2024 for a year as a whole has been a real mixed bag. It’s not been the greatest year but it’s not been the worst year. Weather wise it’s been extremely mediocre with lacking anything memorable with one exception that’s kind of weather but kind of isn’t which I will get into. On a personal note, 2024 has not been without its share of highlights. In fact it had a lot, particularly bucket list shot moments that I’ve always planned and wanted to get but could not fulfil until this year. Through this blog, I am going to be outlining my top 10 photography highlights of 2024. These may not be the absolute best images I have taken or indeed people’s favourites but they are special to me and that is the purpose of this post. I would like to use this as some kind of diary to reflect on and look back in future when brighter times or even darker days are ahead. I will also be informative and provide details on how the image was taken as well as things you should look for if you want to get a similar photo.
#1 Celestial dance over Poolbeg Lighthouse
Of no surprise to anybody, the most special moment to me of 2024 was the display of the aurora borealis on the night of the 10th/11th October but especially when I captured and witnessed it over Poolbeg Lighthouse. This lighthouse is basically in the heart of Dublin City out in the bay. It does not have the worst light pollution and the walk out to it is pretty dark but it is surrounded by lights on either end of the county. Not only that but Poolbeg Lighthouse faces eastward with no way to capture it directly north aside from being on a boat to its south or using a drone. A drone was no use as it cannot capture the same amount of light that a DSLR camera can and a boat was out of the question as I have no access to one. Stabilisation of the camera would also probably be an issue on a boat. All odds were stacked against this idea of getting aurora with Poolbeg Lighthouse and the only chance I would get it successfully was if a major geomagnetic storm occurred where the auroral oval would be overhead and would be everywhere no matter which direction you looked as most aurora displays in Ireland are on the northern horizon. Then it actually happened, we got a G4 storm which perfectly coincided with arriving at the Great South Wall as me and my friend came from Coliemore Harbour before that.
The auroral oval was rising and rising as we walked down the wall, past the Half Moon swimming club and then the sky absolutely exploded. I could not believe what I was witnessing and so clear with the naked eye too. I didn’t need the camera to see just how magical it was. The sky casually dancing over top of me looking east towards Poolbeg Lighthouse and then I looked to the back of me. There it was dancing to the west too over the Poolbeg Chimneys. In the middle of all the excitement, I did not realise most of my images were not quite in focus including my most popular image, the one that went viral and got in the Irish Daily Mail as well as achieving 1M engagements on Twitter (or ‘X’). I also did not have the fastest wide lens in the world, in fact it was quite poor. It was a 10-20mm with a max aperture of f4.0 at 10mm (15mm equivalent in full frame). For those not in the know, the lower the f stop number, the more light the sensor is able to catch. Therefore, I had to use quite a high ISO (3200) and a slower shutter speed than I’d like (5 seconds) which made the fast moving aurora a bit blurry. If I ever had this opportunity again, which who knows when that will happen, I would hope I’d have a faster wide lens of at least f2.8 14mm and slow down to take my time with the shot ensuring the focus is on point. My error with the October aurora was focusing too much on getting as many compositions in as possible which whilst a good idea in theory, in practice it’s better to get one or a few shots that are bangers and will go far and wide rather than multiple good shots with the risk always of something going wrong such as the focus. They’re still great to have for memory sakes nonetheless and this is a night that will go down in the books as the greatest of my lifetime. So soon after the May aurora too which no awards for guessing that will appear in this blog also at some point.
#2 Misty dawn in Trim
It’s May 20th. I had wanted to get sunset at the Anglo-Norman site of Trim Castle the previous evening but due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to cancel and there was no way I’d make it to Trim in time. However, the following morning showed promise. Sunrise is at 05:18 a.m. There’s a forecast for light winds with a saturated atmosphere. That’s a recipe for the development of mist and fog. I decided to head to Trim as I was eager to get the shot, particularly after not being able to the evening before. Going there for the morning was a much better plan in retrospect because the sunset would not have the epic misty conditions I would end up witnessing at sunrise. There was plenty of fog through the fields of Meath on the way but when I got to the town, the mist was patchy and low lying over the fields. It was a mostly clear morning otherwise and whilst beautiful, it wasn’t too much to write home about. Once the sun had risen, the mist started rising and fog spread into Trim becoming thicker and thicker eventually blocking out the sun after golden hour had ended. I didn’t capture much with the camera, this was the drone’s time to shine as the drone gets to capture very unique perspectives above mist and fog. My favourite image was the one below of the castle getting surrounded with the sun casting a golden glow but I also love the one of the Yellow Steeple casting its shadow.
