ECCG Visits the Giles Norman Gallery, Kinsale – 19/5/15

On Tuesday 19/5/15 a group of ECCG members fulfilled a long-held item on our bucket list when we visited Giles Norman, Ireland's foremost black and white photographer, at his gallery at 45 Main St, Kinsale, Co. Cork.

REPRO FREE Renowned photographer, Giles Norman, who hosted a reception and signing of his new book 'Ireland ?timeless images' at Hodges Figgis in Dawson Street. Picture. John Allen

Giles, himself, was on hand to show us around the gallery and we were eager to hear about his photography methods and workflow.

Having been heavily influenced by street photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau in his early years, he has adopted their style of 'travelling light' with just one handheld camera and one lens which is incredible when you scan his gallery and take in the wonderful images he has captured in this way.

He claims to be not concerned with the technicalities of photography so much as the composition of his images preferring instead to concentrate on what he sees through the view finder and capture the decisive moments as they happen.

Hanging in his gallery is this insightful passage:

Perfect Composition

"Every image we see, has its perfect composition and the closer we get to that the better the photograph. It's the difference between a bad photograph and a good one, a good photograph and a great one. It's the fundamental being of both landscape and street photography, the one thing you must learn, the one thing your camera can't do for you. My advice to any aspiring photographer is to concentrate on composition and let your camera do the rest. Most cameras have an automatic program mode, find it, use it, trust it. Don't look at your camera, look through it, because while you are looking at it, moving dials and changing buttons, the clouds have moved, the light on the sea has disappeared, the couple kissing are now talking, the photograph is less than it could have been, the image has lost it's perfect composition".

 - Giles Norman

Often times we are guilty of getting caught up in the 'gear' that goes with photography, mistakenly thinking that it is essential in getting THE shot. Not so and Giles is living proof of this fact.

giles norman group

Giles's first publication with Collins Press, a book entitled 'Ireland Timeless Images', was published to coincide with his 25th year in business and he is currently working on his next book, a collection of images of Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way.

Many thanks to Giles and his wife, Catherine, for hosting ECCG at the gallery.

Click here to visit Giles's websiteGiles on Facebook. Giles on Twitter.

 

FacebooktwitterFacebooktwitter
FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmailFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Kinsale town and Old Head Lighthouse Shoot – 22/3/15

Finbarr OShea - Kinsale-8

On the glorious Sunday afternoon that was on 22/3/15, ECCG members headed for Kinsale, mainly in the hope of a good sunset at the Old Head lighthouse. We spent some time around the town initially which, with it's narrow streets, interesting shopfronts and harbour area, always provides a variety of shots to the photographer.

For inspiration alone, a visit to the Giles Norman gallery was a must on the itinerary before we headed out to the Old Head to continue our lighthouse project. While the sunset let us down to an extent, there was some nice colour in the sky and some great images were created nevertheless.

Some facts about the Old Head of Kinsale Lighthouse
Light first established: 16/05/1814
Present light established: 01/10/1853
Fog signal established: 01/02/1893
New light and fog signal established: 17/12/1907
Converted to unwatched automatic: 01/04/1972
Converted to electric: 25/04/1972
Nominal range of the light: 20 Nautical Miles
Character of the light: two white flashes every 10 seconds
Height of the light: 72m above mean high water springs

Mouse over the image below to activate the slideshow controls and click here for some more images. Enjoy!

 

FacebooktwitterFacebooktwitter
FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmailFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail