Tuesday 27 July 2010

The Story of the Cover for ‘Scenic Ireland – The Provinces of Ireland’



In June 2006 myself, Chris Hill, and my very good friend Colin McCadden set out in a campervan to explore and photograph Ireland in all it’s glory. Our frequent journeys over the next three and half years resulted in the publication of my book ‘Scenic Ireland- The Provinces of Ireland’

On this particular occasion we had arrived in Adare late on Saturday night, tired and hungry after a long day on the road, and went searching for some food and drink. Whilst in the Blue Door restaurant we happened to get talking to the manager of the Adare Golf club. He mentioned that the final round of the Irish Open was being played on the Sunday and we were invited to come early and get a stewards cap to get us access to the course. Being extremely keen golfers ourselves, it was an opportunity not to be missed, and besides, the weather forecast for the Sunday was not shaping up to be the best for photography.

When the final group went out we managed to bluff our way ‘inside the ropes’ and had a great time until we were caught on and politely asked to leave. Frustrated at being ejected from the golf we considered our next move and decided that we would head to the nearby by Cliffs of Moher in the hope that the weather would improve from the dull day it had been so far.

As happens so often in Ireland the weather began to change dramatically and by the time we arrived at the location there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I wanted to photograph the cliffs at last light and so we started to wait….

To my absolute delight after about 30mins some clouds started to drift over from the west, adding dramatic interest to a fairly bland sky.

The cover shot was born and unknown to me at the time Colin captured me shooting it with the spare camera. Thank God we were rumbled at the golf and came here instead…

Days don’t come much better…


For more photographs of Ireland



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