Capturing the magic of the Shannon
Lifestyle - Carsten Krieger’s latest book captures the magic of Ireland’s longest river and the places surrounding it. The German-born photographer talks to Judy Murphy about the project.
Portumna, Loughrea and Clonfert are among the places that feature in a beautiful new photographic book, The River Shannon: Ireland’s Majestic Waterway, by Carsten Krieger. The book encompasses a huge spectrum of life around the Shannon – its landscape, people, heritage and wildlife – and offers a special insight into the longest river in Ireland and the UK.
It’s the result of a two-year project which had its origins a decade ago, a few years after Bavarian-born Carsten and his wife relocated from Germany to Ireland.
“I’d always loved the area and always had in the back of mind to explore it,” he says of the Shannon hinterland.
What makes Carsten’s achievement even more special is that he had no professional background in photography when he moved here – he and his wife, Ina, were paediatric nurses, a profession Ina has continued to pursue.
He’d always wanted to train in photography but was deterred by cost and lack of opportunity in his homeland. However, when the couple relocated in 2002, settling in County Clare, he decided to follow his passion. And he’s never looked back.
Carsten’s first book, published in 2006, was on the Burren – which was the landscape that lured him here, he says – and since then, he has gone on to produce several other photographic publications, capturing many aspects of Ireland’s landscape and wildlife. He has sold some 50,000 books to date, with titles including the Irish Book Award-nominated Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way.
Ten years ago, after Carsten had completed his second book, he suggested a new project to his then publishers – one that would involve tracking the River Shannon along its 360km, from its source at the Cavan-Fermanagh border, to where it enters the sea, between Loop Head in Co Clare and Kerry Head.
However, the publishers weren’t interested and he subsequently became absorbed in other projects. In addition to his books, Carsten also works for Fáilte Ireland and the UNESCO-designated Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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