Welcome to Northern Ireland, a beautiful countryside where winds cross in motion with waves. We’ll travel to the Antrim country visiting amazing places like Giant’s Causeway, Dunluce castle, Dark Hedges. Are you enchanted already by these names? You’ll like the northern beauty of Green Country, which nature and historic sites were filmed in “Game of Thrones” series. We focus on seascape and landscape shooting during this tour.
- Visit Giant’s Causeway
- Mussenden temple
- Step on the road of Dark Hedges
- Experience shooting at Fanad Head lightouse
- Walk on the shores of Ballintoy and Ballycastle
- Shooting at Dunluce castle
- Irish whisky tasting for better colors in your photos
Our timetable (see below) isn’t carved in stone; it will heavily depend on the actual weather. But the baseline itinerary will look like this:
Day 1, 9 October: meet the giants
We fly to Londonderry airport (LDY) and meet each other at 16:00 at the airport. We are driving directly to our hotel (the drive will take only 1 hour). In the evening, we walk to the most famous spot in Northern Ireland – Giant’s Causeway. The Giant’s Causeway is an UNESCO world heritage area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), from the Fenian Cycle of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet.
Day 2: Dark times
Early in the morning, when dark veil of the night lays over rolling evergreen hills and deep forests of Ireland, we step at the Dark Hedges. This tunnel-like avenue of intertwined beech trees was planted by the Stuart family in the eighteenth century. It was intended as a compelling landscape feature to impress visitors as they approached the entrance to their Georgian mansion, Gracehill House. Two centuries later, the trees remain a magnificent sight and have become one of the most popular natural phenomena in Northern Ireland. In fact, the iconic trees have been used as a filming location in HBO’s epic series Game of Thrones, representing the King’s Road.
In the evening we visit the magnificent Dunluce castle, located on a steep cliff at the seashore.
Day 3: bays of Ireland
In the morning we visit Murlough bay, a beautiful bay near Ballycastle. It is known for its outstanding beauty and remote location. In the daytime we can visit the beach of Ballycastle, Kinbane castle and Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge. We can have amazing stroll on the shoreline possibly making some long exposure shots.
In the evening we can shoot at Ballycastle or make another try on Giant’s Causeway depending on the weather conditions.
Day 4: the path to the light
We meet first rays of the sun at Mussenden Temple. The Temple is located in the beautiful surroundings of Downhill Demesne near Castlerock in County Londonderry. It perches dramatically on a 120 ft cliff top, high above the Atlantic Ocean on the north-western coast of Northern Ireland, offering spectacular views westwards over Downhill Strand towards Magilligan Point and County Donegal and to the east Castlerock beach towards Portstewart, Portrush and Fair Head.
After checking out from our hotel we drive towards Downings, and check in to our hotel. On the way to our hotel we can shoot at Stroove lighthouse and amazing shore.
In the evening we drive to Fanad head lighthouse. This is one of the most stunning lighthouses with perfect angles for photography.
Day 5: Farewell, Ireland!
In the morning, we drive to Fanad head again to capture sunrise, and later after check-out driving towards LDY airport.
Pricing:
Total price: 2700 USD per person twin share
Single supplement: 300 USD
Maximum Number of Participants: 12
Difficulty: easy
Included in the price:
- Double-room lodging with breakfast. If you prefer not to share your room, single-room lodging is possible for €NNN extra.
- Ground transportation including airport transfer from Londonderry airport (LDY), car rentals and fuel costs
Not included in the price:
– Lunches and dinners
– Airfare to and from LDY airport
– Visas (if applicable)
– Single supplement
What to bring
Gear:
– DSLR camera with tripod and remote shutter release
– A wide angle lens. For example, Nikkor 14-24 or Canon 17-40. Best lens for use in wide-angle scenes or architecture photography
– A middle-zoom lens such as a 24-70 mm
– A telephoto zoom lens, such as a 70-200 mm.
Wear:
– Waterproof and windproof jacket (consider the average temperature +5 – +10 C at nights and +10 C during the daytime)
– Waterproof pants
– Warm jacket and thermal pants
– Wellingtons or fishing boots
– Casual clothes for dinners and lunches and photography workshops
Tour leaders
Daniel Kordan
Daniel was born in Moscow area. In his childhood he graduated the art school. After that, he is studied in Moscow institute of Physics and Technology and became an optics physicist. During the study he gain experience not only in physics, but also in mountain climbing and hiking, guiding tourist groups in winter and in summer in Russian mountains. Right after graduation he became a guide of photo-workshops and chief editor of “Continent expedition” magazine. This magazine is about travel and adventures all over the world. He has got several awards in photography: Golden Turtle’ 13 Nature nomination winner, National Geographic Russia contest 2013 and 2014 finalist, Best of Russia’13 and ’14 winner, best photographer’13 finalist and others. He is spending most of his time in Norway, Lofoten islands and in Tuscany at villa Gaia, guiding groups of photographers.
Iurie Belegurschi
Iurie Belegurschi is a landscape photographer based in Iceland, where he runs photo tours and workshops. He was born in Moldova and has been living in Iceland since 2006. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Tourism and Hospitality. His photos have been published worldwide in books, calendars, greeting cards, magazines and some of the most popular newspapers like The Daily Mail, The Independent, The Sun, The Huffington Post, and The Telegraph.
