While in Ireland, we had the opportunity to photograph five shipwrecks and we saw even more. The most memorable one was the Sabrina. Sabrina was the most memorable because she was red and pretty much intact. We walked away very satisfied with our photographs, but it was quite an effort to reach her. Here’s what happened.

Our story begins months ago as I did research on photo locations in Ireland. Part of that research is looking at Flickr, PhotoPills, Location Scout, and various books. There were several shipwrecks on the punch list, but this one was high priority. So, on a transition day from Annagry to Portrush, we made a detour to Mulroy Bay near Milford. We had a pretty good idea where Sabrina was because we could see her on Google Maps and we had a pretty good description of how to find her. But is was not good enough.

Sabrina was hidden behind the Fairytales Daycare Center off of R246, 2 kilometers north of Milford which is about an hour northwest from Londonderry, UK (Northern Ireland). We drove back and forth a couple of times looking for a way to the bay. We parked in the obvious pullout, but could not see anything. Just south of the pullout was a huge abandoned derelict factory building with trash and old mattresses strewn about. There was a Danger sign, but no signs that said Keep Out or No Trespassing. We followed the trash trail towards the bay.

The beach looked pretty seedy covered in broken bottles and two inches of thick seaweed and kelp. We happened upon one shipwreck which was ugly and definitely no Sabrina. Then we saw her beached behind it.

As we made our way toward her, we could see all the photograph possibilities. We probably spent well over an hour shooting her from various angles – portrait, landscape, from the left, from the right, wide angle, close-up, monochrome, color. When you have a subject this good, you shoot everything.

It’s funny. As we left the beach entirely satisfied with our photos and the experience, the beach did not look as ugly or dangerous. The bleak abandoned factory kind of looked interesting. The path down to Sabrina now seemed so obvious in retrospect. Sometimes our photos are full of epic adventures involving the most unseemly circumstances that sane people wouldn’t even consider subjecting themselves to, but all the observer sees is a pretty red shipwreck.

To see more of our photos, including albums from Ireland and Scotland, and to buy our photographs, please go to www.pamphotography.com and check out more of our photos on FLICKR.