The Beara Trip
25th February 2011
What a wonderful way to spend 4 days of your life.
The first major photographic trip of the year took place down on the Beara Peninsula located on the south west coast of Ireland. The maps at the end of the story will show you the location. I was going down to meet up with a fellow Professional Landscape Photographer friend of mine, Peter Cox, and stay with him.
On the journey down I made a detour to Killarney as I had a couple of images in mind. One of the images was of Eagle Rock pictured below. However this image not not taken on the way down but this was the last image taken on the way home. The weather was bad with heavy rain and strong winds.
Eagles Rock, Killarney National Park.
The couple or weeks before the trip I started the location planning with Peter but this could have changed very quickly as the long trem weather forecast was not looking good. I was hoping they got it wrong but looking out the car window waiting for the rain to stop on this friday morning things were looking bad.
When I reached Peter's house and after a bite of lunch we packed the Defender with my camera gear and headed out towards the Beara Peninsula. The one thing you should know about Ireland and the weather is that it changes very quickly and is very localized. A lot has being said about this device, the iPhone, but it played a major part on this trip from the weather satellite feeds to check the cloud movements to the Off-road topographic map navigation and the camera apps for fun.
Lehanbeg Pier Sunset.
Another tool and one high up on my list is a good pair of wellies. You never know what you will end up walking through or in when out and about. We walked through bogs, rivers and lakes over farmers fields and stood in a river for a while waiting for the light ro change.
Coolcreen, Caha Mountains.
We were lucky or were we with the weather? What I mean by this once we found a location we stayed until the light was right and didn't keep moving around. Case in point, the two images below. Both were taken from the same location but maybe 30mins apart. We know what angle the light was coming from, what direction the clouds were moving so we stayed and waited.
Cobduff in Mist.
Cooleenlemane, The Priests Leap.
On our travels around The Beara Peninsula we came across some wonderful locations. We had a routes planned out for the whole day but I think we never got to finish any of them as each time we stopped the views and light was just magic. When do you stop. The light was changing by the minute. Pack the cameras way for the walk back to the car the light will have changed. The image below was such an image. We started to pack up and go when I noticed the changing clouds patterns and had to take the image.
Coosmore, Bird Point, Ardgroom.
One think we did do was make sure we were in the right place at the right time for sunset. Having your homework done before hand made the decision easy and transport to get you there helps. The image below were the result of this. We got here about 30mins before sunset and were rewarded with one hell of a show.
Inishfarnard, Kilcatherine Point.
Looking at the topographical maps the week before is one thing, but seeing for real is another. I wanted to see Glenbeg Lough because it looked like an interesting location on the map. On our way there we stopped for some food and drinks. On the wall of the shop was a painting of this Lough and it looked like what I imagined for the information on the map. How wrong I was. A car park, signs, rubbish bins and a pipe running across the face of the bridge. Not on the map or in the painting. But what I did notice was this view looking across the lake.
Glenbeg Lough & Skellig.
On the fourth and last day, the rain had arrived again and this put a stop to the early morning wake up for sunrise (thank god). The satellite images were checked again and what do you know a clear front was coming. I said my goodbye to Peter and started the long journey home with a drive down to Gougane Barra. Wonderful light, still water and perfect reflections.
Gougane Barra.
I have only shown you some of the images captured from The Beara Trip. There are still The Healy Pass, Lauragh Forest, Barley Lake, Clenderry Harbour and many more to follow in a couple of weeks when I get the chance to go through the images.
Me in the river taking the Coolcreen, Caha Mountains image
Image Courtesy of Peter Cox (www.petercox.ie)
Google Map of The Beara Peninsula. Click the [view larger map] below to expand the map.
View Larger Map
The first major photographic trip of the year took place down on the Beara Peninsula located on the south west coast of Ireland. The maps at the end of the story will show you the location. I was going down to meet up with a fellow Professional Landscape Photographer friend of mine, Peter Cox, and stay with him.
On the journey down I made a detour to Killarney as I had a couple of images in mind. One of the images was of Eagle Rock pictured below. However this image not not taken on the way down but this was the last image taken on the way home. The weather was bad with heavy rain and strong winds.
Eagles Rock, Killarney National Park.
The couple or weeks before the trip I started the location planning with Peter but this could have changed very quickly as the long trem weather forecast was not looking good. I was hoping they got it wrong but looking out the car window waiting for the rain to stop on this friday morning things were looking bad.
When I reached Peter's house and after a bite of lunch we packed the Defender with my camera gear and headed out towards the Beara Peninsula. The one thing you should know about Ireland and the weather is that it changes very quickly and is very localized. A lot has being said about this device, the iPhone, but it played a major part on this trip from the weather satellite feeds to check the cloud movements to the Off-road topographic map navigation and the camera apps for fun.
Lehanbeg Pier Sunset.
Another tool and one high up on my list is a good pair of wellies. You never know what you will end up walking through or in when out and about. We walked through bogs, rivers and lakes over farmers fields and stood in a river for a while waiting for the light ro change.
Coolcreen, Caha Mountains.
We were lucky or were we with the weather? What I mean by this once we found a location we stayed until the light was right and didn't keep moving around. Case in point, the two images below. Both were taken from the same location but maybe 30mins apart. We know what angle the light was coming from, what direction the clouds were moving so we stayed and waited.
Cobduff in Mist.
Cooleenlemane, The Priests Leap.
On our travels around The Beara Peninsula we came across some wonderful locations. We had a routes planned out for the whole day but I think we never got to finish any of them as each time we stopped the views and light was just magic. When do you stop. The light was changing by the minute. Pack the cameras way for the walk back to the car the light will have changed. The image below was such an image. We started to pack up and go when I noticed the changing clouds patterns and had to take the image.
Coosmore, Bird Point, Ardgroom.
One think we did do was make sure we were in the right place at the right time for sunset. Having your homework done before hand made the decision easy and transport to get you there helps. The image below were the result of this. We got here about 30mins before sunset and were rewarded with one hell of a show.
Inishfarnard, Kilcatherine Point.
Looking at the topographical maps the week before is one thing, but seeing for real is another. I wanted to see Glenbeg Lough because it looked like an interesting location on the map. On our way there we stopped for some food and drinks. On the wall of the shop was a painting of this Lough and it looked like what I imagined for the information on the map. How wrong I was. A car park, signs, rubbish bins and a pipe running across the face of the bridge. Not on the map or in the painting. But what I did notice was this view looking across the lake.
Glenbeg Lough & Skellig.
On the fourth and last day, the rain had arrived again and this put a stop to the early morning wake up for sunrise (thank god). The satellite images were checked again and what do you know a clear front was coming. I said my goodbye to Peter and started the long journey home with a drive down to Gougane Barra. Wonderful light, still water and perfect reflections.
Gougane Barra.
I have only shown you some of the images captured from The Beara Trip. There are still The Healy Pass, Lauragh Forest, Barley Lake, Clenderry Harbour and many more to follow in a couple of weeks when I get the chance to go through the images.
Me in the river taking the Coolcreen, Caha Mountains image
Image Courtesy of Peter Cox (www.petercox.ie)
Google Map of The Beara Peninsula. Click the [view larger map] below to expand the map.
View Larger Map
