The chaos which began last Sunday, resulted in thousands of people in Ireland without water, electricity or any means of transport from where they had been snowbound. Some even slept in their cars on the Dublin to Cork motorway until they could be rescued.

We were snowbound too but lucky enough to have all we needed to be comfortable at home.
By Tuesday the snow had begun to recede but the temperature drop which followed turned the thawing roads into un-navigable glaciers of sheet ice. By Friday the temperature rose, the ice thawed and normality returned.

Despite the chaos, and putting aside the personal hardship borne by many, it was beautiful time all the same.

Tags:   aerial evening ice ireland mallow snow thaw tinyplanet winter

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Just before that wintry blast from the North that covered half of Ireland in snow, bringing many counties to a standstill, we had an amazing clear night and starlit night.

The following morning every kind of frost imaginable adorned leaves, grass, and ground cover. Even old flowers holding on from Autumn were transformed by amazing jewels of ice, refracting light into all of the colours of the rainbow.

The grass was just amazing too; just not the part lying down to capture it.

Tags:   abstract bokeh frost grass macro refraction winter

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Such a sight to see that silver sliver emerging from the new moon. Almost always near the horizon, that silver is deceptively hard to capture.

With my eyes I could clearly see the full circle of that dark orb. A trick of our brain making us think we can see the dark and light of the moon at the same time.

With the right setup of bracketed images maybe I could reconstruct that image of my minds eye. But again it would be same trick our brains already do so well.

So to keep it simple with a single image, this silver silver is all the camera could perceive.

Tags:   astrophotography crescent moon toenailmoon waxing

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Even in the depths of winter Ireland’s coastline is beautiful. Despite the rain and the icy wind, Inchydoney Beach beckons and a few fortified souls are happy to be in the midst of it.

I’ve been told there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. Still, you had to be prepared and so today we were content to play cat and mouse with the rain and just enjoy the day and the beach as we found them.

Still, I think I’ll end up preferring these Inchydoney tides without the hordes that will descend on this beach come the next summer holidays.

Tags:   aerial beach clonakilty cork inchydoney ireland landscape seascape

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With the last light of the year’s penultimate afternoon nearly gone we headed west out of Baltimore following a simple little signpost labelled ‘Beacon’.

We were hoping for a sunset, or maybe a quiet vantage out over the wild Atlantic. No sooner had we reached the Beacon than it seemed half of Baltimore and their dogs chose to join us.

They did not stay long. Maybe it was the biting wind, or the sun lost in cloud, the fading light or maybe it was the lure of a warm pub back in town.

I took a moment to capture this Beacon of the Wild Atlantic Way with the twinkling lights of Baltimore in the distance and then we joined them.

Tags:   aerial baltimore beacon coastline cork ireland landscape seascape thebeacon wildatlanticway westcork

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