Well with all this recent talk of new camera equipment (and here) I thought I need to really get out there and start shooting! I mentioned last week that we had one of the wettest and coldest April’s since 1989 and May has not started much better. However we have had pockets of lovely sunshine and one of those was last Saturday evening. So I packed the car and headed up to a place that has been on my list to photograph for over a year now. In fact this was my third attempt to do this location any justice with an image. The previous occasions the light or weather conditions just weren’t right. And there lies a lesson for any nature photographer. We are all at the mercy of the weather and light at a chosen location. If these conditions don’t support your vision for the image you want to produce sometimes you need to step away and come back another time. Obviously this is much easier when these locations are in your back yard; which happily this one is for me.
So where is this? It is known as Lower Lough Bray and it is part of a series of Loughs dotted across the Wicklow mountains. I have captured a number of images over the years around the Wicklow mountains including several around another Lough in the area known as Lough Tay or the Guinness Lake. However this is the 1st time I have produced an image of this small sheltered lake.
This little lake is sheltered on two sides by high cliffs and on another side by a forest and leaves just one side open for entry. Thankfully this side is easily accessible and just a short walk from the road. With the mountains on all sides we lose the sun relatively early behind the cliffs, about an hour before sunset so you will be pretty disappointed if you plan to enjoy a sunset here. Arriving here on a dull or overcast day you will be greeted by an entirely unremarkable landscape; however to arrive on a day like the one above and you are greeted by an entirely different scene. There was barely a whisper of air movement which left the lake glass like and reflecting both the mountains and the clouds above, while the light began to soften as the sun slipped below the surrounding mountains.
