Graham Daly Photography

22/03/2021

"Bring Back The Good Times" | © Graham Daly.

St.Patricks Day 2021 (March 17th for those who are not familiar) saw a return to shooting the night sky for me. Between Covid and lockdowns, 2020 was not exactly fruitful for image making.

I was starting to crack up with these lockdowns..so when clear skies presented themselves, I grabbed my gear and headed out to the nearby coast so that I could spend the night under the stars and the splendor of the universe.

Hopefully 2021 will see these lockdowns being set aside sooner rather than later...as I have photos to take 😁.

*** EXIF ***

9 light frames stacked within Sequator and then processed within Adobe Lightroom CC. A single frame with the same exposure settings was then blended using Photoshop featuring myself standing in silhouette.

Each exposure consisted of the following settings:

22MM
ƒ/3.2
20 seconds
ISO 8000

*** GEAR USED ***

Canon 5D Mark IV
Sigma ART 14-24mm ƒ/2.8
Benro TMA48CXL Tripod
Benfrotto Geared Head
3 Legged Thing L Bracket

09/01/2021

"Harvesting The Sunset" | © Graham Daly.

2020 was not a great year for photography for obvious reasons. Covid lockdowns were not exactly conducive to traveling around and producing new works. Apart from a handful of new work during 2020, I think I will be digging into the archives for my first posts of 2021.

To start off, here is one from 2014. A simple shot of some straw bales in a field accompanied by what was and still has been one of the best sunsets I have witnessed and been able to capture.

This was one of those occasions where I was traveling to one location with a particular shot in mind, and then after seeing the straw bales in the field, I reversed my car back up the road, pulled outside the field and then was treated to a glorious display in the sky.

13/10/2020

An interesting new business launched in Northern Ireland by the same artistic partnership that spawned Nebo Fine Art Landscapes

Should make for some nice additions to children's bedroom walls.

https://www.facebook.com/dreamybirdprintsco/

Cool & funky kids prints for the little people in your life!

We offer a selection of hand made prints for your little ones, inspired by our very own little one!

06/10/2020

"In Awe of The Ancients" | © Graham Daly.

This image was captured several weeks ago on what was possibly my last Milky Way Core shoot of 2020.

2020 has not afforded many Milky Way sessions, mainly either because clear nights falling on the wrong moon cycles or more notably due to the Covid19 lock-down restrictions that were imposed back in March. So needless to say, that I was super excited to be back out under the stars and the night sky again.

This location certainly had a bit of eeriness about it. Standing out on location under the dark of the night sky and surrounded by rustling bushes, horses/cattle making noises and other weird random noises all made for an unsettling experience on one hand. But that unsettling feeling was totally trumped by the sense of pure awe of both standing there next to these old castle ruins that have stood the test of time from when they were first erected during more ancient times here in Ireland as well standing under the ancient lights of the Milky Way galaxy above.

*** EXIF ***

16 light frames stacked within Sequator and then processed within Adobe Lightroom CC. A single frame with the same exposure settings was then blended using Photoshop featuring myself holding a light.

Each exposure consisted of the following settings:

14MM
ƒ/3.2
15 seconds
ISO 10,000

*** GEAR USED ***

Canon 5D Mark IV
Sigma ART 14-24mm ƒ/2.8
Benro TMA48CXL Tripod
Manfrotto XPRO Ball Head
3 Legged Thing L Bracket
Hahnel Modus 600 Speedlight

02/10/2020

This image was captured several weeks ago down at Goat Island near Ardmore in County Waterford, Ireland.

Was glad to be back out under the stars and the night sky again. Last Milky Way shoot was back on March 29th 2020.

Although the Milky Way core was drifting and setting into the light pollution coming from Youghal on the east coast of County Cork, I was still happy with the overall lighting and feel of the image.

When you can't avoid light pollution, you simply have to work with it and incorporate it as best as you can.

*** EXIF ***

11 light frames stacked within Sequator and then processed within Adobe Lightroom CC.

Each exposure consisted of the following settings:

15MM
ƒ/3.2
15 seconds
ISO 12,800

*** GEAR USED ***

Canon 5D Mark IV
Sigma ART 14-24mm ƒ/2.8
Benro TMA48CXL Tripod
Manfrotto XPRO Ball Head
3 Legged Thing L Bracket

Astronomy Ireland Canon Ireland Photography Week Digital SLR Photography Magazine Astronomy Magazine Outdoor Photographer Magazine Outdoor Photography

01/10/2020

Happy to see that my recent Ballycotton Sunrise image made it into the Flickr "Explore" algorithm for September 30th. For those that may not be aware, Flickr receives thousands of image uploads on a daily basis. The Explore algorithm then chooses just 500 images out of all of the image uploads in a given 24 hour period and features those 500 images.

It is not like winning a photography competition or anything...but nice all the same. :-).

© Graham Daly Connect with me if you like :-) Facebook | Website | 500px | YouTube | Instagram First sunrise in a long time, somewhat caused by the whole Covid debacle but more likely due to my hatred of climbing out of bed early. Where else to venture for my first sunrise attempt in ages to the al...

