Day 363

I love my macro lens. I'm not ashamed of that: I think it's the greatest thing I've ever bought. A smattering of wild flowers has appearded on the grass I sowed beside our building, and thanks to said macro lens I can get right inside this buttercup.

Day 100

There's a long list of reasons for today to be consigned to the dustbin of history: weather, work, traffic, weather again. Sometimes you just have to envy a cat; especially one whose only stress is some eejit trying to take her photograph

Day 96

I'm almost finished my current rotation in Dingle, so today was my penultimate drive down an unexplored road. This one lead up a steep hill through a farmed forest to a locked gate. Just as I was starting to regret my choice the sun came out from behind a cloud, and the telegraph poles turned white. As soon as I saw it happen I knew that this would be a monochrome picture; sort of Ansel Adams, only more provincial.

Day 94

Some days you just get lucky. I stopped on a back road to walk around and see if I could find some inspiration, when I heard a buzzing from the flowers by the verge. It was a large bee, buzzing from flower to flower, and doing it quite quickly. By the time I focused it had moved on, or crawled inside a flower when it was hidden from view. I realised that my best bet was to try and catch it in flight, and on the third attempt I was successful. Some days you just get lucky!

Day 85

Only partly influenced by my leaving my Leica charger in Kerry I decided on a macro photo today. I'm totally loving my Olloclip, even though the narrow depth of field on the macro lens can be a bit frustrating. I'm not above pouring water on flowers for added effect either.

Day 82

A bit off the beaten track today, and I found this avenue lined by trees. It's totally incongruous with the rest of the landscape, and apparently protected by a bull, but worth the risk. Like an overgrown avenue in France.

Day 81

Driving away from the big landscapes today I saw this abandoned house. I've always liked properties like this; good fixer-uppers. Someday I'll arrive home and my wife will be horrified to hear I've bought one.

Day 80

OK, I'm a bit bored of big wide landscapes with dramatic clouds. So this'll be the last one for a while!

Day 78

A weekend at home, and there is a lovely splash of colour on the terrace that wasn't there when I left. Seems the flower-elves have been. Just don't call them geraniums! They're pelargoneums.

Day 71

These flowers grow everywhere, they're like lovely colourful weeds. Oh, and it's raining again.

Day 67

On my way back to the site of yesterday's photo I looked down and just managed to avoid squashing this Red Admiral with my size nine. I don't think I could have coped with that. He repaid my sudden stop by hanging around long enough for one photo, then he was gone.

Day 60

This falling down house is just outside Dingle on the road to Ventry, and it is currently in use as a cowshed. I love it's decrepit character. I took the shot in colour, then converted it to black and white in Photoshop. Then I converted to a Duotone using black and orange as the colours before converting it back to RGB in order to save it as a JPEG.

Day 58

The rain is back, but on the plus side it's made the wildflowers nice and photogenic.

Day 54

An opportunity to duck out of work for an hour today, so I drove as far as Ballydavid pier. The sound from this river was amazing as it ran under the bridge and into the sea. After some clambouring and some leaping I ended up dopwn at these rapids. I tried some slow exposure, but nice and all as they looked, they did sterilise the scene somewhat. A fast shutter was more in keeping with the scene.

Day 53

I took a trip north again this evening, and discovered a little ruin of a church. The ruin itself was pretty unremarkable, but just off it were these steps down to a well (undoubtedly a holy well). I love the overgrown nature of them, and the texture of the stone, all accentuated by the rather overcast light, the kind of light that makes everything look that bit lusher.

Day 51

It's been a wet miserable day in Dingle today. On leaving work I was confronted with a cloud that rolled over the hills like cotton wool and lay heavily on the slopes. In search of a good shot I ended up on a small back road, and then around the next corner I saw this tractor, the only colour in an otherwise flat landscape. A little touching up in post, a bit of texture in the cloud, that's all I added. The rest is as rendered by nature.

Day 42

I've passed this doorway a few times now, and it appeals to me every time. You can see these types of ruins all over the countryside, and I have to admit they always appeal to the Romantic in me. I knew the first time I took an image of this it'd be a B&W: I may be back with my chroma box yet.

Day 41

A beautiful day in Dingle today, and I didn't have to go far to get this image: about a hundred yards up to road in fact. Some work done in post, but not much: All the colour was already there, so it just needed a burn here and a dodge there. I'm pleased with this!

Day 37

For two years the patch of wasteground beside my apartment building was just that: waste. It was ignored for years; the only thing that grew on it was a green mould that gave the surface a sickly pallor. It was a constant reminder of the situation our development was in: unfinished, abandoned, and bereft of anyone taking some responsibility. Three months ago I finally had enough of it: it annoyed me every time I passed it, and so I decided that it was time to something about it. I bought a garden fork and a rake. I dug the whole area. I picked stones until my back ached. I bought compost and grass seed. I picked ever more stones. Soon there were green shoots, tiny blades of grass poking through the surface. Every time I passed there was more colour, and then, today.

Today.

Today, baby had her first haircut.

Day 26

Day off today, and after a few hours of garden work I was feeling quite agrarian, so I hopped the fence of the site behind the apartment and walked as far as the farm beyond. After negotiating another fence, and being brave about the big hole it left in my leg, I got to the wheat field. Very pleased about the result; sometimes you just gotta push the chroma.