As Idyllic As It Gets

I had such a great trip to Connemara recently with my buddy Bernard Geraghty that I decided to jump back into the van and pay him another visit. I was in Galway for other business so I figured I’d make the extra bit of a trip and spend some time with him exploring his amazing back garden, and visit some of the other locations we didn’t get to on my last trip.

The weather was going to be an important factor for deciding which location we were going to shoot, and looking at the forecast it seemed that a visit to the idyllic fisherman’s huts that are dotted around the area would be on the cards. These nuts work perfectly when the water around them is calm, offering a chance for reflections and adding to the overall feeling of the location, and today with a wind of less than 3m per second we were hopeful that we would be rewarded.

Heading along the roads towards our location, we passed another house that beckoned us to stop for a look. The hut, with its red corrugated roof, sits just off the road we were on, and it works great from the air. The rolling hills are framed by a winding river, which adds to the overall beauty of the scene. I sent my drone up to have a look, and it was quickly evident just how nice this scene was. I could see the mountains in the distance and the sunlight was just right, casting a fantastic glow all along the landscape. The video footage features in the opening scene of this week’s video, plus I of course had to grab a still of this stunning scene. Before we jumped back into the van, I opted to take the short walk on foot to see if there was a composition to be found for a shot from the ground, however, I think I would need to be there for a sunrise or morning shoot, to have the sun sit behind the house rather than lighting it up. But that composition would have to wait for another day, we had another location in mind to top off today’s shoot.

After a short drive along a winding and stunning road, we stopped, jumped out and took another short walk towards one hell of a picturesque scene. A solitary white walked fisherman’s hut sitting right next to the water’s edge, with many fantastic shooting locations along the banks, promised to yield several shots for us both. I had never visited this spot before, however Bernard had, and this was ideal as he would be able to give me advice, should I need it. Thankfully I didn’t need it, but what I did need was to be more conscious of the ever-present flying teeth. The midges were out in force, and if we stayed still for too long then they would be feasting on us in no time. I considered putting on my midge net but opted instead to wait it out and see just how bad they got.

The first composition for here was going to be an obvious one, the fisherman’s hut was a strong star of the show for me, so I placed it in the frame to allow the reflection to fill the space below it. This would be my supporting actor here, and the third element would be the sky. Soft clouds were filling the frame and these would also add to the reflections on the water. The first shot was in the bag, but I felt like I needed a foreground element to complete the shot, and this would be my next composition.

As mentioned several areas along the bank offer many alternative options for compositions, and less than 3 meters away were some rocks that allowed me to get more into the water, and also use them as an anchor in my shot. The water was remaining calm thankfully, plus the midges seemed to be tapering off in intensity, so I managed to bag another shot with very similar conditions to the first shot. I had to also be conscious of the “smaller” elements in the scene now, there was a small rock protruding from the water, which if I wasn’t selective in my composition would end up interfering with the reflection of the hut on the water. Thankfully there was enough room on the rocks to move the camera just enough to separate it plus it would also allow me to remove it later in post, should I not like it in the shot overall.

I wanted to see what this area looked like from the air now, so I sent the drone up to have a look, and while it looked incredible, I found that image-wise it looked better from the ground, as the reflections and compositions lent themselves more to a traditional composition. I did however capture some stunning video from the air, which features in the video from this shoot which you can watch in the link below.

A winding wall would be the next addition to my shot, allowing me to have one of the fishermen’s boats in the shot. The wall was positioned in a way that I could walk along it, and then use to act as a perfect leading line through the image towards the hut, and thankfully we still had the sky offering some fantastic patterns, textures and colours to reflect in the still calm water. I felt that with each shot the images were improving as I was adding to the photo with each additional element, however, I now wanted to remove some and make a more simplistic image to top off what was a great shoot so far as the sun began its journey towards the end of the day.

As I was setting up my next shot, with the boat in the bottom of the frame, the hut in the mid-range and the sky above, I was getting excited seeing it all come together on the back of the camera. It was a peaceful and very idyllic scene in front of me, and I was happy to be sharing it with my buddy. This tranquillity would soon be interrupted but a familiar voice. Michael Shainblum, who had visited me last year was on a video call with Bernard, they were discussing an upcoming joint workshop in Ireland and Bernard was recommending that today’s location be added to the itinerary. A quick hello to Michael and it was back to the job in hand, grabbing a shot of this stunning location as the colours in the sky intensified.

Now all along I had been shooting without filters, I wanted to catch the reflections as clean as I could, and due to the subtle movement in the water, I would have lost those if I had gone for any long exposures. The water was now becoming still enough for me to at least try, and after looking at the back of Bernards's camera and seeing his long exposures, it was time for me to give it a go. I was glad I did and also glad I waited, as the colour in the sky was now ideal and as I finished the 30-second exposure, I was almost drooling at the image I had captured when reviewing it on my EVF.

My shoot was almost done, but not before the setting sun had one more surprise in store for us. A deep red glow began to appear under the clouds to the west, so I had to multitask quickly, I sent the drone back up for another look and at the same time framed up one last shot facing west of the boat with the gorgeous colours above and some great reflections.

Overall, I was very happy that we visited this location, it has been photographed by many before me and will no doubt be also photographed by more in the future, but I had my shot from there nor had I expected the idyllic nature of the scene and now also my shots and video.

You can see the images I captured in the gallery and watch the video in the link below.