Photo Stories

My "Photos Only" blog featuring some of my latest images and projects.

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Once Upon a Time in The West: Exploring the Wild Atlantic Way

Once Upon a Time in The West: Exploring the Wild Atlantic Way

While my wife and I have travelled throughout the world, there are large parts of Ireland we haven’t visited. People often ask us about various famous locations around the country and we have to respond that we’ve never been. When Covid struck, and the world turned upside down, we aimed to fix that and began exploring our own little nation that much more. Last year we visited the southeast, and a few weeks ago, we decided to spend a little time exploring part of the west coast, and drove some of the famous “Wild Atlantic Way”.

Ireland, Landscape, Nature, TravelThomas FitzgeraldFebruary 19, 2022Ireland, Wild Atlantic Way, West of IrelandComment

Shooting the Sunrise on New Years Day Didn’t Quite Go According to Plan

Shooting the Sunrise on New Years Day Didn’t Quite Go According to Plan

Every year we like to get up early on New Year’s day and head to the beach to watch the first sunrise of the new year. It’s a little ritual to start the year, but unfortunately, it hasn’t always gone exactly according to plan. Last year, we couldn’t actually get to the beach, because of a strict covid lockdown, as it was outside the permissible distance. This year we did get there, but instead of a glorious sunrise, we were treated to stormy seas and winds. Not exactly what we were hoping for, but it led to some cool photos anyway.

Dublin, Landscape, Ireland, WinterThomas FitzgeraldJanuary 3, 2022Dublin, Ireland, Sunrise, 2022, Seaside, Landscape, Nature, WeatherComment

Reimagining a Forest Walk in Black and White

Reimagining a Forest Walk in Black and White

I’ve recently been going over some old photographs and trying out some new treatments on them. A few years ago, while on a trip to Germany, we were staying on the outskirts of Darmstadt, and right near where our hotel was located, was a fairly large forest. I had taken lots of photos there at the time but I was never really happy with them.

LandscapeThomas FitzgeraldNovember 17, 2021Darmstadt, Forest, Nature, LandscapeComment

Autumn, Life, Loss and Light

Autumn, Life, Loss and Light

As long as I’ve been taking photographs, Autumn has been my favourite time of the year. I love both the colour and the light, and there’s something cosy about the impending dark days of winter that makes it a special time of year. Recently though, loss has turned my favourite time of the year into a very difficult one.

Autumn, Ireland, LandscapeThomas FitzgeraldNovember 8, 2021Autun, Ireland, Landscape, Fall, Fall colorComment

Flowers in The Rain (An Irish Summer's Day in an Urban Farm)

Flowers in The Rain (An Irish Summer's Day in an Urban Farm)

Near to where I live is what is a rather remarkable place to find in a city. Called “Airfield”, it is a 38 acre site which features a 19th century estate, gardens and a fully working farm. Recently, on an overcast and rainy day, my wife and I paid a visit to the estate for a walk around the gardens, to get away from the outside world for a few hours and I ended up taking a ridiculous number of photos.

Landscape, Nature, IrelandThomas FitzgeraldAugust 26, 2021Nature, Landscape, FlowersComment

A Field of Purple

A Field of Purple

On the last day of our recent trip around the southwest of Ireland, we stopped at a Lavender farm in Co. Wexford. My wife and I have always been a fan of Lavender, and it featured in the flowers at our wedding, so it was nice to see where it comes from. It also always makes for good photos.

Ireland, LandscapeThomas FitzgeraldAugust 4, 2021Landscape, Flowers, Travel, Ireland, NikonComment

Exploring Hook Peninsula and the Hook Lighthouse

Exploring Hook Peninsula and the Hook Lighthouse

Like many people, while I’ve been lucky enough to travel abroad quite a bit, I haven’t actually spent much time exploring my own country of Ireland, and I’ve actually been to surprisingly little of the island. With Covid making international travel complicated and not something I particularly want to partake in right now, we recently decided to take a few days holiday in the southeast of Ireland. One of the most interesting places we visited was to the Hook peninsula to visit the famous Hook Lighthouse

Ireland, LandscapeThomas FitzgeraldJuly 26, 2021Ireland, Wexford, Travel, Landscape, Seascape Comments

Flowers and Gardens in a 17th Century Estate

Flowers and Gardens in a 17th Century Estate

This weekend we visited a stately home and gardens in Co. Wicklow (in Ireland) that has opened up to the public. Funnily enough, this was near to where I grew up, but I never even knew it was there. The Kilruddery estate, which has a “Tudor revival” style mansion based on a 17th-century foundation, and is also a working farm, and has beautiful grounds and gardens.

