Week 5: THE FINAL FOUR

Day 29 – Kilkenny

My original plan was to skip Kilkenny and head straight to Wexford, but given the luck I'd had so far, I decided to go into Kilkenny and photograph Kilkenny Castle. My initial plan involved a waterfall, but I opted to navigate the busy, central roads of this medieval city instead. Parking was a challenge; I had to circle the city almost twice to find a spot. When I finally did, I didn't care how close it was to the castle because I needed to get my minimum 1 km walk in. What felt like pushing my way through streets teeming with tourists—a good sign of a thriving economy, I suppose—was all for the chance to see Kilkenny Castle. I wondered: would it live up to the hype or was it just a tourist trap?

When I arrived, it was clear that it was a historic building, not just a tourist trap, and a worthy subject to photograph. I set about getting my shot. I played around with a few compositions of the fountain in the castle's ornate gardens, but in the end, I chose a shot of the rose bushes. They were planted in a way that created a perfect leading line up to the castle. As usual, there was no light, but I had to work with what I had. Since I didn't have a strong visualization for this shot to begin with, I was satisfied with the result from this well-known location in a beautiful city.

Coffee was next, but it was coffee with a difference. Unlike many of the coffee shops I had visited, this one had limited space for people to sit and chat. In fact, I had to order at the door and stand on the footpath next to a sign to wait for my coffee. Perhaps it was a sign of how busy they were. At least the coffee tasted good and fresh.

Back at the van, I had easily hit my 1 km goal, so all that was left was to find a GAA pitch for my goal. I tried two, but both were busy. Thankfully, Kilkenny has a long history with GAA, so there were plenty more to choose from. My 29th goal was in the bag, the mission was complete, the county was complete, and now it was time to finally get to the sea.

Day 30 – Wexford

Throughout this entire trip, it was strange that as a seascape photographer, I never went near the ocean. All of my locations were inland. This was by design; I wanted to challenge myself. As if the project wasn't hard enough, I added my own personal task when choosing locations. I could have gone to many coastal locations that I had visited many times before, but on this occasion, it was far more efficient not to take the long, winding roads to the far reaches of the coast. This resulted in me choosing not only new locations but also places that some people may never have considered.

For Wexford, however, it was going to be different. I couldn't photograph this county without going to the iconic Hook Head Lighthouse, the world's oldest working lighthouse. I knew this location would be great for sunset, so I set about getting my other tasks done beforehand. Coffee at a place called "Feathered on Sea," a local coffee shop/shop/hardware store/garden center, plus I'm sure many more forms of retail. That's the thing with small towns: businesses will evolve to cater to their customers' needs. Coffee in hand, it was off to score my 30th goal, and thankfully, there was a GAA pitch close by.

With two tasks down and two to go, I drove along the road to Hook Head Lighthouse, passing the infamous Loftus Hall. A building that has stood at the edge of the cliff for many years, it has many stories of the supernatural attached to it and is considered by many to be Ireland's most haunted house. It was recently purchased and partially renovated with the idea of turning it into a luxury hotel and resort. However, just days before my arrival, I saw a story that it had been put on the market for €3 million. The work isn't finished yet, but I'm sure somebody with €3 million to spare would be happy to finish the project on this 22-bedroom building, its gardens, and outbuildings, provided they can deal with the additional residents that are reported to live there year-round.

Arriving at Hook Head Lighthouse, I felt energized. Perhaps it was the smell of the sea, the feeling of being close to the ocean, the atmosphere from others who were visiting this icon, or maybe it was just the realization that I was on the final stretch of this project. I took the opportunity to tidy up the van, sit outside in the afternoon sun, record an update for my Patreon community, and finish editing a previous video before grabbing my gear and walking across the rocks to position the lighthouse in my frame.

I had visited and photographed this location many times before, and every time I was there, I had a swell. Today, I didn't, so I wouldn't have any action in the waves below to portray energy. It was time to adapt again. I decided on some long exposures to remove the distraction of the small waves and turn the image into a more intentional shot rather than a snapshot. The clouds looked nice but were also looking bad at the same time. While there was texture, it was diminishing fast, as were my chances of getting a final burst of color for the last sunset shot of this trip. It didn't matter; the shot I got was still nice, and I was happy and even more enthusiastic as I headed into the final two locations of this project.

