starling, So spot the odd one out.

Thank you for visiting and take care.

George.

Scotland part 6

George McNeill 8 Comments

On leaving Ullapool I had to go over to the east side of Scotland to Inverness  and I returned back towards Inverness to continue my coastal route down the west coast.

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Following the A832 just south of Braemore around by Gruinard Bay  I stayed on the A832 till I got to Kinlochewe where I turned right back towards Shieldaig. ( due to heavy rain on this section I took no photos) .Then onto a single track road around to Applecross.

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With the weather showing signs of improvement I enjoyed the views around this run into Applecross.  Then cyclist’s started to increase in numbers, there was a Duathlon event taking place. Yes it was finishing in applecross, so I head over the pass of the Cattle ( Bealach-Na-Ba) . This is a must do if you are in the area, another one to mark of the list of must does. Here is a link off a video from another biker doing it from the 0pposite direction. Bealach-na-ba

I had planned to stop for a couple of days in Applecross campsite, but with it being so busy I pushed on the the Isle of Skye. It was well into the evening When i got there. Looking for a wild camping spot I came across a B&B that had a room so Parking the bike it was a hot shower and down to the local hotel for a bite and a jar of beer.

The next day was the first I had woke up to sunshine on this trip, and after Breakfast I set off to explore the Island.

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Has you can see from this photograph it was a grand morning to be out on the bike.

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I saw this waterfall from the road and made my way across a very muddy track which motorcycle boots were never designed for. After sliding my way back to the road I pointed the bike north to do a loop around the north of Skye.

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Again this must be one of the most photographed spots on Skye, I know I will be back to Skye with my walking boots and photography gear minus the motorcycle. Think a photography holiday will be had. Next place I was looking forward to seeing was The Skye Museum of Island life. But When I got there it was closed, they don’t open on a Sunday.

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Got these photos from over the fence so another reason to return to Skye. Do you get the feeling I liked Skye….

So on the way back I saw people pulled over and standing looking at something, getting closer I spotted what it was.

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Yep Highland cattle. This was another first for me, seeing the real thing. Love their handle bars 🙂 Was going to get the ferry from Skye to Mallaig, but on a information sign I would have to wait nearly two hours. Looking on the Sat-nav it was two hours to Fort William, so off I went. I stopped for fuel and got water and milk knowing I would be wild camping tonight. Around 10 mile from Fort William I pull off the road and down to a loch.

 

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This site under the trees was my bed for the night, below is a evening view from the tent across the loch.

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A beautiful still evening to sit and enjoy the peace, until around 60 Brent geese landed. Was nice to see them but what a racket they make. after twenty minutes they took off leaving me to a peaceful nights sleep.

One more post and my trip will be completed, thank you all for visiting.

George

Scotland part 3

George McNeill 4 Comments

At this point I’m back home in Ireland, sorry for the delay in posting. There’s no internet connection in the tent.  Right lets travel a little more up the east coast of Scotland. This was a long day in the saddle. With shower’s and some bright spells, it was a day for the road. I travelled away from the coast on a route that took me into the highlands moors and mountains. These roads where all single track and covered around 60 mile before I returned to the coast. And turned south for 20 mile to my bed for the night.

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The route in red is the roads covered. I finished the day at a Bed & Breakfast in the town of Dornock. A word about my B & B, Amalfi B&B in Dornoch. The greeting when I arrived was one of the warmest I have ever received. Marelle and Edward helping with my luggage , supplying a metal plate so the motorcycle was supported on the gravel parking area. Great advice on where to eat in the town, beautiful rooms and  large en suite meant I was well catered for. If you are ever in this part of Scotland here is the link. Amalfi.

Thank you Marelle and Edward.

I’m going to leave you with a few Photograph’s from this leg of the trim. Thank you for visiting.

 

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Thank you for your support.

George.

Where’s my tent, I’m away

George McNeill 4 Comments

So work was boring and I needed to get away on the  motorcycle. Great for clearing the head. So after work Friday and the bike loaded I head for County Galway. Clifden to be correct. Leaving Belfast at 11.30 am I made it to Clifden camping site around 7.20 pm. Finding a peaceful corner on the site was hard but given that most people don’t want to be to far from the restroom, I headed to the farthest corner and home for the night.

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The ground was a little soft from the rain but peace was found. a shower and into town for a meal. The town was busy and finding a table in the town was proving harder that finding a peaceful corner on the camp site. O’Mally’s restaurant had a table and I count myself lucky. A minute later there was seven people standing looking tables. With a grand meal and a pint of beer at the bar after it was time to face the walk up hill back to the tent. With a slight dampness in the warm night air the Irish midge was out in force. These little flies are so small but I think they are just a set of teeth with wings the way they bite.

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Clifden nested in the valley with the Twelve Ben’s/Pin’s standing guard in the background.

Saturday saw me packed up and leaving for a ride north up the around the County Mayo coast but first I ride out the Sky road loop.

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Has you can see it was a grey overcast start, this photo was taken just after 9am and a warm breeze pushing in the cloud. Back through Clifden and out the Westport road towards Mayo county.With the roads starting to get busy with tourist following the  Wild Atlantic way  .  A few miles out the road and  I follow the Connemara loop at Letterflack back onto the N59. After passing through Leenane its left onto the R335 and I’m into county Mayo .

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With my feet in mayo and my camera pointing at Leenane in Galway it sits in shadow has the rising sun lights the hills behind. Any one that drives the roads around the west of Ireland can tell you about sheep, they sleep, feed and rest on the road sides. A danger to cars but deadly to motorcyclist, but so far I have never had a problem with them till today. A young sheep decided to cross the road just has I was passing, well lets just say it was close and thankfully there was no on coming traffic. While taking a photo, one of it’s kind was a few feet away watching. Meet one of county Mayo’s  many sheep.

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So on up through Newport and around to the town of Mallaranny and out onto the Corraun Peninsula.  Just off the coast of the peninsula are two islands.

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The larger one in the background is Clare Island and the one in the foreground is Achillbeg island.

So at this point I changed my SD card, and here my photographs have to end. I could not access the card due to an error.

A quick note on the rest off the trip. I continued north through Mayo up to Bangor before turning north-west to Belmullet. Turning east on the R314 across the northern coast around to the town of Ballina. Across into county Sligo and stopping at the Beach Hut Bar and campsite for the night. This morning it was across Sligo and up into Northern Ireland and a three hour ride home. Clean and sort my gear, dry and pack the tent and then discover my faulty SD card.

Thank you for joining me on this weekend trip, a total of 653 miles. Lets do it again soon.

George

 

 

Spring morning in the back yard.

George McNeill 13 Comments

Woke this morning to the rising sun hitting the bedroom window, one look and I and my old pal where quick to get outside. I was setting up the tripod just has the last of the mist was kissing the lough surface. I took these with a 70- 300 telephoto lens, bracketing some of them and editing them in HDR Efex Pro. With the mist and a hoar frost coating the foliage it was a beautiful morning to be out. My old pal enjoyed following whatever scents and trails he was came across. Exploring the world by his nose like dogs do.

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Thank you for visiting.

 

Mist on the water.

George McNeill 2 Comments

Got in from work the other evening and there was a mist dropping over the lough. With the land bathed in the light of the full moon and the twinkle of stars adding to the view I set up in the cool damp air. With the temperature around 2  Celsius (35/36 F) it was not a night for standing around, so getting a couple of shots it was coffee time in front of the fire.

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Thank you for visiting.