Inkwell Media : Photography : Landscapes

Photography — Landscapes

Like many photographers, I started with land and cityscapes. Donegal and the surrounding counties have rich and varied physical features — rugged highlands, hidden glens, dramatic cliffs and golden beaches. In the early days, working primarily in black and white, shooting landscapes taught me a lot about the qualities of light. It was not just the location or composition which produced a satisfying shot, it was the time of day and the quality of the light. That, plus the traditional darkroom techniques of burning skies and dodging shadows, using split contrast filter techniques and the sheer time and attention to detail required to make a good print, have served me well in the change to digital.

Click the thumbnails below for expanded galleries.

Ramelton Mall

I lived in this pretty Georgian village for ten years. Most photographers tend to shoot the old warehouses along the quay (Google Ramelton and you'll see what I mean). Instead, I inverted the view and shot from the quay instead, looking back down the river towards the mall.

Its proximity allowed me to examine it in some depth. I shot it repeatedly over two years in all kinds of weather and all times of day. These few here are a small representation of the full collection, which numbers in the thousands.

Winter 2010

The winter of 2010 was one of the coldest in living memory. Temperatures plummeted to -15°C and stayed there for nearly six weeks. This might not seem too bad to continental Europeans and North Americans, but the typical Irish winter is much milder.

It was a frustrating time, because I would have loved to have travelled around the mountains, but the by-roads were largely impassible. My son was newly born then and I didn't want to get stuck, too far from home. These shots are mainly taken around Ramelton and Letterkenny.