What prompted this collection – I believe you spent a week exploring Sheep’s Head?

Yes, I spent a week in Sheep’s Head last summer, not long after the third lockdown was lifted. I’ve photographed Beara Peninsula several times over the years, but I’ve never captured Sheep’s Head, so it felt like it was finally time for me to explore Beara’s neighbouring headland with my camera. And similar to Beara, it feels like the roads of Sheep’s Head are less travelled and that appeals to me. But then these peninsulas are different in that the beauty of Beara is more obvious and dramatic, while the beauty of Sheep’s Head is more subtle and almost has to be earned, but once you find it, it’s just as captivating as any other headland in West Cork.

How is this collection similar or different to your other collections?

My approach to this collection remains the same as all my other collections: I travel to a specific location and completely immerse myself in that environment for a week. I’m not a photographer who shoots 365 days of the year, instead I go on two to three photography trips each year. I try not to have too many preconceived ideas and I just wander about the area, using it as a new and blank canvas. I guess the one difference is that I often return to locations that I’ve previously captured (such as Dingle), but this was my first time photographing Sheep’s Head, so I really enjoyed experiencing somewhere new – it was an untouched canvas. And in terms of shooting outside, it’s just the way it’s always been for me as a landscape photographer. The Irish coastline is my favourite subject, so I’m well used to the wind and rain; and of course, there are occasions when the weather is too bad and it puts a stop to your work, but like they say in Ireland: if you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute. And there are many days when the ever-changing elements of Ireland work to my advantage creating raging waves and brooding skies and contrasting shadows, which all add depth and atmosphere to an image.

You were very productive during lockdown using the time to archive images I believe?

Yes, lockdown allowed me some time to tackle the mammoth task of scanning negatives in my studio which is directly above my gallery in Kinsale. When I moved from analogue to digital in 2006, I scanned all the images that were regularly displayed in my gallery into digital format, so that I could digitally reproduce them; about 1,000 negatives were scanned at that time, leaving behind roughly 90,000 still to be scanned. So, I managed to scan about 20 percent of these old negatives during lockdown – each negative has to be scanned individually! And while some days it felt tedious, I enjoyed the process overall, discovering long-forgotten negatives that I couldn’t see potential in during the darkroom days, but now see their potential using the digital process. I hope to release a collection of these rediscovered images in the near future, and I will more than likely make it a limited-edition collection.

How would you say your work has developed over the years?

I guess the main change would be the transition from analogue to digital. I started my portfolio in the early 1980s and then I went digital in 2006. I’ll be honest, I was reluctant to move to digital – I thought it was the dark side of photography – and I didn’t want to give up my darkroom. Working with film had a more hands-on approach, which I enjoyed, but I now know that there are many benefits to digital: Firstly, I don’t have to be laden down with rolls of film on trips, but more importantly the possibilities in terms of reproduction are far more superior when working with digital. And the scope of my portfolio continues to grow with my Thailand collection launching next month – this feels like a new chapter in my work as it will be my first collection from Asia. And as for special locations, I keep on returning to the west of Ireland; as Yosemite Valley was to Ansel Adams, Ireland’s west coast is to me – her shores will forever be my favourite muse. And then there’s something about Italian cities that keep on drawing me back; I already have collections of Rome, Venice and Florence, but I won’t stop visiting these cities with their endless source of history and culture and local characters – they’re the type of cities you can return to time and time again and still find new subjects and canvases waiting for you.

Need to Know: The Sheep’s Head collection by Giles Norman is now available online and at Giles Norman Gallery & Townhouse, 45 Main Street, Kinsale; www.gilesnorman.com.