An enchanted castle in wilds of Ireland.

One doesn’t often see this here in Ireland…

.. but when you do and you have a Client who is based on the other side of the country, that is wanting an image to help them target the market that they want to appeal to, then one does need to try and make the most of it.

And so it was last Monday, because back in May we had talked to Howard – who’s other 2 castles we had shot before, which I talked about here: How much does it cost to take a picture – about shooting Markree Castle here…

.. which is partially moated by the River Unshin, as seen here…

.. in County Sligo – and is one of four castles that are listed under Romantic Castles Ireland.

So this was one of the 2 images he was looking for: “An enchanted castle in wilds of Ireland – away from it all.”

Anyway, July was the month we were waiting for, as the other image he was after was this one…

.. which was at the back – “The perfect venue for your wedding” – and so we obviously wanted the garden to be in full bloom… hence July, as that is when it will be looking it’s best.

So 2 shots: one was a morning shot, the other was an evening shot – so the ideal situation would be to shoot the front one showing the river in the evening, stay overnight and then do the garden and terrace area at the back in the morning – as I reckoned the one at the front would need to be shot at around 8pm and the one at the back would be around 8am.

That would be ideal – and could have worked out just like that here too, bar the fact that there was a wedding on, and they had booked the entire place for both Monday & Tuesday.

Anyway, a decision had to be made, because like I said at the start, you don’t see a weather forecast like that very often here in Ireland – and so I emailed both Howard and Claudio that morning to say:

“Car is packed – so I’m going to go for it – as it could be another few weeks before we see sunshine like this again, according to the forecast.
So I should there around 6pm.”

To which Claudio replied:

“Perfect! I’ll be there at about the same time.
Will they get the props u think?”

The ‘props’ he was referring to was, of course, the outfits for the fisherman and the people on the horses – which they had talked about here…

.. in reply to “Our Thinking” back in May – when all of this was discussed and they had told us who they were wanting this image to appeal to, as well as what they wanted it to say to that market, etc, etc.

Anyway, I emailed Claudio back to say:

“Don’t think they will be there – so anything you can get your hands on would be great.
The main thing is the castle… everything else is an extra”

Howard did, however, email back to say that the hotel management had been informed about us coming and that a fisherman had been organized​ and would be there at around 6pm too.

So with a 4 hour drive ahead, I hit the road – and about 30 minutes later I received an email from Claudio to say:

“Boots, trousers and rod sorted.”

To which I replied:

“Excellent stuff – now just need a few people on horses to ride past.
Seriously though – it’s the castle looking good that is all important here – so will be giving it my best shot”

Anyway, I arrived around 5:30pm and immediately set up the camera and started to shoot – because as you can see here…

.. the sun was already hitting the front of the castle.

Close to prefect, I reckoned – as I didn’t want the sun to come around too much behind me, as that would then start to make it look flat. So basically that was it – one click and I was done

So by the time Claudio arrived, I was nowhere to be seen…

.. but was obviously still around – as I’d clearly given the shirt of my back…

.. to do a bit of fishing instead

Away, new shirt on and back behind the camera…

.. as Claudio helped the member of staff into the waders and boots…

.. before he ventured in…

.. to help complete the story.

Perfect timing too…

.. so I snapped away…

.. each time he throw the line out…

.. which with the Flexbody, is like one frame per second minute

Still, I only needed one frame – and this was it…

.. as he finally managed to get the hang of it – and was actually starting to enjoy it too, before he lost the weight.

Add a few puffy white clouds – as one would expect to see that here in Ireland – and this was the final result:

“Excellent stuff – now just need a few people on horses to ride past.”

– was still at the back of my mind as we began to pack – when all of a sudden Claudio spotted 2 girls on their horses down by the river.

So I grabbed the 503…

.. and started to shot…

.. because this was the image I had in mind all along…

.. as Howard had originally said:

“I think this one featuring a fisherman and a horseman would work.”

Or what about walking along the path Claudio…

.. or better still, along the road…

.. as that would be much easier for me to create an image like this…

.. or even this…

.. although that may all be a bit to much – as it now looks like you are no longer away from it all – which was part of the original message I was trying to say here.

Anyway, the best shot of the day was this one…

.. as far as I was concerned – although this one is pretty good too…

.. so would just like to say a Big Thanks to Claudio for all his help here – as well as for these two wonderfully images to complete the story – because even if no-one else likes them, I love them – as this is what I call “living the dream” at an enchanted castle in wilds of Ireland – away from it all

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