N W E S Iveragh Peninsula Kenmare Foreword by Neil Jordan Inchiquin Drombohily The tourist buses tend to turn right at Glengarriff and head on towards Kilmackillogue Garanes Kenmare. So the Beara Peninsula is often left unvisited, except by cyclists, hikers, druids, painters, poets, Dutch and German sean-nos singers, Glengarriff Tibetan Buddhists, reiki healers, shamans and the locals themselves. Beara Peninsula Poleen Wood There are none of these evident in Norman McCloskey’s photographs. Ardgroom Rabhach’s Glen Glanmore Lake No people at all, in fact. There is one single sheep. Maybe the odd wandering farmer, shaman or reiki healer would have spoiled the breath- Derryclancy taking compositions and the stark natural beauty he finds there. Or Eyeries Glenbeg Lake maybe it’s better to allow the landscape speak for itself. It tends to grow Adrigole wilder the further south one travels, and I do notice the arrangement of his photographs seems to do the reverse. It begins in the Atlantic soaked Caherkeen Allihies, and moves backwards, towards the quiet forests around Poleen Wood. Reentrusk It is a very particular, almost Nordic landscape. Stark black fissures of rock Allihies erupt out of fields of brown and maroon heather. Small outcrops of an island Bere Island and ageing hulls of boats emerge out of the mists. Waterfalls trickle or Sheeps Head cascade from the mountainous cliffs, depending on the rains. And there Peninsula are a lot of them. Cahermore Dursey Island Rain, of course, rarely makes for a good picture. It, as well as the landscape, is an enduring feature of the Beara Peninsula. But what Norman McCloskey captures forever is that moment when the rain has stopped, and the familiar beauty emerges from the cloud. You had almost forgotten it was there. Atlantic Ocean Introduction by Norman McCloskey This is the place where it all began for me. A place that captivated me from or even just a fine dry day. You don’t rush, and never have to look too hard. my very first visit, and one which kept me coming back again and again It’s an instant hit as soon as you turn on to the winding R571 that forms until it was so ingrained in me that I found it hard not to end up here. a ring road around the entire peninsula. Rugged mountains, with their The landscape of the Beara Peninsula has been a source of endless distinct folds and jagged lines, greet you instantly. The initial tree-lined inspiration from the very first time I put film into a camera and headed out roads through a thin strip of farmland give way to open expanses of bog and into the landscape. A rugged and wild finger of south-west Ireland jutting rock that stretch out to the sea. I have the same sense of anticipation and out into the Atlantic Ocean, its spine of majestic and beguiling mountains excitement every time I drive out on this road, while at the same time letting have provided me with a never-ending list of beautiful locations to work in, a familiar feeling of contentment, peace, and connection wash over me. which seem to change every time I visit. For over two years I made the short journey from my home to create images It is truly a special place and somewhere that I have had a real deep-rooted for this book. Mostly early in the morning, setting off in the dark to be there connection to for over half my life, and so deciding to make this book was and present for that magical early morning light high up in the mountains both an exciting and daunting task. I have set out to photograph both new or to witness the beginning of a new day reflected on lakeshores or over and familiar locations, exploring the peninsula in greater detail while also the sea. Always working on my own, I have spent countless hours in this exploring my own relationship with landscape photography. incredible place, fully immersing myself in its beauty and in the time and space, it gifts to me. I discovered a place that I feel instantly at home in, no matter where I am or what the conditions. I have many years worth of memories of both working I have not set out to make a definitive collection of images that represent here and enjoying incredible days and nights out, all enhanced by stories every aspect of the Beara. Instead, this is my own personal take on