Minard,

Minard beach on the Dingle Peninsula in Kerry is a stunningly beautiful and peaceful place, rarely busy, and always pristine. In terms of a place for photography there are plenty of different angles to explore. I’ve been many times as we take family holidays close by and it’s our beach of choice while we’re there.  I’m still waiting for really great light or moody conditions, but being confined to visits during a 1 week summer holiday makes opportunities fairly limited. I think its best shot at dawn with light catching the castle but I’m yet to get out of the bed for that. Evening light will catch the castle as well but well before sunset as it will disappear behind the Slieve Mish mountain range (see image below) .

In my opinion its best shot at close to high tide as you can use the water just reaching the boulders one the fringe of the beach.  The Iveragh peninsula is also visible across the water and can be beautiful backdrop.

Trying to find something a bit more original can be difficult, but I would suggest walking around behind the castle and even up the hill behind the castle to get a higher view point can be nice (see image above), but it can be diffficult to isolate the castle from the headland in the distance.  

The other small piece of location information is make sure you visit the pier behind the castle, not extraordinarily picturesque but it’s a lovely place for a stroll. There is also a small beach behind the outcrop of rocks on the east side of the beach that comes and goes over the years as sand shifts , usually just seaweed covered boulders but on one occasion the sand had shifted and created a sandy beach which I hadn’t seen in 20 years.