Capturing the magic of the west

Two photography books take different approaches to a similar subject, writes Carl Dixon

IT MIGHT be supposed that professional photographers would struggle to stand out above the crowd, given that our modern world is so saturated with digital images.

However, desktop photography books are still released each year and are bought by a large audience who appreciate the mood and atmosphere that can be conveyed by carefully thought out professional images. Two such books which have released recently are Ireland’s Atlantic Shoreline. People and Places from Mizen to Malin by Valerie O’Sullivan and Gathering Light On the Dingle Coast by John Hooton. Both have taken very different approaches to what is very similar subject matter.

O’Sullivan has mixed her images with large tracts of text and portraits of individuals to convey not only the rugged beauty of the Western seaboard, but also to show an active community immersed in its daily life. It is a world which is dominated by the moods and rhythms of the Atlantic. Fishing boats, lighthouses, dolphins and rugged cliffs are among the images. The result is a busy, vibrant book which seeks to capture the elusive mixture of the traditional and the modern, the native and the introduced, which is now so characteristic of the coastline.

Thus a portrait of Páraic Póil gives a sense of the timelessness of life on Aran, and Johnaí Dubh gives an insight into traditional methods of harvesting seaweed. In contrast, an image of Dutch artist Andy ten Broek blowing a 50ft foot self-constructed, traditional rijnhoorn on the edge of Valentia Island, is a reminder of the magnetic attraction the west coast holds for those seeking an alternative lifestyle.

The many photographs of surfers, body boarders and kayakers suggest we have finally woken up to the huge recreational possibilities of the Atlantic, while shots of the lrish Coast Guard provide a graphic reminder that the sea is not always benign.

Iconic images of pilgrims on Croagh Patrick, the lighthouse on Fastnet, stone walls on Aran and aerial shots of the Skelligs are all present; however, familiarity does not necessarily diminish their power, and the book has a strong, intrinsic energy and animation which keeps the reader moving briskly along.

Hooten’s approach is quite different. He has focused a smaller geographical area that he knows intimately, and there are no people in his images. Text is minimal. This is a book of moods and tones, which seeks to find the beauty in the greater landscape, but also in small intimate patterns and minute detail.

The book is divided into a number of distinct sections. ‘Dark and Moody’ captures stormy sunsets and clouds of rain drifting in waves across the landscape, often contrasted with boulders emerging from the sands on empty beaches. ‘Soft and Gentle’ has a dreamlike quality, with muted colours and landscapes draped in mist.

‘Art among the Stones’ focuses in on the patterns formed by iron minerals seeping through stone and the intricate distribution of barnacles and limpets on dark rock. ‘In Another Canvas’ he presents the peeling paints on wooden boats, or rusted bolts contrasting against knotted wood.

‘Wild Flowers in the Landscape’ is splashed with the vibrant red of fuchsia, the orange of montbretia and tufts of sea pink against a backdrop of blue sea. Overall this is a book that combines considerable technical skill, and a subtle eye for form and tone. It will re-inspire even the most jaded amateur photographer to seek less conventional ways of portraying the Irish landscape.

*Ireland’s Atlantic Shoreline: People and Places from Mizen to Malin by Valerie O’Sullivan is published by Collins Press (Hardback €19.99)

Gathering Light On the Dingle Coast by John Hooton is published by www.john-hooton.com (Hardback €29.95).