Day 31 – Waterford

I stayed at Hook Head after sunset the night before, making up ground by including Kilkenny the day before. I woke at sunrise, looked out the window, and even though I saw the sun with no clouds, I opted not to photograph it. Instead, I just sat there and enjoyed it for what it was. As landscape photographers, we can often forget to do just that: enjoy it for what it is.

As much as I was enjoying this experience, I wasn't finished with my mission, so I had to leave. I took the long and winding road back from the tip of Hook Head and up into Waterford. I grabbed a coffee along the way at Code Coffee in the city before driving back along the road toward Cork and turning off to find my GAA pitch to score my goal.

Halfway there now, my hike and photo remained. While I could have taken the audience to the Copper Coast, a place full of photographic seascape opportunities, I reverted to my previous modus operandi: to go to places that I hadn't brought the audience to before and places I hadn't photographed at all or that often. I also knew that this location would require me to hike to get to the shooting spot, so this choice would complete the county for me.

The location is BallySaggartmore Tower, a structure that serves as a reminder of the greed of old Irish landlords. This particular landlord, stopped at nothing to show his wealth, squandered his money on trying to build the best and biggest castle anyone had ever seen. After only building the towers, which were the entrance to his grand estate, he ran out of money. What remains is a very unusual subject to photograph and a place that not many people know exists.

It was still early in the morning, and there was nobody there when I arrived. I sent my drone up and around the tower to give it a good show. I then took my camera handheld and walked all around the structure to decide on my final image for the county. I had light on this occasion, but I found that as I moved around the structure, the light landed in different ways on each facet.

My shot was done, my hike was done, my goal was done, and my coffee was done. Just like that, Day 31 was done. When I was in Donegal, the man I met at the GAA pitch said to me when I told him my route, "It's a long way to Tipperary." And it certainly was. My last location would be County Tipperary.

Day 32 – Tipperary

The finale of my epic trip around Ireland was upon me. Part of me felt relieved; another part felt sad that it was over—or almost over. As I drove from Waterford to Tipperary, I briefly passed into my home county of Cork. I had completed my circumnavigation of the country, all but for one county, one shot, one goal, one hike, and one coffee.

My location for my shot would be the iconic Rock of Cashel, a place I'm sure every person in Ireland is aware of, along with millions of others who may have visited it over the years. I knew the shot I wanted to get, and it needed light, and it seemed that I would have it.

My first stop would be my goal, a goal that would be bittersweet, as County Tipperary had just beaten Cork to become the All-Ireland Hurling champions. But I pressed on and found my first task completion with ease. I set up my camera, took my hurley and sliotar, and confidently hit my 32nd goal into the back of the net. I hadn't missed one throughout the entire trip, and this was going to be no different. This was my first task entirely completed: 32 goals in 32 counties, done and dusted.

My next task to complete in its entirety would be my coffee. Cashel is full of many small, independent coffee shops. I parked my van, as I had done in many other locations, far away to take a walk through the town, soak up the atmosphere, feel the vibe, grab my coffee, and complete my coffee task entirely. My veins felt like they were part coffee at this stage; three coffees a day for the last 11 days was also something I had never done before.

Returning to my van, I realised that I had not only completed my GAA goal and my coffee task but I had also crossed over 1 km and with that, fully completed my 1 km in every county goal. In fact, I had exceeded my goal. My end result would be just under 50 km in total.

Arriving at my shooting spot, the evening was playing ball. Gaps in the clouds allowed fleeting light to dance across the landscape. I sent my drone up for an aerial look and positioned it with a commanding view of the incredible structure on the hillside, and just left it there. It would record video of the clouds as they moved across the landscape, and I would be able to speed up that footage later as a time-lapse if the light danced the way I hoped.

Back on the ground, it was time for me to get my final shot. I put on my 70-200 lens, framed my shot, and waited. I was waiting for the light to hit the structure and make it pop. Dark clouds were behind the subject, and when the light hit it, it popped. I hit the shutter, gave myself a high-five, took a big sigh of relief, and enjoyed the moment for what it was. I had completed all of my goals and more. It was time for home, it was time to see my wife and kids, and it was time to reflect on what had been an incredible journey.

Of course, I wasn't done there. I now had the task of editing, editing, and even more editing of all of the videos to get them released each day. I may at some stage document all the work that was involved in this project, but for now, just know that it was huge.

The project was now going to be in everybody else's hands. Once my side of the work was done, it was time for others to make it as successful as possible and raise some funds for the charity that I was doing this for. After all.