There’s a motivational expression doing the rounds on twitter from one of the world’s great minds.
Someone who loves what he does is Kildare man (and ex Lillywhite county minor footballer don’t forget😉) Bernard Geraghty.
If you are a fan of photography you will love his material on social media but it will make you slightly feel inaqequate about your own snaps.
Bernard is a professional landscape photographer getting ready to re-emerge re-energised after this coronavirus lockdown.
Bernard had been used to running workshops and tours it all over Ireland, all over the world essentially and now finds himself and his business curtailed for the sake of the greater good but he does have a plan!
Many would struggle to name where the mountains of Kildare fit into Ireland’s league of peaks, but such terrain always intrigued Bernard. ‘I remember my first memories of the mountains when I was 11 years of age. When I was younger I was always obsessed with the mountains. We lived just outside Newbridge, up on a hill so we always had kind of a view over towards the Wicklow mountains and I loved looking over at the mountains but but that was it.’
But the qualified plumber took a change of direction after 2012 and launched bglandscapetours.ie. Admittedly he’s had his wings clipped in recent months but is ready to return when cleared to do so.
While Bernard is used to galavanting around the world there is still plenty on the Emerald Isle to snap. ‘I think Ireland’s very unique. We have lighthouses, we have mountains and lakes. We have the Wild Atlantic Way, we have the north coast. I don’t like comparing Ireland to the rest of the world either because Ireland will always be number one to me.’
But there are international crowd favorites.
Norway. And the reason being is you have again, like the most incredible mountains like you know, we stay in these red cabins in Norway, and you walk out and you literally have just mountains all around it for 180 degrees and then turn around the ocean for 180 degrees. And you can choose literally 100 shots within a mile. Like that is how good it is. But also you have these amazing scenes, but then it’s the Northern Lights and so I’ve seen the Northern Lights, you know, hundred times hundred 50 times, and they’re unbelievable’.
Here’s an insight into Bernard’s Norwegian trips.
More than just a photo its bordering on a spiritual experience. ‘When you’re just standing out, you’ve waited in the the snow, the wind or whatever next thing, out comes, the Northern Lights. And, you know, everyone thinks they come for eight hours. And that’s it. They don’t. You might get a pause for 10 or 15 minutes. And, you know, it might be an hour later when it comes again, or you might have the Northern Lights out and cloud comes in. The impact that is has on the people’.
The great thing about photos and why they have endured, is probably because of their power to rekindle the memories of when they were taken and how we felt at the time, a point Bernard acknowledges.
‘I do presentations all the time with my images and I can remember everything that goes on my portfolio, you could you could pick out any of 300 or 400 shots or 100 shots and I will be able to tell you what I was feeling the you know what was going through my head almost who I was with. Nature is amazing as well.
‘I don’t like bandying that around too much because I find it is bandied around a bit too much nowadays and like so I just I just like being out in the fresh air and I think it helps you sleep better as well you know, but definitely the experience is number one like being there and shooting.’
Like many business owners, Bernard is trying to get his head around where his business fits in the ‘new normal’ and how he can prepare for the post lockdown world.
‘It’s kind of hard at the moment because I don’t think you can fully get ready. It’s easy for me to sit down and say, right, I’m going to plan for 2021. But being realistic, we don’t know what’s gonna happen.
‘It’s hard to plan. But what I’ve done myself is I’ve allowed this to become a break for me, I’ve done three years of constant travelling tour and you’re literally you know, your three o’clock in the morning starts this kind of stuff. You’re up till three o’clock at night, and all this So I’ve kind of caught up on sleep is one. And number two is my website. I’m building my rebuilding my website from scratch that’s been done at the moment. I’ve also used the time to convert my attic space into a new offices studio, which is almost at its at its end now.’
So advice for the amateur snappers? It’s literally just getting out shoot, shoot, shoot, and and learn as you go along. And then in terms of cameras, there’s no go to or not go to cameras, every camera is kind of good these days. My weapon of choice? I shoot with Sony cameras, and it’s a Sony A7Riii. To a lot of people might not mean anything, you can buy a decent camera for 500 quid, you know, or you can go to the scale of mine.’
So in the words of that famous sportswear manufacturer ‘just do it!.
Find your passion and watch out for Bernard’s great tours once the economy re-opens!📸
