Chasing the Light

A moment in Donegal County, Republic of Ireland

The car is stuffed with gear and the four photographers. We are racing down these narrow roads in the very far west of the Irish coastline in the county of Donegal. A right turn here, a left there and suddenly we are on a narrow road — more track than road — and then it ends.

We tumble out of the car, grab our gear and down to the gate. There is a turning stile. The entryway is too narrow to get through with our backpacks on so we have to take them off or climb the gate. It’s a moment of physical comedy as we try to squeeze through the gap until we figure this out.

Down the gravel lane to it’s end and another gate. It’s locked so we climb the style over the barbed wire fence.

Into the field—we are on a mission—we quicken our pace. There are a group of young bulls, a couple of cows, three burros and two small black ponies. They glance at us and then casually go back to their grazing. If we walk quickly, don’t look them straight in the eye, perhaps the bulls will ignore us. One of the group relates a story of getting chased by a cow in a field near here. We walk faster. We joke about keeping our eyes down. And scan the area for where we can run in the off-chance that the bulls decide to chase us.

We head up the hill trying to avoid the land mines the cows have left us and not twist an ankle as we hurry across the uneven terrain. We glance at the sky, the sun is making it’s way down. We have about an hour until sunset so there is still plenty of time to find the shot.

We reach the crest of the rise and as we climb over the hill, the wind hits us. The field grass changes to large clumps of sea grass, making great green waves as the wind blows across the hill. The sun highlights the edges of the grass and I am struck by how beautiful it is, even more so than the waves on the rocks below us.

At the bottom of the hill, we are greeted by great swaths of rocks and the crashing surf. The sun is starting to get that beautiful golden late afternoon glow.

We look at each other and smile, we have made it.