Ireland

The month of May in the Rocky Mountains is muddy, brown and usually slow for us, which is why we jumped at the opportunity to join our good friends, Daschle & Whitney, on a tour around Ireland. Its always good to exercise our creativity and rethink our fusion of landscape and portrait photography. Nothing gets us prepared for a busy summer like 13 days of adventuring with our cameras in tow with some good looking people to photograph.

Our tour of Ireland started with a night in Dublin, where we met Paddy & Gerry. We have a hard time saying it, but the stereotype was true. Irish people love their country, their Guinness and their pubs. The next day, we started our drive around the island making our first stop in Tuam, where we hiked Knockma Hill, which provided some beautiful views of the Galway countryside. We then moved onto the city of Galway, and a few nights at Barnacles Hostel.

After ferrying to the Aran Islands, we rented bikes to explore as much as we could before making our way down to the Cliffs of Moher. Our expectations were blown away by the immense presence these cliffs make over the Atlantic Ocean.

Our midway point of the trip was spent near Killarney National Park, which has some of the best high alpine terrain Ireland has to offer. We hiked Torc Mountain and Daschle & Whitney made the several mile trek over the Gap of Dunloe before packing up for the southern coast, for a few nights in a beach side cottage near Kinsale.

Completing our circle of Ireland, we stayed on a working farm near Kilkenny, but again, made a day trip to the coast for some sea kayaking with The Irish Experience. We finished up our trip with a detour through the Wicklow Mountains for a look of the Guinness Family’s Private Estate on the banks of Lough Tay.

In summary, Ireland is one of the most green, lush, authentic and beautiful countries we’ve ever visited. The diverse landscapes, friendly people and old villages make a trip to Ireland a highly recommended adventure if you’ve never been. With that being said, here are some photos from our photographic tour of Ireland.