Ross Castle, Killarney, Ireland. A frustrating outing
Time for me to head off on my next trip in my van and one of the big advantages that I now have is to be able to head away somewhere the night before, scope out a location based on the conditions and then settle down for the evening. Previously it meant that I would have to go to bed early, set my alarm for the middle of the night or very early morning at best and head off down the road, taking of course the travel time into account before arriving at my destination and ultimately racing against time before the sun would pop up to greet the day. Additionally, with this method, I would have to contend with the conditions that presented themselves to me upon arrival. As we all know weather apps can be great at predicting conditions, however, they can only do just that, predict. and more often than not checking an app the night before doesn’t always match what happens in reality.
Driving down the road I decided to head to Killarney, a location that is packed full of photo opportunities, so many it can be hard to decide just where to go. With this in mind, I decided that I would arrive the night before, take a drive around a couple of locations and scope out the conditions, albeit in the dark to see just where I would park up for the night and roll out of the van in the morning for my shoot.
My destination of choice was Ross Castle, a fantastic subject to photograph when you have flat water and direct light. When I arrived the water was flat and the clouds were patchy so it seemed that I would have a good chance of getting the conditions I had hoped for and also the conditions that the weather apps had predicted. There was no wind either so I was confident as I settled down for the night that I would have flat water in the early morning, allowing me to catch some reflections of the castle for my shots.
I settled in for the night, worked some more on my site before it was the big day for go live, and had a bit to eat & a beer before slipping off to sleep. Now this location is at the end of a dead-end road and many times during the night I was awoken by the sound of cars, arriving at the dead-end with music at spinal tap level 11, perhaps they didn’t realise that the road was a dead end and perhaps they also didn’t know that the music was as loud as a live concert, however, after each car spending perhaps 3 minutes there, they were gone again soon after.
When I woke at 7 am, I checked the temperature, it was single digits in the van which meant it was colder outside, I however was nice and warm and oblivious to the external conditions and the rain that had fallen during the night for that matter. Opening the curtains I could see that one of my two requests wasn’t going to be granted, there were clouds as thick as could be, so I wasn’t going to get any direct light, that was clear, would I have at least the flat calm water? I wanted to take 3 images from this shoot, one from a bridge, the other from a bank and the last under some trees, so I headed off in earnest to see how I would get on,
My first composition, a small bridge arching over the river where boats park up, was just a 2-minute walk from where I had parked, so I was glad to have this luxury for sure. As I arrived at the bridge, I could see that the water was indeed flat here, so I set up my camera and took a couple of test shots before the light would arrive. Unfortunately, the light never did arrive, and I didn’t even get a blush of colour in the sky before or during sunrise. the clouds were indeed that thick, however, what I did get was two nice surprises!
The first was 4 ducks who swam down the river towards me and paused for long enough for me to fire off a couple of frames before heading back up the river again. Perhaps they considered me a source of food and after realising that I wasn’t going to throw some bread or feed down to them, headed back again to continue on their quest. Within moments of this, my second surprise came as I heard some footsteps behind me, I looked around to find a young sike deer walking on the wall of the bridge on the other side. I couldn’t get a shot as it was still quite dark and my camera was set up for a 1.3-second exposure, the shots would have been blurred, so instead I turned my video camera around just in time to see her jump down from the wall and walk less than 5 feet in front of me before disappearing off into the woods again.
It was now time for me to head over to the main prize, Ross Castle. This structure sits right on the shore of Lough Leane and is extremely impressive due to its size and also condition. You see we have over 3,000 castles in Ireland, unfortunately however most lie in ruins, this one thankfully doesn’t and makes for some great photos, if you get the right conditions of course. I, unfortunately, didn’t have them, the water was rippling, which meant my intended reflection shot wasn’t going to be realised.
Setting up my shot I decided that a long exposure wasn’t going to be a runner here as it would remove what little reflection I had, and given that it was still quite dark I couldn’t go for a fast shutter as I would have to bump up my ISO too much, so I took what shot I could try and at least keep some of this reflection in the water. Ducks would now also play a part in my challenge as they would enter the scene, duck dive under for a moment before flying off again and causing more ripples in the water.
Looking across the lake towards the Reeks, I could see some clouds sitting on top, which seemed to have some movement. I set up my video camera to record a timelapse to see just how much movement there was, and when that had finished cooking, 20 or so minutes later, I then opted to go for a long exposure to try and capture some of this movement in the frame. The resulting image while nice wasn’t ideal as I still had no light.
As I moved over to my 3rd composition I passed some workers who had arrived early to do some preparation for something big it seemed, they were lining the small path towards a boat house with thick steel planks, perhaps they were trying to make the path wider for something?
Arriving at my final spot, I set up under some trees that line the bank. The castle is visible from here, however, you need to get creative in your compositions, to ensure that you have a clear view of it without obstruction from the trees. Being winter I would have an easier time for this and because there wouldn’t be thick leaves blocking the small window I could see the structure uninterrupted, so I placed my camera on its tripod and got down low. I could see a gap and inch by inch, centimetre by centimetre I adjusted the composition until I had a clear view. the trees acted as a lovely natural frame, the water below added depth to the scene, and all I was missing was light and flat water, neither of course I had.
As I took the shot I could hear some commotion behind me, the forklift that had been so skilfully placing these heavy steal planks along the path was now stuck, stuck in the mud with its wheels spinning and spinning each time the driver tried to release it, and each time it was digging a deeper hole for itself. This added some distraction for me as I watched the driver, with a puzzled look on his face, eventually realise why he wasn’t moving when pressing the accelerator, before grabbing some wood and creating some traction for him to escape.
I took another long exposure shot here which seemed to work out before calling it a day, heading back to the van, cooking breakfast and having a cup of tea. Having this option is fantastic as I was able to relax, reflect and get myself ready for my next photo adventure later that morning.
My friend and fellow photographer Dave arrived just after 9, and of course, another cup of tea was in order, before he jumped in the van and we hit the road to our next destination Tomies wood and O Sullivan’s cascade, on the opposite side of the lake. This was going to be a location new for me and one that I won’t forget.
As we left the purpose of the pathway adjustments became clear, a gigantic crane had arrived and was in the process of removing a large boat from the lake.
You can watch this adventure below to see it all unfold
