Almost a year ago today, James Crombie took a photograph that would take flight around the world.
The spectacular image of a bird-shaped murmuration of starlings at Lough Ennell, Co Westmeath, went viral and was featured by numerous international news outlets.
While you may have seen Crombie's photograph, you may not know just how much effort went into capturing it, or how much time the photographer continues to devote to "chasing" the murmurations around the lake.
Crombie, who was named press photographer of the year last month at the Press Photographers Association of Ireland awards, has visited the lake several times a week over the winter months, with his friend Colin Hogg.
"I think it's a bit of madness at this stage," Crombie said. "I've probably been here around 100 nights over the past two winters. But I've probably only got about seven images I like, so the hit rate isn't very good.
"But every night I come out, I say I'd love to this happen or I'll try a different technique. Sometimes you see nothing. Sometimes it's brilliant.
"The time we took the picture that went around the world, I didn't plan that, it just happened. I suppose that's the joy in this."
Indeed, Crombie and Hogg's fascination with the starlings' aerial displays around Loch Ennell hasn't just been about taking photographs.
"It's actually just about getting out, getting some air and away from the laptop. We can bounce ideas off each other and it definitely becomes a kind of tag-team effort," explained Crombie, who works for the INPHO photo agency.
The pair's evening treks across muddy fields to windswept vantage points have had an even more profound effect on Hogg, who is a geophysics field technician at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
He said: "My wife and I had lost our baby boy, Daniel, after he was born. And for me, I will admit, this was to some degree a level of therapy. To deal with the bereavement and also to just get through a difficult time."
It is believed murmurations of starlings form for several reasons.
Flocking together offers safety in numbers – predators such as peregrine falcons find it hard to target one bird in the middle of a hypnotising flock of thousands.
Birds also gather to keep warm at night and to exchange information, such as good feeding areas.
The peak season for murmurations may already have passed, but perhaps that's just as well for the "chasers" at Lough Ennell.
Hogg's baby daughter, Hannah, was born last month.
He said: "Nature and life comes and goes in circles. Hannah's arrival has brought an end to my murmuration chasing this year.
"But hopefully I will be able to bring her with me in years to come, to show her the landscapes of Westmeath and a murmuration up close."
