Within days of getting my van I was itching to head off on my first adventure, I had been planning an EPIC road trip with Diarmuid, however unfortunately last minute he couldn’t go, so rather than stay put I decided to go on a mini adventure of my own and headed off down the road East to a location that always delivers in terms of photography. The Copper Coast in Waterford.

This location truly is a seascape photographer’s dream A world UNESCO Geopark, The Copper Coast is packed full of stunning coastlines, filled with incredible beaches, cliffs and sea stacks, the Comeragh Mountains behind offer stunning views over the entire coastal route.

A 25-kilometre rugged coastline route offering coastal adventures. Oceans, volcanoes, deserts and ice sheets all combined to create the rocks, which provide the physical foundation of the natural and cultural landscapes of the Copper Coast.

Arriving at my first location Ballydownane beach in the afternoon, I set up my cooking equipment and started to make myself a light lunch, a toasted sandwich on my new cooking gear from Ridge Monkey. This way of cooking was great however what became quickly evident was my parking position was at a very steep angle and everything wanted to slope downwards, so while cooking here was manageable, sleeping here wouldn’t be something that I was going to endure.

Getting changed in the van I set off down to the beach and had to decide to go left or right, Thankfully I made the correct decision and headed over to the right side of the beach to photograph the incredible stacks that line the coast. I managed to bag some new shots while there, not only up close and personal with the rocks and stacks but also with some sweeping motion of the waves as they came ashore and receded once more. Arriving back to the van after sunset was fantastic, I was able to stretch out, get changed and then plan where I was going to spend the night.

I decided that I would position myself right in the middle of the geopark and park up for the night close to Bunmahon. It was then I made my next meal of a tasty burger before continuing to work on the website and having a semi-comfortable sleep ( I hadn’t changed out the cushions yet )

Waking in the morning I was able to pull back the curtains and see that there wasn’t going to be any sunrise worth shooting, the clouds were thick and low, so a quick decision to roll over again for a couple of hours more sleep was welcomed.

It was now time for breakfast, and of course, I had to cook off a fry, I was on flat ground now so there wasn’t any risk of anything sliding off. Opening the back doors to see the sun attempting to break through the clouds, I started on my quest, within minutes however I had attracted 2 dogs, who had smelt the juicy meat now cooking nicely on my grill. These two visitors were quickly followed by 3 ladies, who had wondered themselves what the wonderful smells were. After a brief chat at the back of my van, I was able to tuck in and boy was it good. The feeling of waking up by the sea, breathing in the air, which ignites the hunger and then finally sitting back with the views in front of me, a cup of tea in hand and my tasty breakfast was wonderful.

Now I was missing some images for use in my Photography Location Guide, so I spent the day filling in the gaps and then worked on completing the text and advice that goes with them. My photography location guide is available to purchase in the store if you want to pick one up and discover the many stunning areas that are there for you to photograph and what types of shots to potentially get. I was also able to edit the video from the night before and upload it to youtube so it was ready to go. Another advantage of van life for sure

Soon it was time for lunch, and this was going to be another tasty toasty, made again on my Ridge Monkey, before heading off to my sunset location. the incredible Kilfarassy Beach. This is a spot that I love to visit as it always yields some incredible images. The entire area is littered with stunning sea stacks and there is one in particular that always ends up in my compositions, the one that looks like a church spire or cathedral.

I knew upon arrival that I wasn’t going to get a sunset, even though the sun had eventually found its way through the clouds, it wasn’t going to last long as there was a thick bank of clouds on the horizon that was most definitely going to swallow it up. What it did present me with however was a brief opportunity for some golden hour light, and I got that in spades. The light as it bounced off the sand was stunning and after finding some incredible unspoiled patterns in the sand, and I bagged some great abstract shots. Next, it was the turn of my favourite stack, Cathedral Rock, and as I approached the area I could see the golden light was now bouncing off some rocks n front of me, I needed to be quick however as this light was going to fade as the bank of cloud was quickly approaching its role of smothering the sun before setting. I waited for a wave to come in to add some action to the foreground and hit that shutter, hopeful that I would be able to capture on camera what I had spotted with my eyes.

As predicted the sun hid behind the clouds and all of a sudden the scene was very flat. This however presented me with the next composition as I headed over to the water’s edge to try and find some nice rocks to use as foreground and wait again for a wave to hit it. As the tide was coming in I didn’t have to wait long and managed to capture a fabulous moody image of a darkening sky with great water movement in the foreground.

Sunset was never going to yield, I knew this from the start, however to the east the sky was starting to gather some potential, and the light was starting to illuminate the clouds in the distance with some beautiful pinks, so I composed a shot of a distant headland, popped on my long lens and waited for a wave to hit the rocks between me and it.

A fantastic end to what was another great day of photography and as I headed back I was happy to know that I had a nice warm dinner ahead of me, able to have a beer, relax and continue working on my site before settling down for the night.

What a great couple of days, you can watch both episodes of the vlog below and also see some of the images I managed to capture on both days.