Could this place be on vancouver island?
This was my first time ever visiting this location and immediately upon arrival, I knew that it was going to be a special place to photograph.
Arriving at the new car park and parking up the van myself and Dave started the walk along the path that runs through one of the oldest woods in Ireland, Tomies wood has some of the finest specimens of ancient oak, and each of them is full of character and of course many stories no doubt. Stopping regularly to fire off some images as we passed by different patches and groups of trees, my thoughts immediately turned to my good friend and incredibly talented photographer Mali Davies and how he would be in his element in this spot! Mali’s love for trees is infectious, he makes you want to get lost in woodlands yourself every time he visits a woodland himself! The conditions today were flat and no patches of light to illuminate the fine specimens unfortunately however it will be a spot I return to another day for sure. Today however we weren’t here for trees we were on the way to visit a waterfall that I hadn’t visited before, the impressive O’Sullivans cascade, which is situated around 3 km in along the path.
Taking the winding path towards our goal myself and Dave had a great chat about photography, life and our options for photography in this wonderful area. Tomies Wood is steeped in myth and legend with tales of the Fianna warriors and their leader, Fionn MacCumhail.
If you’re quiet and stay still long enough, you may spot sika and red deer, red squirrels, pine martens and mountain goats in the many areas of different types of trees there. Sections of pine forests and holly also are intertwined along the loop walk that sits on the bank of Lough Leane.
Reaching the sign for the waterfall Dave advised that we were going to head a bit further on towards a bridge that passes over the top area of the waterfall and it was here that I would capture one of my favourite images to date.
My first composition would be of a rolling set of rapids with two small flows mixed within moss-covered rocks so I went handheld to find the right position before introducing my tripod and locking it in place. Using my polariser here would be a given as it would remove any glare on the water as well as bring out the natural vibrant colours in the scene. The water’s edge here has beautiful trees lining it and these help with creating the large growth of moss that covers almost all of the area. After grabbing my shot I could see my next just up ahead and not only did it look good it also looked like I would be transported halfway around the world to a location I’d seen many times before while watching Adam Gibbs & Gavin Hardcastle. Vancouver Island, in Canada
Taking the short walk my prize revealed itself, a stunning waterfall in the background, two smaller cascades that were caused by giant boulders, two fallen logs that crossed right before me and of course all covered in mystical moss. This scene was breathtaking, nearly as breathtaking as the stench of what seemed like some rotting carcass that was hidden somewhere under one of the rocks in the area, it almost knocked me over and what also nearly knocked me over was trying to walk along the incredibly slippery floor to reach it.
All I was short was rays of light lifting the scene but alas I didn’t have those! Nonetheless, I set about trying to find my composition, and after removing the camera from the tripod and finding my composition handheld,I quickly realised I was going to have to get creative with my leg spreading to ensure that I was going to be able to get the tripod back in position to get the most from the scene! The crisscrossing of the logs, while stunning, were positioned blocking one of the smaller cascades to the right so I needed to be very considerate with my fine-tuning to ensure I could get the most from the scene and keep as much of the “rules” in place.
My tripod ended up being in a very precarious position and after taking many shots with different focus spots to ensure sharpness throughout and of course using my polariser to remove the glare and enhance the colours I had my shot and even looking at the back of the camera I knew it was going to be a “banger”
My bliss was interrupted by my phone ringing, and my friend was urging me to move on, I had spent over 50 minutes on that composition alone and we hadn’t even reached the main prize yet! So I packed up my gear and took the walk back towards the turnoff down to the impressive O’Sullivans Cascade.
Newly installed steps would make this part of the walk easier, there were many, each one bringing me closer and closer to the ominous sound I could hear below me, the waterfall was in great flow and again the scene was covered in vibrant green moss, this was going to be another great spot I was sure!
Scoping out the area I first decided that I was going to start at the bottom and work my way up so a quick and kind of slippery scramble down the bank and I was situated right next to fast-flowing water, mossy textures everywhere, giant boulders and an impressive waterfall high up in the distance.
As I set up my portrait orientation composition I wasn’t overly happy with the amount of moss that was taking up the frame however I wasn’t able to adjust much as when I moved left, one of the aforementioned boulders would block the view of the waterfall above so had to settle for a position that was a compromise as such. The light made a brief appearance meaning that I would have to break out my filters for the first time, to help control the upper part of the scene and also the area that Gavin Hardcastle calls the triangle of pointlessness, the area at the top of the gorge that has only sky and doesn’t add anything to the scene overall. Shot in the bag it was now time to scramble back up the bank, rejoin the path and take the final few steps towards the main prize, O’Sullivans Cascade
The sound and size of the waterfall are incredible, a massive gorge that the water flows down from above and crashes to a flat area below before continuing down to its final destination Lough Leane
I needed to again be considerate with my compositions here, as the standing area was quite small, meaning I wouldn’t be able to take my video tripod down with me, the audio would also have been diabolical no doubt. All shots here would be again using my polariser, ND grad and focus stacked to ensure the images would be sharp back to front!
A fallen tree sitting at the base of the flat pool of water was a great addition to my image, breaking the blank void that would have been there otherwise so after more sketchy steps and tripod positioning my next shots were in the bag. A really stunning waterfall that I’m surprised I’d not been to before,
Packing up my bag I remembered a trick from one of my previous blogs and vlogs, using the long lens to pick out smaller scenes in the bigger area, so one final batch of images using my 70-200 and it was time to take the many steps back up and the 3km walk back to the van. Along the way we met 3 groups of Sike deer sitting in the trees, looking back out towards us.
What a great end to the day, you can watch the video below and see the images I managed to bag!
