A weekend to remember in Achill - kicking off my 2022 workshops

It was an absolute pleasure to spend a weekend guiding three clients around Achill Island in Co Mayo. The weather was unusual for photography, it was dry, fine and clear however we got lucky at the peak times of sunrise and sunset. The workshop also aligned with a weakening moon so we took the opportunity to shoot the milky way which was such an added bonus.

The workshop started off on the friday evening with a sunset visit to one of my favourite views in Achill. The wind was strong and from the east which generally leads to quite hazy weather in Ireland. We arrived in plenty of time to scope out compositions and gather our thoughts. The composition really creates itself from this stunning view. The tricky part is showing the scale of the view while still maintaining good shapes and lines. I thought as the evening went on that we would get nothing. Cloud rolled in and quickly diminished any light. As a workshop leader you do feel under pressure to deliver images to the clients cameras even though they understand that you simply cannot control the weather. However with that being said, as the sun dipped below the horizon we got a stunning display of colour and light. I shot a pano myself at 35mm to try and take in the whole scene while still keeping the scale prominent.

Nikon Z6, 24-70 @35mm. Nisi V7 CPL

Walking back to the car we were all chuffed with the scene we had just witnessed and i must give credit to the three lads on the workshop, they endured what felt like near gale force north east wind for the bones of two hours! We enjoyed two pints of Guinness in the pub afterwards and went back to the Air BnB to get some well earned rest.

Keel Milky Way - Nikon Z6, 14-30 f4, Sky is tracked at ISO 1600, f4, 2 minutes

That night, me and one of the clients took an opportunistic chance at shooting the milky way at Keel Beach. Our workshop aligned with a weakening moon and if skies were clear, i will always try and grab a night shot if possible. It made for a sleep deprived body but i had never shot astrophotography in Keel before and i could not turn down this chance. We grabbed a couple of shots between 2:30 and 3:30am and headed back to bed for a short two hour sleep before it was time to get up again!

The following morning saw us visit the famous Keem Bay. I generally always keep this location for sunrise because that is what suits it most but also it is a lot quieter at 6am! The sky was cloudless but that did not hamper our chances of capturing a few nice images. There were stunning patterns and textures in the beach along with soft pastels in the sky. When the sun came up we shot the iconic scene of the stream flowing down into the old hut with the mountains in the background.

Golden Hour at Keem Bay -Nikon Z6, 20mm f1.8G

After our sunrise shoot it was back to the Air BnB for a hearty breakfast followed by a well needed nap! This part of the day is where clients can do as they please, either chill out, go for a walk, have a nap or chat over a cup of coffee in the house. Everyone had gelled so well at this point and it felt like we all knew eachother for years. I done a quick post processing session with the lads during this time also, offering some tips and tricks into how i edit landscape images in photoshop. The focus of the lesson was primarily exposure blending. You can see an action shot to the right (with some expletives blurred out, courtesy of Conor!)

After a bit of lunch we went exploring the coastline of Achill. Luckily the day had some cloud cover in between the sunshine which gave us the chance to shoot some nice scenes of high contrast, focusing particularly on black and white while using filters to create a long shutter speed and some motion blur in the clouds and the water.

Now it was time to grab some dinner and prepare for the sunset hike to the cliffs behind Keem Bay. These do not get the recognition they deserve because Keem Bay steals all the limelight! But that is a good thing because they are not crowded with people. I always allow plenty of time for a hike, even if it only takes 30 minutes, I will allow two hours before sunset so that everyone can take their time, have a break, take in the views etc. The hike to Benmore is between 45 mins to an hour but the views are worth it. We were rewarded with some stunning golden hour light as the sun set, illuminating the cliffs and heather.

Nikon Z6, 14-30 @16mm, Nisi V7 CPL and 0.9 soft grad.

We could not of asked for better conditions, even in cloudless skies we made it work. This is where a few tips on bracketing exposures came in handy. I would not of been able to shoot the scene above without bracketing and exposure blending, even with the use of a soft graduated filter. When we arrived back to the car, i could not resist taking out photopills and checking to see how the Milky Way lined up with Keem Bay. Well, let’s just say it lined up good and over a pint i put the proposal on the table of dragging the lads out of bed at 2am to go shoot the night skies. To their credit they did and we were rewarded with stunning views of the Milky Way arching over Keem Bay. I grabbed a shot down by the beach, using a previous composition with the stream cutting through the sand.

Keem Beach with the Milky Way overhead. Omegon LX3 tracker was used for the sky.

Tired bodies came back to the house and happily went to bed for some well earned rest and a lie in the next morning!

We spent the following morning exploring a famine village at the foot of Slievemore, grabbed a coffee and everyone went their separate ways. It makes my job so much easier when you’ve a group of people who are friendly, open for a few laughs and always willing to put in the work to get the images. I couldn’t of asked for a better start to my 2022 workshops in Ireland. As always, thanks to f-stop gear for their support and sponsorship along with Nisi for providing filters to be used by clients on the workshops. Looking forward to being back in Achill in two weeks time with another group.