Art Photography

Ah Go On - Art Documentation Photographer by Jan

I had the amazing opportunity to photograph this art exhibition at Cork Printmakers.

I will leave it to the artist duo, BAN-EEE-UKT, to explain the full concept behind this work, as they will do a much better job of it than I would. But I will give it a go and summarize that this was an ongoing exhibition that developed further every week with a live art performance. The artwork progressed, showing a little bit more information and organically evolving further. Centred around Irish culture and also the Irish love for tea, do have a read of the official text below, and I will come back to you at the bottom of this page.

Evolving Art Exhibtion

Ah Go On!

Cork Printmakers presents Ah Go On! An exhibition by collaborative duo BAN-EEE-UKT

Ah Go On! is an experimental exhibition that investigates, through artist intervention and performative modes of presentation, the central role that mundane acts and rituals can play within the context of identity and rebellion.

The subject of this investigation is obscured by intentional omission from the offset. Then, over a three week period, the exhibition will evolve; transforming and shifting as work is added, removed and rearranged. A final event will mark the culmination of this process, at which point the full intention of the works will be presented and understood.

BAN-EEE-UKT is a collaborative partnership between artist Lynn-Marie Dennehy and curatorial-practitioner Nic Flanagan. Together their work finds ways of highlighting and disrupting hegemonic systems through interactive performative events, printed media and installation works.

Lynn-Marie Dennehy’s work explores the space between culture, art and resistance. Her goal is to find ways of reflecting the contradictions within our own society through her work, oscillating between the irony of post-modernism and the sincerity of modernism. She does this by building contradictions into the work and exposing the making process. She plays with scale and materiality to create a deliberate friction within the work that allows for different interpretations.

Nic Flanagan’s research-based art and curatorial practices examine progressive programming, theories of interaction and disruption within arts spaces as a means for autonomous and respectful interactions between artists, galleries and communities. Works are designed with a playful, tongue in cheek reproach to Irish culture, both as an internal figure and a disconnected audience member.

Cork Printmakers Studio Gallery is a space for presenting work developed or produced within the studio below, and aims to present contemporary and expanded print practice by members and partners of Cork Printmakers. The gallery celebrates printmaking as an active medium for collaboration, experimentation and exchange.

Ah Go On! is part of a series of exhibitions across 2022 that look at different approaches and interpretations of expanded printmaking and the diverse practices of Cork Printmakers artists who work across disciplines from printmaking, sculpture, video and performance.”

This project was a really fun way to draw on several different skills. As some of you might know, I also do architectural and property photography on the side, so combining these skills while having the freedom to be very creative in terms of lighting, was quite refreshing. I was able to create very harsh lighting conditions for some of these photos, which is something I am not used to in my normal photography style, which is portraits. And generally, I would photograph people in a flattering style, so not having to greatly worry about this was fun!

This is why I love photography. There are so many different areas to branch out into, and doing a project like this every now and then is so interesting. But I also can’t wait on my next portrait shoot again! Haha!

Performance Art Documentation Photography

5-star Google review

Lynn Marie-Dennehy was kind enough to leave me this fantastic review:

As a visual artist I have worked with Save the Journey Photography several times, most recently to document an exhibition of artworks including installation and performance works. This type of documentation is incredibly important as an artist, with images used for publications, websites and for grant applications.

It is often the only record of an artwork that exists if the artwork is temporary or performative. The care and consideration that went into every photograph taken by Save The Journey was mind blowing and showed a level of professionalism and respect for the job that would lead me to use this service for every exhibition going forward.

Jannik was a pleasure to work with and was very patient and understanding of all my ideas and delivered photographs that capture exactly the feeling I wanted for my work. I would recommend Save The Journey for any event!”

Má Deirim – Performance Art Photography by Jan

Portrait Photography Cork City

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This is a really exciting project that I was able to be part of. Although I have photographed other performance art or physical art pieces, this was something quite different to those projects. The biggest difference was the change of medium. This project didn’t require me to only photograph, but it required me to film as well! 25 frames per second. That’s an excessive amount of pictures to me!

I’ll leave the explanation of the project to The Model Sligo, who funded the project:

“A collaboration between visual artist Nic Flanagan and musician / composer Owen Kilfeather. This 25 minute performance employs Irish mythology as a means of engaging with, and recontextualising folkloric dialogue in contemporary thought - specifically, the Hag of Bhéara, the ‘Queen of Winter’, a seasonal spirit whose stories are rich in humour, humanity and conflict.

She is said to rule the months between Samhain (the first day of winter marked on November 1st) and Bealtaine (the first day of summer). The performance on Saturday night, October 31st is a reawakening act. This performance/sound piece is a continuation of a collaboration established by The Model this summer.”

Initially, we were all supposed to meet in Sligo and film it in The Model, but at that time we were heading into Level 3. This would have gone against several of the new restrictions. So instead, we stayed in County Cork, where I filmed and photographed this project together with the artist, Nic Flanagan. It was then streamed online on Halloween.

I would have been happy to just photograph this performance in this beautiful scenery, but being able to film it too and being the creative DOP (Director of Photography) was fantastic. A DOP has a large influence, not on the content, but on the visual set up of a shot. Nic Flanagan was very open to my input and direction of the visual construction of each scene.
Some of these photos came to be as a result of this experimentation. I would ask her to go through some of the performance of the next scene that we were about to shoot. I then chose my angles and lenses to suit that specific scene. I would photograph them first, show them to her and we would discuss and chose the correct option. The remaining photos would be taken during filming. The camera would be set to a completely silent mode, that doesn’t make a single noise, as to not distract the artist. In this way I could take hundreds of photos, and audibly no one would know. Pretty handy tech nowadays.

Visually, I thought it best to go with a large depth of field, meaning the background is not very blurred and still very identifiable. To people who have a little bit of photography knowledge, this meant I was photographing and filming between f8 and f11 for most of the shots.
I also went for a low saturation, medium contrast look. Usually I love strong, bright colours. But this would have been most unsuitable for this setting.

Nic Flanagan and I then edited the film together, and once completed, we were able to send it to Owen Kilfeather so he could compose a fitting soundtrack to it.

Big thanks to both Owen and Nic for making this such an enjoyable project!