2015 / Fine Art / Landscape

The Mystical Isle

  • Photographer
    Ron Smid

A series of photographs resulting in three separate visits between 2012 and 2014 and over 7000 kilometers of travel across Ireland. All the images were captured on large format 8 x 10 inch black & white film using a 1974 Deardorff or a pinhole camera. Working in monochrome allowed me to see beyond the endless green photographic clichés to experience something deeper and more meaningful in a land blessed with incredible natural wonders steeped in centuries of cultural history. I was searching for primordial imagery that would not only take us back to the very beginning, but also transport us into the timelessness far beyond the confines of our human perception. Everywhere I traveled there were marks of our civilization: contrails in the sky and plastic debris washed up along the shores. It was my humble intention to create work only inspired by the pure essence of this incredible land. After five days of scouting, I was fortunate to come across my first image at The Bloody Foreland. I was waist deep in the Atlantic surf and precariously holding my camera and tripod from washing into the sea. I managed to open the shutter for one minute of exposure resulting in an image reminiscent of a shoreline of dinosaur eggs. On the opposite coast, I positioned my pinhole camera in front of the eye of the universe, ancient wisdom discovered in an old oak tree surrounded by young saplings. As the photographic journey continued, I succumbed to nature's way. I let go of control and preconceived thought, and allowed light to embrace the subject as natures canvas intended.