Capturing our innate beauty

FASHION photographer Mike Bunn, one of the judges in the recent Hidden Ireland photography competition, said of the winning entry: “It really stood out, it was just very good technically”.

That entry, from Cork amateur photographer Mick Ring, is a shot of Shandon’s steeple at night and, according to Bunn, was a clear winner out of over 200 entries.

The inaugural Hidden Ireland competition was run in conjunction with www.hiddenireland.com which offers visitors a chance to stay in some of Ireland’s great houses, in a bid to keep them alive, and vibrant, at a very challenging time in their history. Entrants posted their own favourite pictures depicting a sense of ‘hidden’ Ireland on the site’s dedicated Facebook page.

Renowned photographer Mike Bunn was delighted to be asked to cast his critical and professional eye over the entries. “I loved the 3D effect of this picture,” he said of Mick Ring’s study of Cork’s most famous landmark. “It’s really very well taken.”

And he picked out three runners-up for their technical achievements and aesthetic sensitivity, too: Joy O’Driscoll’s wonderful picture of hay bales near Kinsale which Mike noted looked like ‘giant marshmallows’, Terry Conner’s magical study of the Famine memorial at Doo Lough in Co Mayo and the Christmas Day photograph of Tivoli docks in Cork by Anne Browne.

He had special mention for Jan Ploeg’s ‘Clare wave’ picture that revealed ‘gold treasure’ under the surface of the shimmering water.

“Given the short lead-in time for the competition (which was launched in September), I was amazed at the enthusiasm of the entrants,” said Mike. “There were, of course, a lot of predictable pictures, but these same ones kept coming up again and again when we reviewed the entries.”

Overall winner Mick Ring will now receive a three-night stay in any one of Hidden Ireland’s 33 glorious houses and the three runners up will get a one-night stay.

Mike admitted that he wasn’t surprised that landscapes comprised the majority of pictures, and all the winning entries. The Irish landscape has contributed to our rich patchwork of personality, too. “There is nowhere else in the entire world where you have such mood swings in the weather — or the people. I have worked in 75 different places in the world, but in other countries the greenness is from the top down, from the trees, the leaves — in Ireland, it’s from the ground up, and we have ever-changing skies. This is why we have our own mood swings, and every type of personality here.”

Mike, who first came to prominence in the ‘80s, is still at the top of his game in Ireland, having recently been named Off the Rails’ Fashion Photographer of the Year for the second time.

He relocated to Co Leitrim in 2002 to be closer to the landscapes of his beloved north west, and now he is planning to establish an Irish academy of photography. There is currently no Irish academy for students interested in creative, rather than corporate, photography, and he feels it’s long overdue.

“Unlike with painters, sculptors and writers, we are not getting fixed on the creative side of photography,” says the man who is a bit suspicious of the huge influence of the digital camera. “I would like the academy to revere, protect and continue the lineage of creative Irish photography into the future and to try and find a home for it.”

He envisages an academy which would have its headquarters in one location, not necessarily in the capital, and with several branches around the country. “I would like Culture Ireland and the Arts Council to take us seriously and for the resulting work to be exhibited in places other than art galleries.”

While the RHA (Royal Hibernian Academy) provides an outlet for painters to exhibit, Mike believes photographers are not treated seriously by it, and there is a ‘snobby’ attitude to the genre.

“There are people at the RHA who don’t understand enough about photography and it is added onto their coat-tails every now and again. But once you get people interested in this (academy), you will find a lot of voluntary people wanting to get involved, and hopefully sponsorship and patrons will come on board and maybe even a good landlord who has space they want to put to good use.”

But he says anyone wanting to truly study the art will need to acknowledge the roots of it. “They would need a fairly good knowledge of classical photography, and know they cannot just pick up a digital camera and start from there.”

Although having earned his reputation with such corporate clients as the Irish Tourist Board, Guinness, Shell, Smirnoff and Waterford Crystal, and having helped the careers of designers like John Rocha, Lainey Keogh, Michael Mortell and Louise Kennedy, Mike’s academy project is an example of his wish to share his 25-plus years of knowledge with others.

He is holding a seminar, which includes a morning slide show of work from his award-winning career, in Castle Durrow on January 20. He wants it to be interactive, and for the participants to fully engage with him, offering opinions and observations on the craft.

The afternoon session will be a ‘light-hearted and practical’ demonstration to show people the importance of ‘selling the dream’ in corporate photography.

On this subject, he has harsh words for the current direction being adopted by Failte Ireland.

“You have to let people see the dream. If you book a holiday in Greece, it’s not because of the nice hotels. If you are going to Sligo, it’s the same — you want the surf, the beaches, the landscape. Failte Ireland are failing dismally and it’s money down the drain. You have to keep it simple!”

* www.mikebunnphotographer.com; www.hiddenireland.com

* The Art of Photography: An Interactive Seminar with Mike Bunn is in Castle Durrow, Co Laois, on Friday January 20. More details from organiser Andy Ring at 086-2413952