One Of my Favourite Times of the Year for Photography
The Beauty of Autumn In Ireland
Autumn has well and truly begun here in Ireland. The leaves are starting to turn and there is already a rich blanket of brown on the ground. Autumn is one of my favourite times of the year for Photography, second only to winter. "What? Winter? " I hear you say. Well, yes, but more on that in a minute.
Autumn has two great characteristics for photography, especially if you like photographing nature and landscapes, but even for other types of photography such as street photography for example. The obvious one is the beautiful fall colours. The browns and oranges of Autumn lend themselves to a warm and rich colour palette that is beautiful and inviting. Yet this is only one part of the equation. The other is the light.
The Autumn light in Ireland is beautiful. The slow change of the seasons starts to bring a warm and golden light to the country as the sun is lower and lower in the sky. Throughout the season this effect becomes more and more profound. Combined with the colours this can make for some great Photography.
What was that about winter then? I hear you ask! Well, Winter is actually my favourite time of the year here in Ireland. The reason is simply the light. The quality of Irish winter light (when it's not stormy or raining) is incredible. Because of our northern latitude, the winter sun is low in the sky which means that you get lovely long shadows, but also a soft and rich light as the suns rays are attenuated by the extra atmosphere that it's passing through. On a good day you can get "Golden Hour" type light till nearly midday. It's quite magical. Of course the downside is the cold, occasional downpour, wind, risk of hail, snow, storms and so on!
Here are some examples of the Beautiful Winter Light in Ireland (below)