Up at 6am.

Look out the window, cloud, and more cloud.  Brain might be slow, but it doesn’t take long to decide to go back to bed!  When I finally get up there is still blanket cloud cover but a glimmer of light on the horizon and the forecast for sunny spells motivates me to wander up the hillside along maumtrasna bay.

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I still have in mind some panoramic landscape images, so I keep a look out for suitable views like the one above.  I take three horizontal shots to make this image.  When I process the images in Lightroom I discover the middle image is blurred and unusable.  Since I overlapped the images a lot I get away with the first and last image to make the final image (luckily).

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This next image highlights the famine era potatoe fields still furrowed in the barren hill tops.  Living up here must have been a tough existence.  This time 8 vertical images have been stitched together for this view.

NiallCWhelan_20160320_78-EditThis small standing stone made a great back rest and wind break for the cold northerly breeze.  The view to the south of mount Gable and just out of shot Lough Corrib is also visible.

NiallCWhelan_20160320_134-EditThis image was another panorama of sorts, 4 landscape images stitched vertically together.

Finally, it was time to head back to Dublin, so on my way I took a detour to Leenuan and along the way stopped at the far end of Lough Nafooey.  The light was not great, the sky a boring clear blue!  I continued up the hill and as I passed through the next valley looking to the right the clouds scraping over the end of the Devilsmother peak caught my eye.

NiallCWhelan_20160320_248-EditBy the time I wandered into Leenaun the light had all but gone, so time for my 3 hour drive back to Dublin.  I was happy with be 30 hours in the west, trying some new techniques and new locations.  Keeping an open mind I felt I captured scenes I hadn’t tried before, and got some good ideas for future trips in more dramatic conditions.  Yes, the weather was too nice in the west this weekend!