Photographic Art
Fine Art Photography, Studies and Experiments
"Here Comes The Green" Autumn 2025
In the early summer of 2025 I found myself waiting for a delayed train at Connoly station to return home to Leitrim. I noticed a long gutter drain pipe inside the station surrounded in a plume of greenery. Weeds growing up towards the skylights above, being fed by the old leaky pipe.
I instantly had to photograph it. This pipe led me down an interesting path. To search for more unwanted greenery around the city. Especially in cities, we manicure and plan green spaces around living and commercial properties. It’s always an afterthought.
There is a constant battle between keeping nature away and allowing only a curated intended narrow space. Anything else is a weed and a pest. Yet nature persists. A constant reminder that at the end of it all nature will prevail.
The green will take over and our cities will eventually change and maybe even crumble. I spent the summer and early autumn finding spaces in and around Dublin where greenery had taken off or sprung up in surprising places.
This was an interesting challenge. After several rolls of film and many shots in digital as my search went on, I looked through the many images I noticed a trend. The images with people were infinitely more captivating. People living and passing through these spaces as the green finds its own place around them made the whole subject much more interesting.
So this changed my motive again. I found myself shooting many of the subjects in a portrait orientation. I normally default to a landscape position as my natural first approach but many of the subjects were wrapped around buildings and required a change of perspective to be captured.
"Battle of the Brambles" April 2025
This short piece documented the bloody battle of a local as he cut down storm damaged trees. He ended up in a fight against nature. A subject I continually find fascinating. How humans work against nature and yet it provides us with everything.
“Streets of Dublin a Hard Light Study” March 2025
Exploring the streets of Dublin I discovered lots of spaces with high contrast in direct sunlight and dark shade. The form and texture of these places became fascinating. People stepping in and out of shadow and light.
“Night Cinematic Study” November 2024
This series focuses on creating cinematic feeling photography under artificial lights in Dublin and Cork cities. I wanted to explore the combination of cinematography with traditional photography. The sort of scapes we normally see in films captured in a single image.
I searched for interesting scenes and light sources. Using a high speed 35mm film.
I was interested in the colours and shadows that are a constant in city night life.
With a very clear motivation behind my approach I discovered I was seeking different and interesting spaces, alleyways and loading docks and back streets. These places are seldom visited by the general public, frequented by lost souls searching for somewhere to wait or take a break from others.
