Clogher Strand

The horseshoe-shaped bay with its golden sandy beach nestled amongst green hills is a classic Irish scene that visitors can admire on a loop of the Slea Head Drive in the far west of the Dingle Peninsula. Up close, too, the beach cuts a fine figure. It feels as though the land is spreading its arms around it to shield it from the outside world. Beyond the mouth of the bay, the Atlantic spreads out, yet the view of the open sea is blocked by a giant. A sleeping one, who has made himself comfortable out in the water. The giant in question is the island of Inishtooskert, whose outline resembles that of a bearded man lying on his back with his arms folded across his chest. It hardly takes any imagination to recognise him. Whenever I’m out and about in this part of the world, I’m delighted to see him and glad that he hasn’t got up and walked off. Something would be missing.

I prefer to visit beaches at low tide or as the tide begins to come in. The reason is quite simple: that’s when a beach seems at its largest, because the sand isn’t covered by water. Individual rocks also stand exposed and can be used as subjects in their own right. If I don’t know a beach yet, I first explore it from a distance, walking along its outer edge. That way, I avoid having my own footprints in the shot later on, simply because I’ve scurried about in zigzags across the sand while looking around.

Clogher Strand is an old acquaintance of mine, and here I’m usually drawn straight to the left side of the bay. The beach meets small cliffs there, and next to them lie stones that are just perfect for the foreground of a photograph. Then there’s a stream that flows into the sea, and it’s always fascinating to watch how the water finds its way. It carves out a narrow bed through the fine sand, which the next tide smooths over again, and then the whole spectacle begins anew. No two visits are ever the same. My shot of this fleeting stream bed can also be seen in my new Ireland calendar 2027.

Incidentally, you only see half of the giant in the calendar image. He doesn’t seem to care what’s happening on the mainland. In all these years, he hasn’t blinked once.