I really enjoyed shooting this exhibition.  It was like art therapy for me. Don’t get me wrong, I am primarily a people photographer and will always remain so. But there is a real psychological element to portraiture and you have to work at making that connection to really get the shots. Therefore, I am much more mentally exhausted after shooting people (with my camera!). In contrast, photographing art is a quiet and solitary process of moving around the works, watching the light and finding the best angle, all in your own sweet time. No rushing, no worrying that your subject might be getting bored, just enjoying the textures, the colours, the shapes and form and all the wealth of creative talent in one room. It does help if you have an interest in art and design.  At one stage in art college I quite fancied that I would become a potter – and no, it has nothing to do with Patrick Swayze in ghost! I just  really liked the simplicity of working with clay, creating something wonderful from a lump of nothing. In fact, during my pregnancy with Niamh, I had cravings to make clay pots, lots and lots of pots. This was quickly followed by a another strange craving – pavlova making. I haven’t made a pot or a pavlova since!

Anyway, if you haven’t already visited the exhibition in the FE McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge, do so soon as it will be ending in February. I’ve included a small selection of the artwork here in this post. Also check out the logos and branding for exhibition. My very brother Michael is designer also and I think he did an amazing job!

Textiles by Jane Allen www.unfolddesigns.com

Elegantly deviant by  Jill Phillips  www.jill-phillips.com

Table designed by Ben Gabriel

Glassworks by the very skillful Catherine Keenan

You really have to see these works in the flesh to appreciate their beauty. Rachel Hutchinson www.rachelhutchinson.com

Michael McCrory silverware. Love that the surfaces are inspired by the ‘prickly pear’. So organic. www.michaelmccrory.com

I have to say when I read about this piece I appreciated it more for its sense of place and environment. The work is inspired by ‘Mermaid’s purse’ (the egg case of the small-spotted shark catshark) often found washed up on Irish beaches. It is a wonderful piece and I immediately wanted to photograph it. It just lends itself so well to a wide open lens!

I think this is one of Diane McCormick’s pieces. I can’t remember now for sure but it looks like her work.

Michelle O’Donnell work, influenced by nature, land and sea.

This is just a taste some of the craftspeople involved in the exhibition, most of them Irish-based. There are also works by Alison Kay, Ann McNulty, Peter Meanley, Ursula Tramski, Michael Moore, Beverly Walker, Eleanor Wheeler, Kate Wickham, Derek Wilson, David Withers, Andrea Spencer, Aisling Cook, Karl Harron, Alison Lowry, Sharon Lindsay Ferguson, Suzanne Harbinson, Rachel O’Neill and many more.