An Irish Staycation
An Irish Staycation by Reuben Fields
For the most part, this year has been extremely quiet for me photography wise. This is all due the fact that family life is my priority and with Covid restrictions in Ireland, things have led me to slow down majorly with getting out and shooting.
I really enjoy seeing the photographs everyone is producing in the community, especially here in Ireland. In some ways I feel like I’m falling behind with my skills while everyone else is advancing. That’s not to say it doesn’t inspire me seeing all the talent on display. It should drive me to build up my catalogue with some new material. However, with my ambassadorship with Formatt Hitech Filters last year I had the chance to get some shoots in. I thought I’d share some of my favourite images from 2020 since using their products.
I’ve been very impressed with their quality and ease of use, in particular the screw in filters. It suits the way I shoot as I tend to leave the Polarizer on my lens most of the time unless I’m shooting directly into the sun, so it really didn’t take me much time to feel comfortable using these filters. Here is my first image from Donegal. One of the first images I took using Formatt Hitech filters (Details of equipment in each of the images’ captions).
MURDER HOLE, DONEGAL, IRELAND - 2 SHOT PANO TAKEN WITH A NIKON Z7, NIKKOR 20MM AND A FORMATT HITECH FIRECREST SUPERSLIM POLARIZER
I was looking forward to going to Tenerife last year and had all my locations picked out, but unfortunately, due to Covid I had to postpone that trip. That changed our plans and led to us staycationing in July and taking a family camping trip in Ireland instead. One of the places we went to was Killarney. This is very close to a lot of my favorite locations. It actually produced one of my most popular shots to date, one which I’m very proud of. The Gap of Dunloe is incredible really, a little gem tucked away in the heart of Co.Kerry. With our campsite being so close to it I couldn’t resist returning with the limited time I had to explore. I didn’t expect to come away with something I would be so happy with. The perfect opportunity to get me back into the swing of things for 2020. In the same week I managed to get to Dingle, only an hour drive from Killarney. The drive into Dingle still impresses me so much.
THE GAP OF DUNLOE, CO.KERRY, IRELAND - NIKON Z7, 14-30 F4 LENS AND FORMATT HITECH 0.6 (2 STOPS) SUPERSLIM ND FILTER
A few months later in August I was in Connemara. On the way over to Galway I took a “slight” detour to the Cliffs of Moher. A place where I’ve only shot twice before. I’ve just never had the time on previous trips while passing through.
On both shooting occasions the conditions were not in my favour. So having seen how good the weather was looking I took my chances of seeing that glorious sidelight. I think it paid off. Sometimes, you get it sometimes you don’t. Do you think it was worth it?
CLIFFS OF MOHER, CO.CLARE, IRELAND - NIKON Z7, 14-30 F4 LENS AND FORMATT HITECH 1.8 (6 STOPS) SUPERSLIM ND FILTER + FIRECREST SUPERSLIM POLARIZER
On to the next morning and another location on my hit list was Derryclare Lough, otherwise known as “Pine Island.” I had seen the forecast for it to be calm and some mist so I really did have high hopes of capturing something to add to what I would call portfolio worthy. This is where I expected my new filter system to shine. Well not literally, cause if it did that photo would be way over exposed. I had setup a bed in the back of my jeep so it’s fair to say I was roughing it for the weekend. On the other side, the benefit of that is being able to wake up on location. I also met up with some friends for the morning. They pulled up beside my car as it was time to get up for sunrise. What greeted us that morning was nothing short of spectacular. Conditions were absolutely perfect for Derryclare. So rather than go on any further, I’ll let the images do the talking. Here is what I got from that sunrise, all from the same scene.
DERRYCLARE LOUGH, CO.GALWAY, IRELAND - NIKON Z7, 24-70 F4 LENS AND FORMATT HITECH 1.8 (6 STOPS) SUPERSLIM ND FILTER + FIRECREST SUPERSLIM POLARIZER
DERRYCLARE LOUGH, CO.GALWAY, IRELAND - NIKON Z7, 24-70 F4 LENS AND FORMATT HITECH 1.8 (6 STOPS) SUPERSLIM ND FILTER + FIRECREST SUPERSLIM POLARIZER
DERRYCLARE LOUGH, CO.GALWAY, IRELAND - NIKON Z7, 24-70 F4 LENS AND FORMATT HITECH 1.8 (6 STOPS) SUPERSLIM ND FILTER + FIRECREST SUPERSLIM POLARIZER
One another location I managed to get to was the Fisherman’s hut. I’ve always felt that Connemara was a special place and you can see why when places like this exist.
FISHERMAN’S HUT, CO.GALWAY, IRELAND - NIKON Z7, 14-30 F4 LENS AND FORMATT HITECH 1.2 (4 STOPS) SUPERSLIM ND FILTER
I’ll end the blog for now with an image that was my last location for that weekend in August. Since I had ticked off so many of my must see locations and got great conditions, I thought why not push it and try to end on a high note. So before heading home I drove to the sea stack Dun Briste, Co. Mayo, a good two-hour drive from Connemara. The last time I shot there, I was absolutely soaked and could barely stand with the wind. What was the harm in trying again? Fair to say that again Ireland, you never disappoint!