Landscape, NatureThomas FitzgeraldAugust 12, 2020Ireland, Wicklow, Nature, Landscape, Gardens, FlowersComment

Irish Summer By The Seaside

Irish Summer By The Seaside

At the weekend we decided to go on an expedition in the car to the seaside. While we don’t exactly live inland, travelling around has become something of a chore now. While you can take public transport, I’m still somewhat wary of it, and so we try and stay in the car where we can be fairly isolated. On a July weekend, you might be thinking the beach would be packed, but at the height of a typical Irish summer, that wasn’t going to be a problem, as the temperature barely got above 16 degrees Celsius for the day, and the sky looked like something out of a science fiction movie.

Dublin, Landscape, Summer, SeaThomas FitzgeraldJuly 13, 2020Landscape, Sea, Seascape, SeasideComment

Seascape

Seascape

When the restrictions were eased, and we could finally escape, we headed to the sea to get some fresh air and see the outside world. Here is a little collage of photos and poetry to enshrine the moment. Enjoy.

Black and WhiteThomas FitzgeraldJune 28, 2020Poetry, Seascape, Nature, Landscape, Black and White, MonochromeComment

Virtual Exhibition - Tales of Summers Past

Virtual Exhibition - Tales of Summers Past

Another virtual exhibit. This time of summer photos, taken over the past ten years, between May and September. Summer is one of my least favourite times to take photos. It’s not that I don’t like taking photos in Summer, it’s just that I prefer Autumn and Spring. But looking back I still have lots of photos of summer, and there’s still lots to enjoy. I love the colours of flowers and the green of the full trees.

Nature, SummerThomas FitzgeraldJune 3, 2020Summer, Nature, Flowers, Green, Colour, Sunshine, HareComment

Lockdown Snapshots: Wildflower Walkway

Lockdown Snapshots: Wildflower Walkway

It’s been about two months now since the lockdown began here in Ireland. It feels like two years. We’ve slowly gotten used to the new routine, and while frustrating, it’s become par for the course. Everyday, I get up and try and go for a walk to get some exercise, but the government guidelines until recently were to stay within 2km. This has made it seem like the world has collapsed to a much smaller place than it previously was. I guess this is what it was like in olden times when people rarely strayed past their villages.

NatureThomas FitzgeraldMay 22, 2020Nature, Photos, WildflowersComment

Baseball Game in Central Park, New York City

Baseball Game in Central Park, New York City

On one of my trips to New York, back in 2009, I was walking through Central Park on a beautiful sunny day and wandered across a baseball game. I had never seen a baseball game in real life before and was chuffed to see this, it is such an icon of Americana, and this only being my second trip to the country.

TravelThomas FitzgeraldApril 29, 2020New York, Sports, Central Park, BaseballComment

Memories of New York

Memories of New York

Being cooped up at home for over a month now, like many people I’ve resorted to going back over old photos and projects as something to do while we can’t go out and shoot. I was going through my archive and something made me start looking at some old New York photos. I have a lot of fond memories of visiting the city and so, I decided to put together a little trip down memory lane, with a little virtual exhibit.

TravelThomas FitzgeraldApril 28, 2020Travel, NewYork, NYC, America, USAComment

Virtual Spring

Virtual Spring

After a long winter, the days start to get longer, and the weather begins to warm up. Outside, nature begins to return to life, and there’s nothing more liberating for the soul after months of dark and cold days than enjoying the beauty of nature as Spring takes hold. Unfortunately, with the current situation of a global pandemic forcing half of the world to stay indoors, this isn’t something that we can really do this year. So I decided to go back through my old photographs of Spring and create a little virtual spring exhibition!

NatureThomas FitzgeraldApril 9, 2020Spring, Quarintine, Lockdown, Nature, Outside, FlowersComment