St. Finbarr’s Oratory at Dawn
Nine exposures, three positions, and a lake disturbed by a biting wind. That’s what it took to stitch this panorama together at Gougane Barra just after dawn. The sky refused to cooperate with anything dramatic, so I leaned on the scene itself: the oratory sitting quietly on its spit of land, the water holding just…
Dawn Sentinel at Gougane Barra
A bunch of us arrived in Gougane Barra this morning to photograph the sunrise, only to be met with driving rain and mist and fog on the hills. A biting wind tore through clothes making for a missed opportunity for all of us. Luckily, within a few minutes of arriving, a glow could be seen…
Watching the World Go By in Málaga
A narrow side street off the tourist drag in Málaga. A man waiting, watching nothing in particular on a cool January afternoon. I got one frame off on the phone as I passed. No time to compose properly, no time to think about the empty chairs cluttering the left side of the shot. Just tap…
K67: A Relic of Slovenian Design in London
It’s impossible to miss this kiosk. A bright yellow box parked outside Spitalfields Market, looking like it had been teleported in from a 1960s sci-fi film set. This is a K67 kiosk. It’s a modular street unit designed by Slovenian architect Saša Mächtig in 1966 and one of the most successful pieces of street furniture…
Iron Bones
I nearly walked straight past it. You’re on the South Bank, dodging cyclists, and there’s this railway bridge overhead that most people treat as a ceiling to hurry under. But look up and the underside of Blackfriars Railway Bridge is a riot of riveted iron girders fanning out like the ribs of some enormous mechanical…
Two in the Market
I caught this one from barely a metre away. It was close enough to count the grey in his beard, close enough that the glass roof of Spitalfields Market softened into geometry behind them. It was early in the morning and the market was still being set up. I wonder if they were tourists in…
Steel and Storm Over Bishopsgate
We’d come out of the train station at Liverpool Street earlier in the morning but when I walked past here, I stopped dead on Bishopsgate, tilted the camera straight up, and watched three towers race each other into a sky that looked like it was about to pick a fight. The central building’s white steel…
Between the Columns on Threadneedle Street
I’m not sure what was so engrossing on that phone but I suspect it was a review of images, especially outside the Bank of England in London and those enormous Portland stone columns. A perfect place for a dramatic photoshoot.
Northern Lights Over North Cork
You don’t expect to stand in a field north of Blarney and watch the northern lights, but here we are. Last night the aurora put on a show visible well into southern Ireland. Bands of pink and magenta hung across the sky, bleeding into that unmistakable green glow along the horizon. To the naked eye…
Golden Hour on Lough Aderry
I think this is my first or perhaps second time stopping at Lough Aderry, just outside Castlemartyr in Co. Cork. I’ve passed by there many times but in the evening when the light is good it’s always with the aim of getting home after a possibly long day away. This evening I did stop as…
An Fear Marbh Through the Storm
On a calm day you can sit on Clogher Beach and see An Fear Marbh lying peacefully on the horizon, its profile supposedly resembling a body laid out in repose. On a day like this, though, you’re lucky to see it at all. The swell was stacking up in layers, each wave tall enough to…
No Swimming. No Kidding.
A storm was blowing on to Clogher Beach recently. Waves so high they’d go over your head. You definitely did not want to drive down there or swim.












