A Storm Gathering Over Kerry’s Fear Marbh

Storm clouds gathered on an August evening on the Dingle Peninsula. I was hoping for a nice sunset, and the sun briefly appeared, but this was a few minutes later. Strong winds started to blow and I had to hold on to my tripod to stop the camera from shaking and potentially falling over!


Apertureƒ/8
CameraILCE-7RM5
Focal length112mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/1.3s

An Fear Marbh at Sunset

It looked like there wouldn’t be any sunset, but I was down at the bottom of Dunquin Pier when I saw an orange glow coming from behind the large rock blocking my view of the sun that had just set.

If you know how steep that path down to the pier is, I hope you’ll have some sympathy for me as I raced up again to capture what turned out to be a momentary break in the thick clouds. I was surprised I saw any colour in the sky!


Apertureƒ/8
CameraILCE-7RM5
Focal length42mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/8s

An Fear Marbh at Sunset

On a lovely summer’s evening on the Dingle Peninsula I photographed An Fear Marbh, yet again. It’s a picturesque part of the country so you can hardly blame me for taking photos! 🙂

Today I learned that, in English, it’s called Inishtooskert, which is an Anglicised version of the Irish name, “Inis Tuaisceart”, or “Northern Island”.


Apertureƒ/4
CameraDSC-RX100M4
Focal length13.2mm
ISO125
Shutter speed1/1000s

An Fear Marbh at Sunset

An Fear Marbh, or Inis Tuaiscerat (Inishtooskert in English) is an Island off the Dingle Peninsula, Co Kerry. I’ve photographed it many times but it’s a picturesque area so I’ll photograph it many more times I’m sure!


Apertureƒ/10
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length150mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/100s

From Dunquin to The Blasket Islands

Shortly after the sun has set on Dunquin Pier in Kerry, looking out towards The Blasket Islands and An Fear Marbh.

Aperture ƒ/8
Camera ILCE-7M3
Focal length 24mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/13s

An Fear Marbh san uisce

An Fear Marbh, or “The Dead Man” in English lies off the coast of Co. Kerry. I posted another photo of the island taken on the same night as this one here, but it was such a beautiful evening I took quite a few shots!


Apertureƒ/11
CameraCanon EOS 20D
Focal length33mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/200s

An Fear Marbh

An Fear Marbh, an island off the coast of Co. Kerry, Ireland, with the setting sun lighting up the cloud over the Atlantic.

“An Fear Marbh” translates as “the dead man” and is so named because of the obvious shape of the island – that of a man lying on his back.
This was taken last September but because today is the Winter Solstice, and the shortest day of the year, I thought it was the perfect image for the day. Days will get longer now, little by little each day.

On the day this was taken we had dinner in Dingle. I watched the sun set and the light travel down the mountains near the Conor Pass. After eating, we quickly drove west to the coast to watch the sunset. Driving down a small road we spotted a car pulled over and someone standing outside watching the sunset so we stopped and got out. Turns out it was another photographer shooting the setting sun! We stayed there chatting for a few minutes before heading off. A few moments later the road turned a corner and this beautiful scene presented itself. I had to stop and shoot a few dozen shots.

Last night we called to the crib in Ballyvolane. Fr. James McSweeney has put together a wonderful crib with chickens, pigs, calves, goats, sheep, lammas, a pony, 2 donkeys and 4 young puppies. I’ll post a photo or two tomorrow, and the crib is definitely worth a visit if you live in Cork.
Visitors are asked to give a donation, and this year money raised will go to the St Patrick’s Church renovation fund. The crib is located 200 metres from St Oliver’s Church in Ballyvolane on Kilmorna Heights.
Fr. James has a photography site at Today is my gift to you.ie where he posts a new photo every day. I’ll be converting it to a WordPress blog in January when things quieten down again!

Aperture ƒ/9
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 106mm
ISO 200
Shutter speed 1/5s