The first time I visited Trim was in April 2019 when my granddad brought me for a day out and ever since that, I wanted to return in hope of better conditions. The day he brought me was very hazy and the light was not great. This morning in May 2024 was exactly what I could hope for.
#3 A day out to Hook Lighthouse
I kept myself very busy through the weekend of April 19th-21st. Started off with a faint display of aurora in Balbriggan which was very disappointing as initially it was looking promising before nightfall then the solar data had changed. Only a few hours later I head to Skerries for sunrise then out to the Irish National War Memorial Gardens beside the Phoenix Park for cherry blossoms. Then I made the decision to head south. Early 2024 had lacked fine spells or periods of sunny weather so when one came around with this weekend in April, I more than made the most of it. I had the idea to visit Hook Lighthouse in Wexford which is the second oldest operating lighthouse in the world, a place I’ve wanted to go for so long and have never been to before. Nothing was stopping me so why not seize the opportunity.
On my way down, I stopped off at another place I’ve wanted to photograph – the Duckett’s Grove in Carlow but unfortunately this year there was no rapeseed in front of the structure as there was in previous years. I will be returning in 2025 or sometime in future to get that shot along with an aurora.
I finally arrived at the Hook Peninsula after going back and forth getting concerned of whether I’d make it that far with my fuel supply. I did not realise just how far out I had to go before I reached the car park. It was golden hour when I arrived so not much time to really find a spot to set up the camera and get a composition so I just put the drone up using all its batteries. I got the sun right above the lighthouse with a panorama facing west and this instantly became my favourite shot of 2024 at the time but obviously it’s been beaten since. The panorama was captured using vertical stills on the Mini 3 Pro and stitched in Adobe Lightroom. I was delighted to catch a good day to visit here but being here during a storm would be great too supposedly.
#4 The historic night at Ballynafagh Church
Another spot I’ve wanted to capture is Ballynafagh Church but specifically with a display of the aurora borealis as I had seen online some banging images from previous events making this location look perfect for it. Sure enough, in May 2024 we got a series of CMEs heading in the direction of Earth which would end up giving us the largest geomagnetic storm since at least 2003/04, even 1989 in some parameters. I have a blog post outlining this extraordinary event here for more information.
Two friends came tagging along to experience what would be a historic night. The aurora was visible through the twilight and in every direction. In fact at one point it was better to look south rather than north. The variety of colours was extraordinary and whilst I preferred the peak of the October aurora personally, there’s no doubt it did not have the amount of different colours that the May one brought.
I left my camera to capture a time lapse for most of the event on a remote shutter constantly going off so my images were all rather same-y and again like October I did not have the fastest lens so the aurora is a bit blurrier than I’d like. Still though, what a night as I’m sure witnesses can attest to. It blew all our minds away. Didn’t think it’d be possible to get an aurora this good with as little proper darkness as we had on May 10th/11th.
#5 Talking to the moon on Portmarnock Beach
A fine period of weather in mid-September 2024 coincided with the full moon phase. There were numerous nights of opportunity to capture the moon in good light without silhouetting the landscape or subject. The 17th was the best chance of them to get it absolutely perfect as it would start rising a few minutes before sunset when the sun is low on the horizon. I was going to attempt to get it lined up with North Bull Lighthouse from Dublin Port but my friend put me off doing so as it would be way too high above the lighthouse by the time it would line up and even then would have to put myself in a precarious position to capture it so not worth. Another idea he had was to get the moonrise lined up with Howth Lighthouse. There was two ways for this to be done, one from Baldoyle Bay but with obstruction from the Portmarnock sand dunes in the foreground. The other was to walk all the way down Portmarnock Velvet Strand to the opposite side of Sutton Golf Club, this is at least a 3km walk from the south beach car park. Doesn’t sound too bad if you’re a keen walker but when you’re walking on sand it’s a bit different compared to flat tarmac.
My friend talked me into going all the way down Portmarnock to get the shot. The horizon was looking very clear but looks can be deceiving sometimes as sea mist and fog can blend in that you don’t see from a distance well so could not be too optimistic. We had 15 minutes to set up and wait for the moon to start rising from the horizon. We waited and there it was, Luna started appearing over the Howth pier wall with a hazy pink colour. We were in for a good one and the walk was worth it.
