A pair of ponies take in the view on a blustery day near Gougane Barra.

Morning mist clings to the mountainsides and perfectly still reflection in Gougane Barra Lake.

Cúm na Léime (The Valley of the Leap) is a beautiful isolated valley near Bantry in Cork. The name derives from the local legend of a priest who made a miraculous nine-mile leap to escape pursuing soldiers from the ridge at the head of the valley. That ridge is known as the Priest's Leap (Léim an tSagairt).
This photograph looks north from the eastern side of the glen towards Léim an tSagairt, which is wreathed in mist. A rapidly changing morning, as I drove up the narrow road it looked like the mist might not clear at all, but clear it did and this is the result.

Evening sun settles over the mountains of the Beara Peninsula with Bantry Bay in the foreground.

Mist descends over the mountains as a lone tree stands on a ridge above a pasture.

A Napoleonic-era watchtower guards the dramatic headland of Black Ball Head.

Mizen Head is Ireland's most southwesterly point. A fog signal was established here in 1909, and a light in 1959. In 1993, when the station was made automatic, a local cooperative in cooperation with the Commissioners of Irish Lights opened the station up to tourists.
The original bridge giving access to the station had suffered badly from over a century of exposure to the severe weather in this area, and work on its replacement commenced in 2009. On March 17, 2011 the new bridge will re-open, allowing visitors access to the lighthouse once more.
This photograph was made on an early Spring evening. Looking over the rocks above the station (which is situated on Cloghan Island), all lines lead up to the setting sun.

In Ireland, we don't normally get snowy winters - if there is a fall, it usually melts within the day. These last two years (2009 and 2010) have seen an unusually high snowfall coupled with unusually low temperatures which allow it to stick around for a while.
While many around the country curse after a few days of snow, I love it. Despite the inconvenience, what it does to the landscape is truly wonderful. On this morning, just about two weeks after the birth of my son, I was able to sneak away for a dawn shoot after the second major snowfall of the year (the first being around the time Liam was born - so no photography for me then!).
This was a fine morning - almost too fine for photography. The cloud on the left of this image vanished entirely shortly afterwards leaving clear blue skies and rather flat light. Here I've used the shadow of the mountain behind me to create some interesting geometric divisions in the image, and the wonderful dawn light turns the snow a vibrant orange-yellow.
Below is a short time lapse showing the processing of this image for those with an interest.

Morning mists rise above a calm Gougane Barra.

Taken from the pass known as the Priest's Leap (Léim an tSagairt), looking south towards Bantry Bay. Behind me is the Cork/Kerry border. The cross provides a visual anchor and the scattered cloud and isolated light in the valley below complete the image.
Local legend has it that a priest being pursued by soldiers made a miraculous leap from near here and landed a mile or two from Bantry - quite a distance!

Made as a famine relief project, the winding road coming up the Cork side of the Healy Pass makes a wonderful sight from the top. Photographed here on a cloudy day, the clouds scud across the scene.

Gougane Barra is effectively my back garden, and it's also my office as that's where I run my Cork-based workshops.
Always beautiful, every once and a while you're treated to something really special, which is what happened on this beautiful October morning.

Ardnakinna is simultaneously one of the youngest and oldest lighthouses around the coast. The tower was originally constructed in 1850 as an unlit beacon, and was then converted to a full lighthouse by adding an ex-lightship lantern in 1965.
Seen here from the Irish Lights helicopter while returning from a visit to the Fastnet, the mouth of Bere Haven harbour is on the left and Castletownbere itself is in the background.

Made on the evening of March 7th, 2011, this image shows the International Space Station and the shuttle Discovery flying over the hills of Gougane Barra.
Just a couple of hours before, Discovery had undocked from the ISS to return to Earth for the last time. Discovery was leading the ISS in its orbit, so both took the same path across the sky and appear as a single trail. However, at the left side of the image, you can see the fainter trail that is the shuttle by itself - the ISS ended its track in this photograph where the line brightens again.
The orange-red light in the bottom center of the picture are the lights in the Gougane Barra valley.

Ardnakinna guards the western tip of Bere Island. Seen here from the air at sunrise.

A popular beach on summer afternoons, Barley Cove is one of Cork's most beautiful beaches. Seen from the air on an October afternoon, beautiful broken light plays across the landscape.

Knockreagh (An Cnoc Riabhach) is an outlier of the Caha Mountains on the Beara Peninsula which border Cork and Kerry, on the Kerry side. This view is from the summit looking west over the Kenmare River. The Cummeengeera horseshoe is visibe to the left of centre and the prominent double peak on the horizon is Lackabane (Leaca Bhán).

The Mare's Tail waterfall is a hidden gem of Co. Cork. On this day, banks of cloud were framing it beautifully on either side.