It’s my first trip out of 2023 and what an adventure is instore. Myself and Diarmuid are in Co.Clare and while we were expecting some rough conditions what we got was like something out of a movie !! The wind, waves & light in this adventure are fantastic and I do my best to take you on the adventure with me all the while battling tonnes of sea spray and what felt like 60 mph winds !!

Strap yourself in, this is a wild one

Hags head is an area on the Clare Coast that I have wanted to visit for several years. My favourite location to photograph is Dingle and Diarmuid’s is Co. Clare and today we were going to head to one of the best locations around, a small headland that lies just below the more well-known Cliffs of Moher, but in my opinion equally as impressive and with even more photographic opportunities.

The weather forecast would be for stormy weather, however as we approached our destination it was clear that this wasn’t going to be any old storm, this was going to be EPIC! Storm clouds were rolling on the horizon, light was breaking out to sea and the wind would certainly present us with a challenge for this one.

My back was still aching as we pulled up to a small car park below hags head, Diarmuid who doesn’t seem to have any comprehension of what a small walk is, explained to me that the walk up would only take a few minutes and “ sure you’ll be grand “ I, of course, took him for his word and carefully placed my bag on my back and headed up the road towards a ruined castle that we could see in the distance. This was out goal and having this to focus on helped me through the discomfort. Within minutes the rain arrived and thankfully I was able to quickly and slowly at the same time, put on my wet gear as this rain was relentless. Even my wet gear was struggling to protect me from the deluge that we were facing, add to this the incredibly powerful wind and we were like two drowned rats by the time e reached our destination. the left side of our bodies was drenched and the right side was dry, that was due to the sideways wind that was pushing the rain in from the sea.

The area has huge drops off down to the ocean and it was then that we got our first glimpse of the incredibly powerful waves that were crashing below us. The wind at this stage thankfully was blowing on shore, meaning we were at no risk of being blown over. So heading up the path further we were greeted by some tourists who, unfortunately for them hadn’t dressed for the occasion and were soaked through. As they beat a hasty retreat we continued, confident in the knowledge that we were going to get some great waves to photograph if we could overcome the challenge of the dreaded sea spray.

Now I am well accustomed to wind and rain, it comes with the territory of landscape and seascape photography after all, however, this wind was unlike any wind I had experienced before. It felt at times like it was pealing a layer of my face as it whipped past. Mercifully the rain decided to calm down a bit and given that I was unsure how long or short this respite would be, I took out my camera gear to grab some shots and record the intro to my video. As I was doing this the wind had other ideas and decided to take my camera back ( which wasn’t empty) lift it, and send it rolling down the hill towards me. I was situated behind a cliff face and whilst it offered protection, it didn’t stop the now swirling wind from coming all around us. Thankfully I managed to grab my bag, it was close, but not a disaster.

Diarmuid had decided to head on down the pathway while I was recording and I met up with him not long after, within minutes however all hell broke loose. The clouds parted and we were treated to the most incredible light show. The waves were now being backlit and fearing that it would disappear as quickly as it came myself and Diarmuid lay flat on the ground (you couldn’t stand) and rattled off high-speed frame after frame, all the while having to constantly wipe the lens to remove the sea spray. Not knowing if we had a shot due to this spray we simply didn’t care, we were like two kids on Christmas day, after getting all the best presents we were hoping for, the energy was fantastic.

This area due to it being below the Cliffs of Moher offers some great views and of course compositions, so we stuck it out looking North now to see this light that had just bathed us, now bathing the cliffs in the distance. It was great to be at that location at that time for sure. After popping my head up from the shelter of a rock I noticed a couple walking towards me, it seemed that were weren’t the only ones mad enough to be out in conditions like these. Moments later I saw the man on his knees hugging his girl, He had only gone and proposed right there and luckily she said YES… What a fantastic memory they would have to tell their kids. Now Diarmuid is a professional wedding photographer so he quickly turned his camera to them and popped off a few shots, which of course they were delighted to have, Hopefully, they decide to get married in Clare as Diarmuid will no doubt be their wedding photographer on their big day.

The light was now returning so we decided to head through what can only be described as a wind tunnel, a gap in the headland that funnelled the wind-up and through it, at a furious pace towards us, After battling this we were treated to a phenomenal sight. More light and more incredible waves crashed below us, coupled with a coastline that matched the rawness of the waves and all right on the Wild Atlantic. I popped on my long lens as it was now time to try and freeze these powerful and unique structures in images. Setting for these shots were at 1/000 of a second to freeze the action however this presented the challenge of lack of light hitting the sensor to a wider aperture of 4.5 was needed and ISO had to go up to 400.

After many brimmed SD cards, soaking wet lens wipes and screams of joy from both of us, it was now time to wait for the sun to drop and give us one last show. This final burst of light was fantastic, the dark and moody storm clouds sat above the sun as it shone it’s last light on this incredible area of Ireland. Sadly however it was to disappear right after this and not return, so it was time to pack up our wet gear, crawl back along the grassy area, through the wind tunnel and up the hills towards the long pathway that led us back.

What a day and what a start to the year for my photography, leaving there with SD’s cards full and not knowing if any of them were good we both didn’t care, we had an EPIC adventure together and looked forward now to getting back to the van to dry off and look at what potential bangers were on our cards.

The advantage I have with recording videos is that I relive the adventure for many years to come and yo can njy it also by clicking the link below .