Ireland, both the Republic and Northern Ireland, exudes authenticity: its landscape, alternately lush and stark; its prehistoric, ancient and Medieval sites; its small towns and villages; the rich geology of its breathtaking, rugged coastlines and interior wonders; its “haunted” ruins; its spectacular flora—and its reassuring lack of commercialism. You'll see the same scenes today that inspired early 19th Century plein air painters from all over Europe: the same towns with overgrown riverbanks, the ruins of castles, abbeys and churches, the cows and sheep in the fields, the narrow, winding roads flanked by stone walls  and covered with hanging wild flowering plants or bowering trees.

 

The weather is famously changing, making for interesting skies, with intermittent rain and sun during the course of a day.

 

Photographer Joel Simpson drove around the whole island, seeing both well-known sites and little-known ones, and making discoveries on his own that were not in the guidebooks. He flew his drone many times, coming home with aerial views and movies of ancient sites and spectacular coastlines.