Togs & Tales
Gavin Sheehan
Gavin Sheehan
Landscape Photographer
What was your path to becoming a Landscape Photographer & What was your first camera?
What was your favourite Landscape Adventure Story since becoming a Photographer?
We finished off our trip with 3 weeks in Australia visiting Emer’s brother and spending a week touring around Tasmania too before falling back to reality again in January 2020. I still can’t believe how lucky we were to do the trip right before the world shut down. I recently posted a highlight video from the trip available here if anyone would like to get a flavour of what we did. I’d recommend New Zealand to absolutely anyone who has an interest in the outdoors or photography. For me at least, it was the best experience I’ve ever had, photography or otherwise.
What was your worst in-the-field experience as a landscape Photographer?
Now to the other end of the spectrum! In 2018 Emer and I visited Athens for a few days. Things didn’t start well when we arrived and realised our Air BnB was in a really rough part of the city but we thought we’d be ok! The next morning, we had planned to get up and catch sunrise over the Acropolis from Filopappou Hill. We woke up around 5am and planned to get the subway from just outside our accommodation, only to be shooed away by swarms of policemen just as we went to walk down the stairs. I peeped over the wall to see what was up and was met with the sight of a body lying in a pool of blood. At that stage we should have called it quits and gone back to bed but we flagged a taxi who brought us to the base of the hill. Queue stage 2 of the nightmare. It was pitch dark and silent as we approached the top of the hill until suddenly we heard a huge dog barking and sprinting towards us with only its eyes visible with our lights. We both screamed and fell to the floor which thankfully scared him off just as it was within touching distance. To compound all of that, the sunrise was a no-show with thick grey clouds covering the sky for the entire morning. It being a Sunday, all of the restaurants were closed in the early morning so we eventually made our way back to the Air BnB hungry, scared and photo-less.
Sunrise or Sunset & Why?
Where is your favourite Location in Ireland to Photograph & Why?
What is your favourite photograph, that you’ve taken to date, & Why?
I think it has to be the shot I call Sunrise at the Giants Playground. It’s a sunrise shot from the summit of Mullaghmore in The Burren National Park. My friend, Alan Hartigan and I hiked up in the dark and even 75 minutes before sunrise the sky was glowing orange. The sun broke the horizon with a dark grey cloud overhead, batheing every one of the Burren’s grey limestone rocks in an intense red light for all of 30 seconds before it disappeared and the fun was over.
What equipment / Setup are you currently using?
I recently moved to full frame and now shoot with a Sony A7R3 as well as a Sony A6400. I have a Tamron 70-300 f4.5-6.3, Tamron 17-28 f2.8, Samyang 12mm f2 and Sony 18-105 f4 as my lenses. I do a lot of timelapses too with a Syrp Genie Mini and recently sold my Rhino ROV Pro Slider (hoping to upgrade that soon too!).
- Sony A7R3
- Sony A6400
- Tamron 70-300 f4.5-6.3
- Tamron 17-28 f2.8
- Samyang 12mm f2
- Sony 18-105 f4
Top Tip for anyone starting out?
Best Advise you’ve personally been given?
Who is your favourite Irish photographer at the moment ?
George Karbus is probably one of the few photographers whose photos stop me in my tracks every time. His stuff has such a distinctive look that I’ve found nowhere else. And the fact that the majority of his shots are from Clare also tips it in his favour!