a about people, places and history. I know this place, and I know how much it landscape that has inspired me and has, in fact, changed my life in more means to me. ways than I had ever realised. I live on the peninsula opposite, and from my home, we look across at the mountains and light, and clouds passing over it. My first sight in the morning and last at night is towards the distinct outline of Knockatee and the Caha Mountains. As a landscape photographer, these mountains act as a constant lure, and it doesn’t take much to have me packing gear and heading across to them. A tantalising clear sky at night, a forecast for a still or misty morning, A call to quiet Twenty-six years ago I took my first landscape photographs on the Beara. I didn’t fully appreciate it then, but the place I had made my home was providing me with the antidote to an upbringing that was full of drama, chaos, hurt and noise. Nothing has been so effective in tuning out that racket, than immersing myself in a landscape that I find so captivating. These images represent my deep connection with Beara that has given me real contentment, purpose, healing, and peace. Norman McCloskey Reentrisk 1 Lackabane Ardgroom 2 3 Allihies Wave 4 5 Uragh Stone Circle Baurearagh Mountain light 6 7 Derryclancy Bere Island 8 9 Allihies Walls 10 11 Bere Island West Bere Island / Hungry Hill 12 13 Crostera 14 15 Caherkeen Wall Rabhach’s Glen 16 17 Ballydonegan Beach Caherkeen 18 19 Knockatee Lough Fada 20 21 Beara Mountains 22 23 Bere Island Rock 1 Bere Island Rock 2 24 25 Shore Rock Allihies Wall II 26 27 Garranes, Lauragh Derryconnery 28 29 Coulagh, Eyeries Glenmore 30 31 Kilmackillogue Garranes 32 33 Lough Inchiquin Poleen Wood 34 35 37 Cloonee Lake (Previous) Eyeries (Above) Baurearagh 38 39 Glenbeg Lake 40 41 Baurearagh Sheep Dursey Island 42 43 Urhan Copper Mine 44 45 Kilcatherine Eyeries Coastguard Station 46 47 The Bull & The Cow Eyeries Village 48 49 Allihies Eyeries Storm 50 51 Healy Pass 52 53 Priest’s Leap Ardgroom Inward 54 55 Tooth Mountain 56 57 58 59 Poleen Wood Autumn (Previous) Coulagh Bay Winter (Above) Allihies Pier Light 60 61 Ballydonegan Beach Pulleen Harbour 62 63 Dinish Island Beara Blue, Kilcatherine 64 65 Glenarough, Garnish Allihies 66 67 Ballydonegan Beach Dinish Island 68 69 Keecragh Mountain Keecragh Mountain 70 71 Inchiquin (Previous) Eyeries (Above) Adrigole 74 75 Glengarriff Allihies 76 77 Lauragh Ardgroom 78 79 Allihies Bog Cotton, Ardgroom 80 81 Uragh 82 83 Glenbeg Lake Bunskellig 84 85 Crossterry 86 87 Cahermore Cahermore 88 89 Reentrusk Dursey Island 90 91 Glanmore Lake 92 93 Ardgroom Ardrigole 94 95 Drombohily Zetland 96 97 98 99 Derryclancy (Previous) Ardgroom (Above) Tuosist 100 101 Cleanderry Harbour Allihies Half Moon 102 103 I am the mountain. I am the sea. You can’t take that away from me. Biffy Clyro Trawler & Moon 104 105 P1. Reentrisk P2. Lackabane P3. Ardgroom P5. Allihies Wave P6. Uragh Stone Circle TSE P27. Allihies Wall P28. Garranes, Lauragh P29. Derryconnery P30. Coulagh, Eyeries P31. Glenmore 50mm TSE 1/50 sec 24mm TSE 1/320 sec EF 16-35, 27mm 1/500 TSE 24mm 1.0 sec f/16 24mm 1/100 sec f/10 ISO 24mm TSE 1/30 sec 24mm TSE 1/30 sec 24mm TSE 1/200 sec 24mm TSE 1/15 sec 24mm TSE 1/10 sec f/10 ISO 200 f/3.5 ISO 125 sec f/2.8 ISO 100 ISO 50 125sec f/10 ISO 200 f/11 ISO 100 f/11 ISO 100 f/3.5 ISO 100 f/10 ISO 100 f/16 ISO 100 P7. Baurearagh P8. Derryclancy P9. Bere Island P10 / P11. Allihies P32. Kilmackillogue P33. Garranes P34. Lough Inchiquin P35. Poleen Wood Mountain light 24mm TSE 1/10 sec 24mm TSE 1/800 sec Walls 24mm TSE 1/30 24mm TSE 1/20 sec EF 24-70mm, 38 mm 24mm TSE 1/6 sec 24mm TSE 1/6 sec TSE 24mm 1/25 sec f/16 ISO 125 f/3.5 ISO 125 sec f/11 ISO 100 f/14 ISO 100 1/320 sec f/2.8 ISO 100 f/16 ISO 100 f/16 ISO 50 f/11 ISO 100 P12. Bere Island West P13. Bere Island North P15. Crostera P16. Caherkeen Wall P17. Rabhach’s Glen P36 / P37. Cloonee P38. Eyeries P39. Baurearagh P41. Glenbeg Lake 24mm TSE 1/15 sec / Hungry Hill 135 mm TSE 1/90 sec 24mm TSE 1/25 sec 50mm TSE 0.5 sec Lake EF 85mm 1.2 USM 24mm TSE 0.6 sec 24mm TSE 0.6 sec 50mm TSE 30 sec f/16 ISO 100 24mm TSE 1/5 sec f/5.6 ISO 200 f/5.6 ISO 100 f/16 ISO 100 1.0 sec f/16 ISO 50 f/4 ISO 50 f/16 ISO 100 f/16 ISO 100 f/16 ISO 100 P18.