I recently attended a day long photography workshop with Peter Gordon of Explore Light with the Deise Camera club. A great day based primarily in Glendalough in Wicklow.
The trip up the night before allowed me visit Vartry Reservoir, something that has been on the list for a while. Conditions weren’t great but I got close to what I was looking for, ideally I’d have liked some fog to isolate the tower completely (see image above). Far from anything unique and many have done a better job then me on it , but at least I've tried. Didn’t get a chance to get around to the other side of the lake to see an overflow point as light was gone, and I had a feeling the water level was too low anyway to make it an interesting image.
Vartry Resevoir, F9, 360sec, ISO 100
The session with Peter Gordon started with a dawn shoot at the upper lake which was beautifully reflective and still, but the sky and light didn’t do much for us in the overcast conditions. This was followed by a post processing session with Peter which I found hugely beneficial. He has a beautifully subtle way of editing his images and also introduced me to a few features in the newer version of Lightroom that I haven’t tried yet but will do in the future. The Glendalough images are a very clichéd and far from anything original, I think you need unique conditions to do anything special in this location (mist for example). The place filled up very quickly with tourists so its an very early morning location if you want to make the best of it.
Taken at F11, 6 Sec just before dawn.
F11, 135 sec, using a 10 stop filter , No real benefit in the long exposure as the lake was so still anyway.
Once the Session was finished I headed off to lough Tay initially, this was more of a snap shot more than anything else with light almost mid day sun.
Lough Tay, F11 at 1/100sec ISO 100
One of the most enjoyable locations for me came about from a recommendation from Peter to visit some trees near Lough Tay on the way home on the Wicklow Way. They are some isolated trees in a bog at the side of the road. Unfortunately I don't have the exact location to share a map but I know its on the Wicklow way. There was a great sunset there that night, that was well worth waiting for.
F11, at 104secs, ISO 100 (10 stop ND used but not worth it as very little happening in the sky
F22, 150 secs, stopped down to get as long an exposure as I could. Probably my favorite image of the trip.
Wicklow is a location I will return to at some point as I only scratched the surface of this beautiful area for the day that I was up there. I'll finish with a few timelapses shot at these locations on an iphone. Next post will be back to the old stomping ground of the Copper Coast in Waterford. Now which beautiful cove to pick?
