Mick Mackey: A scientist's career on ice

SCIENCE and art don’t always make the easiest bedfellows. However, when photographer Mick Mackey travelled to the sub-Antarctic island of Bird Island for a 30-month stint as a field biologist he was able to utilise his eye for detail to capture images that are not only technically proficient, but also vibrant, occasionally quirky and highly evocative.

Mick Mackey: A scientist's career on ice

Over 80 of these photographs can be seen at the ‘Shots from a Dark Light’ exhibition, which runs at Cork Vision Centre until Dec 13.

Mackey’s trip was not for the fainthearted. In winter, temperatures drop to -10C, and the small team of biologists are completely isolated from the outside world for long periods. However, this is one of the most biologically dense areas on earth; it is estimated that there is a bird or seal for every 1.5m² of the 400 hectare island.

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