Photographs and images of Ireland,Irish Stock photography by Peter McCabe,

July 2010

Rant time! As a landscape photographer there are a few things that bug me. I am not talking about litter in the landscape, or bungalow blight for that matter. What I am talking about are other photographers who have to put it politely no manners.

It annoys me no end when you arrive at a location, set-up your tripod and camera and are standing waiting for the light. Then some eejit appears with a tripod waltzes on by you proceeds to set-up his gear, while standing in the midst of your shot.

Or even worse, when someone arrives at a location and sets up so close to you that you are practically playing twister.  Where is the originality in that?

Rant over, but sometimes respect for others works in your favour. Take the images below as an example.

The location was a jetty outside of  Anagassan, overlooking Dundalk Bay in County Louth Ireland. A location I have visited many times during all seasons and conditions. But somehow I have always managed to come away thinking there is something more.

I had arrived the previous evening to this location, only to find another photographer already working the scene. Pain in the ass, but hey fair is fair. Off I went.

So the next day I arrived earlier and to near perfect conditions. In the distance the Cooley Mountains and Dundlak Bay stood partially hidden by passing sun showers, while the jetty I stood on was partially submerged by the waters of the Irish Sea.

With the previous evening in mind and before any other tripod wielding invader arrived, I pitched my Manfrotto and Canon 5DMK11 and waited and watched.

The conditions were a photographers dream. In between rain and rainbows, the sun highlighted features in the landscape as waves gently rolled in and submerged my feet.

Even after all these years, it never ceases to amaze me how quickly light can change a scene. The images below are an example of such.

Same location photographed twenty minutes apart. You can’t beat nature’s magic!