30/09/2020

First sunrise in a long time, somewhat caused by the whole Covid debacle but more likely due to my hatred of climbing out of bed early.

Where else to venture for my first sunrise attempt in ages to the always interesting, beautiful and close to home location that is Ballycotton along the east coast of County Cork, Ireland.

Spent a great morning there with another photographer and friend of mine. The light was fleeting to be fair on that morning. It was mostly cloudy and looked like there was going to be no chance of any colour bursting through but then a rain cloud came along and changed all that.

A few minutes of great light but that is all that is needed.

*** GEAR USED ***

Canon 5D Mark IV
Canon 16-35mm ƒ/4
Benro TMA48CXL Tripod
Manfrotto XPRO Ball Head
3 Legged Thing L Bracket
Hahnel Captur Remotes
NiSi Filters

Photography Week Canon Ireland Digital SLR Photography Magazine Outdoor Photographer Magazine

15/06/2020

"Rockpool" | © Graham Daly.

2020 has undoubtedly been the strangest year of my lifetime, what with all the lockdowns and all that stuff. My photography projects have been pretty much halted as a result and honestly I don't see a whole lot of new works being produced and released during the rest of 2020. However, this image was actually from my last shoot this year, which was back in March on the night when the lockdowns came into force.

Thankfully I was able to get out and enjoy the tranquility, isolation and beauty of the night sky on that night before having my photography projects postponed for the next while.

This image was captured at Rocky Bay, County Cork, Ireland while in the company of a friend and fellow star admirer David Wade .

*** EXIF ***

12 light frames stacked within Starry Landscape Stacker and then processed within Adobe Lightroom CC.

Each exposure consisted of the following settings:

16MM
ƒ/3.2
15 seconds
ISO 10,000

*** GEAR USED ***

Canon 5D Mark IV
Sigma ART 14-24mm ƒ/2.8
Benro TMA48CXL Tripod
Manfrotto XPRO Ball Head
3 Legged Thing L Bracket

08/04/2020

"The Lights Above Benvoy" | © Graham Daly

At the start of March 2020 while we were still in the "new moon" phase, I ventured down to Benvoy beach within the Copper Coast Geopark in County Waterford, Ireland in order to spend some more time admiring the stars above us.

This was only my 2nd astrophotography shoot of 2020 but I am now finding myself wondering when I will get another opportunity to shoot the stars. The annual opportunities are few in number under normal circumstances here in Ireland on account of cloudy weather patterns but with the onset of the Covid19 pandemic and lockdown restrictions of movement of people, it could be some time before an opportunity arises again.

However, instead of dwelling on negativity, I instead prefer and choose to look forward to that next opportunity with an eager optimism and anticipation of what glorious images it will yield.

Stay safe and look forward to the light that is waiting at the end of the tunnel that is no doubt there waiting for us, even though we may not yet see it.

*** EXIF ***

12 light frames stacked within Starry Landscape Stacker and then processed within Adobe Lightroom CC.

Each exposure consisted of the following settings:

14MM
ƒ/2.8
15 seconds
ISO 10,000

*** GEAR USED ***

Canon 5D Mark IV
Sigma ART 14-24mm ƒ/2.8
Benro TMA48CXL Tripod
Manfrotto XPRO Ball Head
3 Legged Thing L Bracket

30/03/2020

"MV Alta Shipwreck Astro 1" | © Graham Daly

My photo astrophotography opportunity of 2020 saw me venturing to the coastlines of East Cork near Ballycotton down the south of Ireland in search of a recent shipwreck, called the MV Alta.

This ship was apparently abandoned and floating away at sea for a close to 1 year before an Atlantic Storm caused it to crash in February of 2020. I was actually away on vacation with the family up at the west of Ireland in County Mayo when the storm hit Ireland and when this ship has crashed. When I had seen reports on the news and via Social Media that it had crashed only 40 minutes drive from where I live in Cork, I was already starting to make plans to photograph it.

So when clear skies presented themselves during the new moon phase, myself and my friend and fellow Landscape Photographer David Ahern seized the opportunity to capture this new shipwreck with the Milky Way above it.

There was a lot of rain in the week leading up to this shoot, on account of that Atlantic Storm, so the fields and the landscape in general was soaking wet. To get to this location, we had to hike for 20 minutes along the coastline and through some very muddy fields. My black waterproof pants was turned a more brown colour when we had gotten back to our cars at the of that shoot!

What a way to start off 2020. Of course, we had no idea that only a few weeks later in March we would find ourselves even more isolated than this shipwreck amidst the global CoronaVirus (Covid19) pandemic.

*** EXIF ***

16 light frames stacked within Starry Landscape Stacker and then processed within Adobe Lightroom CC.

Each exposure consisted of the following settings:

14MM
ƒ3.2
15 seconds
ISO 10,000

*** GEAR USED ***

Canon 5D Mark IV
Sigma ART 14-24mm ƒ/2.8
Benro TMA48CXL Tripod
Manfrotto XPRO Ball Head
3 Legged Thing L Bracket