The image below was captured using a Sigma 150-600mm lens @ 550mm (825mm full frame equivalent) to compress the moon and landscape which makes it appear big. Settings used were f/6.3, ISO-1000 and 1/160th of a second shutter speed.
#6 Mists of Slane
Another morning in Meath, over two months following on from the successful sunrise in Trim, I went to Slane and got magical conditions again. This was not my first attempt however as I had went two weeks prior and I could not see 50 metres in front of me. The fog was very thick and it was quite miserable. I returned though and similarly to Trim, there was mist at first but it was patchy and distant then when the sun started to rise, so did the mist.
There was no one but me and some cows in the field near the abbey. Just another great morning all round. This shot was inspired by a similar image from a photographer named Colin Haverty a few years ago. When I seen his shot of the abbey ruins, I immediately thought one day I need to get my own as the location looks spectacular and perfect for a misty sunrise.
#7 Noctilucent Poolbeg
Noctilucent clouds are one of my favourite things to witness and capture. Noctilucent roughly translates to night shining in Latin and that’s basically what they are, bright white glowing clouds that are immediately noticeable and easy to tell apart from standard clouds in the summer twilight sky. They occur from late May to early August naturally and are most common second half of June to the middle of July. Noctilucent clouds are said to be more common around the solar minimum phase of the solar cycle which lasts usually 10-12 years when the mesosphere is colder.
As summer 2024 was around solar maximum, this year was expected to be a poor one with very little in the way of noctilucent cloud displays. However, in June 2024 we seen an abnormally large number of displays and a theory went around that they were caused by excess water vapour in the atmosphere that was emitted from the Hunga-Tonga eruption which occurred in January 2022. Unfortunately in Dublin, many of the better displays were ruined by standard cloud including the amazing display on the night of 25th June that others got to see including Northern Ireland.
In the early hours of 20th June, which was the day of the earliest summer solstice since 1796, I captured a great display of noctilucent clouds at Howth East Pier then went to Sandymount Strand to get a bucket list shot of these clouds with the Poolbeg Chimneys. I liked the shot and even got reflections but I wasn’t finished yet as I also wanted to get a drone shot with the stacks and these clouds which as far as I was aware hadn’t been done before. That was not going to happen on this occasion as I was quite a bit away from the chimneys and the clouds faded before I ended up heading to Newgrange thereafter for the sunrise. I waited a while for the next and last opportunity of the summer to show.
To capture this image, I used the following settings: f4.5, ISO-800 and a shutter speed of 6 seconds.
Finally another opportunity came on 17th July which would end up being the final display of the summer and it did not disappoint. It was perfect and I was impressed with the detail the Mini 3 Pro was able to capture. It would make you think though, if the Mini 3 Pro was this good… what would the Mavic 3 look like with its micro four thirds camera sensor?
#8 Winter bites early in Wicklow
It’s rare that snow falls in Dublin, especially to a significant extent that would result in a covering. To get that in November would require something very exceptional. There’s very few examples of November snowfall on record here, at least since 1900. Only 1977 and 2010 come to mind in the last 60 years. Naturally the higher the elevation, the easier it is to get snow. November snow is not too rare in the Wicklow Mountains though it does not happen every year. It has snowed heavily here in October before including in 2003 whilst lowland Dublin was having severe thunderstorms. The higher probability does not make it any less magical when it does happen though and on the 19th November 2024, an area of low pressure that was bringing rain to much of Ireland turned to snow over the Wicklow Mountains. There were further wintry showers and more snow overnight 20th into the 21st November which was aided by a succeeding low pressure that gave noteworthy November snow to the west of Ireland. So not only did snow occur but it stuck around for a couple of days. A real taste of early winter. I took advantage and went to Lough Tay for three consecutive days from the Roundwood side. I do not recommend coming from the Dublin way at the Sally Gap crossroads, you will more than likely get stuck there when it’s snowy.
