Picture this: an eight-year-old boy experimenting with a camera at his home place, contentedly snapping away at the small things a curious young child observes in his back yard and a little further afield in the meadows and forests of southern Germany. For a while, the young German boy loses all interest in photography, until a holiday to Ireland as an adult inspires him and re-kindles his passion for the artform.
The trip which got Carsten Krieger so hooked on Ireland prompted him to move to the emerald isle permanently in 2002. And the re-location revived a childhood fascination with nature, bringing about a career change from paediatric nursing to freelance photography.
Since settling here, Carsten Krieger has photographed and written numerous books on Ireland’s landscape, nature and heritage. And now, 22 years on and almost 20 books later, the renowned photographer, author and environmentalist, who lives in Kibaha on the Loop Head Peninsula, has produced a new book entitled The Whispering Land Myths, Legends and Lore from the Wild Atlantic Way. Featuring over 100 stunning photographs spanning the length of Ireland’s west coast, the book is a breathtaking photographic tour of the Wild Atlantic Way.
In preparation for The Whispering Land, the photographer traversed landscapes of the west coast, absorbing the echoes of the past and unearthing the ancient myths and legends along with the unique geology, history and heritage of the areas.
From the Old Hag of West Cork’s Beara Peninsula to chilling stories of devils and saints in Sligo and Donegal, the author illuminates this beguiling collection of folklore with his exquisite photography to create a captivating new perspective on Ireland’s west coast.
The premise of the photographic tour is that Ireland is a land of stories and storytellers possessing and Atlantic seaboard which is steeped in ancient folklore and fascinating history. And that wealth of surviving regional folk tales which has been passed down through the generations, has indeed been an inspiration for the photographer and author.
“The upcoming book kind of evolved out of my Wild Ireland book. When I finished it I was in a black hole and I didn’t know what to do next. In the Wild Ireland book, there is chapter about the Shannon Estuary and The Drowned Forest, a stretch of tree coastline that effectively shows sea levels were much lower 3,000 years ago and there is also a story connected to The Drowned Forest about three brothers who are local chieftains, their sister and a magician on the Kerry side of the estuary who falls in love with the young maiden and takes her,” he told The Clare Champion.
“It is a story of the village in conflict, and in the end, the ocean drowns everything. That tale for me was the starting point, and I looked a bit at the folklore. For me there are definite conventions there.”
He explains that his own different perspectives have an influence on what subjects he produces in the end but in the main, he tries to be an observer.
However, the brightest perspective to shine through is his passion for the environment.
“The reason in the first place is I absolutely try to highlight and support the environment, and to support it as much as I can,” he said.
In addition to publishing his books, Carsten works as an editor for the Crossbill Guides Foundation where he has authored their Ireland Guide.
But similar to many people, it took a global pandemic to give him the opportunity to exit a job he didn’t particularly like in the tourism sector, and turn his passions into viable career options.
“With Crossbill, before Covid I had drifted into tourism and struggled with my tourism job and then Covid hit and the whole tourism world broke down anyway so it forced me to explore different avenues,” he said.
“I made a contract with Crossbill and they are trying to connect with both worlds of travel but encouraging everyone to consider the environment as well.”
During Covid, Carsten also got involved with Loop Head Together for Nature, a grass roots group that focusses on protecting and improving natural habitats on the Loop Head Peninsula, and started working with John Aston who offered him a job at his company, AstonECO where he now works as a project manager. He has also worked with some of Ireland’s major environmental NGOs such as An Taisce and Greensod Ireland.
Carsten explains that while The Whispering Land is aimed at the tourist market because a lot of visitors come for the landscape and scenery, however, he is mindful that Irish people themselves are more environmentally aware today, and will also appreciate his collection on the West of Ireland. And so the book is marketed as a “unique travel companion combining landscape photography with the folklore and history hidden in the untamed Atlantic seaboard”.
“I usually don’t have a specific reader in mind – I usually just have an idea that could be a good idea and a publisher steps in and recommends if it works for them. I work with O’Brien Press who are very commercially focused,” he explains.
Asked what his favourite county is to photograph, he laughs saying he has been asked this before and always finds it “tricky” to answer.
“I absolutely love Clare and have written two books on the Burren…for the last few years I have been looking more at photographing and taking pictures in Clare – for one thing I am tired of travelling around all the time,” he reveals.
He feels that Clare as a county has much to offer from the uniqueness of the Burren, to the Shannon Estuary, the flatness of West Clare, and the typical Irish landscapes of East Clare. With that in mind, he is currently hoping to produce a book with Banner Books which will be specifically about West Clare.
There are two chapters dedicated to County Clare in the new publication – The River and Beyond chapter is on the county along with Kerry and Limerick and the Burren Karst chapter is on both Clare and Galway.
As for what he prefers to photograph in the natural world, he says that this is something that can change a lot, “for me things are interconnected…it changes for me depending on what I do; at the moment I like close-ups and micro-photography a lot. But people like to see huge landscapes.”
In 2018, Cartsen decided to concentrate exclusively on natural history, photography, writing and conservation work. And a consciousness of the massive loss of biodiversity in nature certainly plays a role in what subjects he shoots.
“I think the whole attitude in Ireland is changing a lot – ten years ago people were not interested in the environment,” he said.
“The focus especially with some of the NGOs is on the bigger animals like the Irish deer for example but there is stuff out there like insects, creepy crawlies and flowers that get forgotten about which is strange because they are the food for other animals, and the basis of the ecosystem.”
And where does he find himself returning time and time again to photograph?
“Generally I always return to the west coast from counties Kerry to Cork and up to Donegal. And there are a few nice spots in the midlands as well,” he said.
“I never warmed to the east coast as much – it is more European.”
At the moment, he is working on a follow-up to The Whispering Land. It will be a photography book on Ireland’s peatlands and in commencing his research, he is taking trips to places like Connemara and Mayo where he is looking forward to re-visiting.
This newest book will not only entail photographing the bog landscapes of the west and midlands but also working closely with peatland conservation groups to glean information on these unique natural habitats.
In addition, Carsten has done significant collaborations on books including food photography for a few cookery books over the years.
However, his own last publication was his first foray into “proper” writing, as he describes it,” he said.
“German is his mother tongue, and in the past five years he has become more comfortable with writing in the English language.
“Ever since I came to Ireland, I have only read books in English, and the writing came over time when I felt comfortable with it, and then I found I enjoyed it and it kind of mushroomed from there.”
This fascinating collection is a must-have for tourists and natives alike, or appreciators of the rugged beauty of the West of Ireland.
Sharon Dolan D’Arcy covers West Clare news. After completing a masters in journalism at University of Galway, Sharon worked as a court reporter at the Sligo Weekender. She was also editor of the Athenry News and Views.