Always the people's favourite

The sky is impossible to ignore. Here in rural Ireland we are mesmerised by it. Approaching weather systems come up from the Atlantic south west and we peer into the distance for information, comfort and possible impending doom.

When I began to share my photography on line through the blog and on social media, it became clear that I wasn't alone in this fascination. My statistics would go through the roof when I posted a sunrise/sunset photo, and so I shared lots of them, even though sunsets are renowned as a cliched image to be avoided at all costs!

In reality no sunset is a cliche. Each is a once off, unique, live, light show. It's even easy to think that you are a great photographer when in fact you just show up and Mother Nature does the all work. That's the way it is with sunsets, the magic is just present in the light......

Tonight on the drive home through County Carlow I was seduced yet again by the golden hour. A combine harvester was creating an extra layer of dust and this seemed to act like a filter for the lens.
Standing there under a deep terracotta sky, besotted by the gloaming, I remembered the words of a reader from Brazil,"when the sun rises it is for everyone." 

Sunsets and sunrises will always be the people's favourite.....



PS....

I am taking part in a Group Exhibition called Being Here and you are all invited to the opening on September 12th @7.30 in Aoife's Gallery, Parnell Street, Waterford

Still drawn to the evening sky

Having posted photographs on line for almost 3 years I've learned a thing or two about what people enjoy and at the top of that list would be sunrise and sunset snaps.  In our house, and I suspect all over the planet, a golden sunset is still a magical yet unfathomable sight. 

Because my windows catch the south western sky with a clear view across open country, I photograph them regularly.  Still drawn to the window every time.....

It can be the reflections in the lake, the dramatic cloud formations or the deepest colours that catch the lens. Critics say that these are the ultimate in chocolate boxy cliches but there's no denying they are always the peoples' choice........

My good friend Susan who blogs on Vibrant Ireland obviously faces east!! She's a curator of sunrise photos from Ireland on Twitter and Instagram. Just add the tag #irelandsunrise to participate or check out the weekly highlights here.

Photography develops keen observation skills and capturing the goings on in the sky puts our tiny planet into perspective.....we may never fully understand the goings on up there but we are still captivated by each stunning performance.......



There are even more here in the Winter Sunset album

The sky is on fire in the west

Just now the October sky is on fire in the west. 

Reflections up on the roof

It's the witching hour, the gloaming. Patterns and shadows play across an amber horizon and as usual I am drawn towards the sky. Paddy who likes to predict tomorrows weather, is also skywatching and suddenly shouts "Come here and see this"

We both run up to the roof for the best view. Even after all these years, the sun setting in the west is impossible for either of us to ignore. Now it is all autumn gold and deep navy blue.

We are reluctant to let the day go. We carry on pottering until there is nothing else left to fix or tend. Himself eeking out the evening with forays into the garden, or myself following the light to capture the last silhouettes. Of all the hours in the day, of all the magic moments, the last dying rays of the sun hold us inthrall yet again. Neither of us wants to close the curtains on it.

I used to fear the dark and lonely silence of the night, that fading light, the end of things. The unfamiliar noises of twitching bushes of gorse on the hill or the scuttling of bats leaving their daytime home in the rafters.

I've learned that it's ok. Ok to hold on, and Ok to let go. This is how it happens.

First let the darkness envelop you like a cosy blanket. Then cheer on the black swooping bats as they disappear off into the night sky. Finally set the alarm for an early walk to snap the sparkly dewy cobwebs at the break of day.

I don't believe it! Is this me letting go of the past to make way for the new? Is this me making plans for tomorrow?





More autumnal images here

......and just at that moment......

Special times come and go so fast. The one beautiful evening this summer. That last photo opportunity of the day. The final moments of the slithering sinking sun.

After a pet day on Rossbeigh Strand, that elusive sun is tracked until it's very last golden seconds of light. Lads stop playing football on the sand and have a few beers. A woman lingers at the water's edge of her evening swim, absorbed. Now the cameras of all shapes and sizes are lined up and at the ready.

It seems as if we all pause.....and just at that moment, there is so much love and gratitude for all of this, so much, I think I can feel it in the air..........

A change is as good as a rest

It's still raining in Ireland and so my mind has wandered back to May and the heart of an olive grove in the mountains of Mallorca.

Arriving during the night through a perilous cliff side track. Smelling before seeing. Ground cover of thyme, rosemary and lavender filling the still air as we walked our final few steps down to the small gate of the house where we would stay for two whole weeks!

The twisted olive trees and the rocky mediterranean coastline were revealed at dawn. The heat of the rising sun soon seeped into our bones and the freckles appeared on our noses. Every evening on the terrace over looking the sea, I took photos of the fading light.  Every day we climbed down the stony path to the rocks and swam out through deep warm water, dreaming.

The sun burning on skin, the dry raked earth and fallen lemons on the streets of the village, five swims and a fish supper to follow. A change is as good as a rest, no wonder we crave it, here in the land of 40 shades of green, and endless days of rain.

Winter Solstice the longest night of the year

As the sun sets this evening, the sky both darkens and colours. Gradually an average grey day turns into a mysterious and magical evening. While our ancestors calculated fairly accurately that this, December 21st, would be the longest night, I imagine they that were overwhelmed by questions as to why, just as I am tonight.

After a dark winter event in my life I am wandering around in the end of nowhere, doing very little except observing this transformation. The sun is setting in the farthest corner of the southwest. From tomorrow everything will change again as the earth turns back towards the sun and the light will return little by little each day.

It's the same sun, the same sky, and it's even the same me and you.

Everything about London and city life is a world away from my usual slow lane existence. I parted company with my camera (other bloggers/photographers will maybe understand) to spend proper quality time with other humans, and anyway I didn't want to carry it around. Travelling light, I thought.

London is wonderful. Full of cafes, art, trees, bridges, a great big river in the middle of it and skyscapes of magical towers and turrets. Wasn't long before the phone camera was produced and put into full use!!

Before I left home I had taken some Autumn sky shots. On the Thames I remembered our western view over towards the Commeragh Mountains. Same western sky, same sun, same me. Wherever we go I thought, and sometimes we travel a long way, this world is our home.

I thought about all of you who share your comments and thoughts. Those insights about the looming winter, changing seasons, and fading light, and also about your strategies to stay positive and close to the earth. It has been like a show of community strength in challenging times!

And speaking of travelling a long way, I am thinking of all of you Irish people around the world today, same sky, same sun, same you. We all belong here, wherever we are.