A well attended meeting on Monday, 25th of March provided a welcoming audience to Guest Speaker Daragh Muldowney (his website is Dulra Photography). Dulra, as Daragh introduced, is the Irish word for the elements of nature like wind, water and fire – ‘I believe in natures healing power. My aim, through my photography is to bring you closer to nature and for you to feel a sense of peace and calm while viewing my images.’
Daragh took us on a virtual tour around the coastal counties of Ireland, stopping off at many a rock pool along the way. We were treated to an up-close look at the hidden gems contained in these pools that normally we wouldn’t pause to see. From Unidentified Yellow Objects to Picasso’s Eyes, the teeming life forms in these pools became a micro world that Daragh explored and shares. Daragh has published this image collection and you can find details of his book here: Jewellery Box, Irelands Hidden Gems.
Daragh’s camper van (aka Wanda) has travelled far and wide and has even made it to Iceland and back – a mobile home for photography expeditions often lasting many weeks at a time. For his Sahara shots, Daragh favoured travel by camel – the things people do for their art. Next up for Daragh is his expedition to Greenland on June 15th for 10 weeks with a team of sailors, rock climbers and kayakers. Daragh will photograph the beauty of ice with a view to hosting an exhibition and publishing a book on his return. The website for this expedition is here.
An aspect which strongly resonated with Club members in the digital generation was Daragh’s use of film and traditional processing. Arriving back from a 6 week expedition with a bag full of unprocessed film rolls and probably a heart full of nervous anticipation is an experience that most of us with our memory cards, histograms and live view capture can’t fully share. Our thanks to Daragh for taking the time to talk to the Club and we also appreciate the clarification that Limerick is an estuary county rather than a coastal county …