I only started taking photography as seriously as I do now a few years back and there have been a huge lack of snowfalls here so my portfolio is lacking in the snow pictures which sounds embarrassing to say as a snow lover. This November 2024 period in Wicklow sort of alleviated that with some of my favourite images I’ve taken. The sunset scene over a snowy Lough Tay was inspired by a shot friends took in December 2017 when Wicklow got absolutely pummelled with snow whilst lowland Dublin was under cold rain. The Ballinastoe Woods shot is one everybody gets and I had yet to get it. Ideally I’d have more snow lying than what I got which I could have if I had gone back for the fourth day in a row as the wind blew the snow off the trees into the forest below. The solar halo shot gave me Lapland vibes and I could not quite believe I was in Wicklow in November.
I did not have the appropriate footwear though. I had to use my wellies to get grip whilst walking on the icy Wicklow Gap to Lough Tay from a significant way down the hill as I was not taking chances with my car. My ankles were very sore with bad blisters from constantly hitting off the back of the wellies. Still better than falling flat on my face though with runners!
I impulsively bought the Air 3S early on 21st November to capture the snow whilst it was there. Alas the batteries were charged to only 50% as you’d expect coming out of the box from the shop and I didn’t have a portable power station powerful enough to charge them so I didn’t really get to make the most of it and it would have been great to capture these scenes with it.
These images were captured using auto mode on the Nikon D7500 and post processed in Adobe Lightroom.
#9 Two lighthouses for the price of one moon
2024 was not a brilliant year for moonrises, particularly coming after a very good 2023. Conditions were generally subpar when it came to full moons with few of them being favourable. You’ve already seen one of the great ones which was in September. Another one was in February which I and a good number of photographers were out on Sandymount Strand to line it up with two lighthouses, Poolbeg and Baily.
As I said, often times it can be tricky to know whether you’re going to get a good moonrise or not due to how dark and hazy or misty the lower eastern horizon is over the sea. You can tell it was misty by how little detail there is in the moon here but it was a spectacular sight and caught it right between the two lighthouses. This quickly became a popular image and was a fan favourite, in fact my most liked image at the time before it was smashed out of the water by the Poolbeg Lighthouse aurora in October.
This image was captured with a Sigma 150-600mm and the following settings: f6.3, ISO-1600, 1/250th of a second @ 600mm (900mm full frame equivalent).
#10 Down (up?) for the day in Donegal
Mid-January 2024 brought a cold spell but it wasn’t snowy, at least for much of Ireland including Dublin. It was just a period of lovely crisp sunny days which sounds very inviting right now amongst all the gloom of late 2024 but I wanted better. I also wanted to get a shot of a snowy Mount Errigal and preferably reflected in Dunlewey. Heading to Donegal was a mental idea with nowhere booked to stay and the Northern Ireland roads weren’t being gritted due to a protest ongoing so if I was to go, I’d have to take the longer way through the Midlands up to Sligo.
I said sure what have I got to lose. I tried to head out but my car battery was completely flat so I had to wait for breakdown service to come. Fortunately it was in my garden so I could chill whilst waiting. There was only 4 hours of daylight remaining by the time he arrived and jumpstarted the car. It takes at least 3 and a half hours to get to Letterkenny. I still went for it and it was the kind of journey the car needed to recharge the battery anyway. I got to Donegal and there wasn’t as much snow as I thought there’d be but I was caught in a few heavy snow showers on the way. There was only one way to Dunlewey and that was to take back roads through Trentaboy. It got to a stage where I had to forfeit that plan as the snow was too deep and ice treacherous. With not much light left before darkness, I just started to head home. As tempting as it was, these are the wise decisions you have to make. You do not want to be getting yourself stuck and putting others at risk coming to try and save you. On the way I noticed low cloud approaching with some magnificent blue hour light and scenes driving through the Barnesmore Gap. I had to take advantage by throwing up the drone capturing the below. This made the trip worthwhile – counting the journey home meant I had driven for 7 hours.
Next time if I attempt something like this, I’m booking somewhere to stay. Driving for 7 hours to and from home in the same day is a bit much just for snow.
There’s a few others I could have possibly included such as the snow on March 1st/2nd, the Portmarnock rainbow in February and the misty morning for Darkness Into Light in Newbridge Demesne in May but these are what I would say are my top 10 highlights of 2024.
I hope you enjoyed reading my piece going over my photographic highlights of the year and you have learned a thing or two. Here’s to many more great moments in 2025 and beyond. Will that night at Poolbeg Lighthouse in October be beaten? We’ll see. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you. Look out for my other content on my social media pages looking back on 2024 including a cinematic by the new year on my YouTube.
I’ll see you on the other side.
Sryan