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This orange gate will not resonate to the sounds of loud exhausts from the rally cars of the WRC in 2025-2027.

Instead, local boy racers will bring the rumble through the Waterford countryside as a funding deadline will soon pass preventing the world's most famous off-track motorsport circuit from coming back to Ireland.

From the Galway International Rally 2024

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Sheep and lambs in the Irish countryside, the end of an enjoyable day walking on the Antrim Coast.

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As windy as it gets today on the Antrim Coast but what beautiful scenery and exciting weather (mostly sunny, very windy but not much rain).

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Calling all artists! Dublin Canvas is now open for submissions for 2024. 

This inclusive public art project started in 2015 with aims to make Dublin pretty by painting utility boxes all over the county, from Balbriggan to Killiney.

There are 68 boxes in Dublin City, 23 in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and 13 in Fingal. For 2024 no boxes in South Dublin are in the artist call.

Dublin Canvas will supply materials such as paints, brushes and €250 to cover travel expenses and food etc. for the day, or they will pay €300 if you supply your own materials.

The call for artists is now live, and closes on Friday 3rd of May 2024. 

More information can be found at: https://www.dublincanvas.com/paint

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Chris Shiflett, Dublin 2024

Chris Shiflett brought his solo tour opener to Ireland last night, March 20th 2024 in the Green Room at The Academy on Abbey Street in Dublin.

Rumour has it the Foo Fighters guitarist was staying in Room 102 at one of Dublin's many fine hotels.

More dates include March 21st in Belfast then Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and London.

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Judas Priest

Metal music legends Judas Priest brought the Invincible Shield to Dublin, Ireland a few days before Saint Patrick's Day.

I was there to photograph Rob Halford, Richie Faulkner and the band, indeed you can see some of my images on their Facebook and Instagram.

The rest below in the gallery.

No need for a Panic Attack, if you can get to some select European and US cities in 2024 then you'll know that You've Got Another Thing Coming.

Enjoy the sound of fifty years of metal!

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Band of gold, colour from the Irish coast in spring.

As the days get longer here in Ireland (well, a day is still 24 hours but the proportion of daylight is now getting longer and will soon be more than the length of night), the opportunity to photograph for longer during the day is to be welcomed.

The coast of Ireland is varied and in places is sandy, rocky, cliffy or often a combination.

Here, a stormy afternoon brings fresh winds and plenty of waves to the golden sands of the shore.

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January and February are months that see the beginning of colour in the Irish countryside, in gardens and in hedgerows but also in woodlands.

Here, a little patch of fresh green and white from snowdrops Galanthus nivalis known as Plúirín sneachta in Irish.

As I spent the first weeks of 2024 photographing Atlantic rainforest in the west of Ireland, natural woods covered in mosses, lichens, ferns and native trees - all under the influence of Ireland's relatively mild and wet climate, I encountered these random patches of fresh white bobbing in the wind.

Galanthus nivalis or Pluirín sneachta

Primula vulgaris or Sabhaircín

Spring is also the time to find primroses growing in the woodlands.

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In 1967 John Lennon bought an island here on Ireland's west coast in Clew Bay, County Mayo.

He intended to retire and live on the island, Dorinish, also known locally as Beatle Island.

The small, low, hilly islands are drumlins, formed as ice moved across the landscape. Extending out from the Irish mainland these in the bay were flooded by the Atlantic.

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Galway International Rally, February 2024.

I photographed in east Galway, close to Headford at the start of the month as Ireland's opening tarmac rally and its oldest international rally took place over 13 stages.

Keith Cronin took first place over the two days in his Ford Fiesta and keeps that lead into the next round.

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I visited Denis O'Regan's exhibition of David Bowie prints last week at Rathfarnham Castle in Dublin.

The month-long A Portrait in the Flesh photographic exhibition was run as part of Dublin's Bowie Festival 2024.

A fantastic exhibition featuring images of Bowie on stage and also relaxing on travels.

The exhibition is over but O'Regan has a gallery in London at 271 King Street and denis.uk

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Meet Claude the cat - my own little kitty, my companion for nine years now.

I've photographed a lot of cats over the years, but this is my own kitty in his home environment of Galway, Ireland.

Over these years he has helped me through my cancer diagnosis, treatment and now five year recovery; the death of a family member and other tumultuous life events.

As I write this he is tucked up beside the fire, keeping warm.

I think he's 10 years old this year, being around a year old when he first said hello as I walked through the fields of Galway.

As a TNR, feral cat he originally kept his distance yet was happy to be observed while observing. A necessary visit to the vet after he picked up an injury from a bite by another animal, and he was now my charge to care for for at least 24 hours. That was 2015.

He hasn't left, and I'm glad. He often accompanies me to photograph, sometimes helping but as often as not just hanging out and perhaps getting in the way.

And of course he helps with editing images.

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I've been photographing and exploring in woodlands in the west of Ireland this week.

Here a small wood of mixed trees, some native and some established but all covered in mosses, lichens, ferns and ivy.

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January 2024 is looking good so far, lots of sunshine but cold and calm conditions in comparison to the end of 2023 with its heavy rains and winds brought by storm after storm.

The west of Ireland again, looking fine after sunset as we head into the blue hour.

There was no direct sunset, instead a bank of cloud moved in and the sun slipped in and out of the grey band stretched across the sky, crepuscular rays emanating in many directions for 30 seconds or so at a time.

Then this, serenity.

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Welcome to 2024, the first sunset from the west of Ireland.

It's no secret that Galway is one of my favourite places.

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Sunset as Storm Gerrit races across Ireland - Crepuscular rays at sunset.

Here, a flooded landscape with water levels rising rapidly, covering ground passable just the day before as sunset approaches along with crepuscular rays in the colourful but ominous sky.

Storm Gerrit has brought severe winds, flooding and downed trees across Ireland as well as snow across parts of Scotland.

It's one of my favourite places, not just for photography but also just to stand, sit and experience all the weather that the west of Ireland can hit you with.

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Sunset during Storm Gerrit, also known as 'Gerrit Outta Here', as severe winds cross Ireland.

This scene is from the west of Ireland and soon after sunset the wind and rain lashed, every thirty minutes the conditions changed.

Still, a beautiful sunset all the same from my current and favourite part of Ireland.