A Kick Up The Arts #20: Anna O’Rourke

Anna O’Rourke 16OCT15

hotography has been a passion of mine all my life but I became more serious about it 4 years ago when I bought my first DSLR camera.

I started to learn more about photography and with plenty of practice I began to develop my own style.

I love to capture almost everything, but in particular our beautiful landscape, nature, architecture and more recently; people and themed projects.

I feel spoilt for choice living so close to such beautiful scenery , drawing great inspiration from the colours and textures of the surrounding mountains and sea.

My Work

Recently , to my delight, I took part in and won a nationwide Canon Irish Amateur Photographer competition that was run by the online newspaper thejournal.ie. It included doing a project that had been on my mind previously… to capture the essence of Greystones and its people, so I was very happy to be given the opportunity to do this.

The themed project called A Sense of Place made me look closer at my surroundings than I had done before resulting in an even greater appreciation for where we live.

The Catch

The Catch by Anna O’ Rourke
This is not such a frequent sight these days so I was delighted when I came across this scene in the summer which reminded me of the old harbour days.

Billing Puffins

Billing Puffins by Anna O’Rourke
A first visit to the Saltee Islands, off the Coast of Wexford, allowed me to capture these two puffins who were ‘billing’, which is a courting ritual during mating season.

Karen McGillicuddy

Karen McGillicuddy by Anna O’Rourke
When it comes to portraits, where possible, I love natural light as opposed to studio lighting as
I feel it has a much more natural appearance.

My Inspirations

When it comes to inspiration, or people’s work that I admire, I have many people in mind, but one in particular is a Canadian photographer who stands out not only for her striking fine art photography but also because she is an environmental activist…

Leaving The Grid Behind

Leaving the Grid Behind by Robin MacMillan
MacMillan is a photographer who sends her message to the world through her beautiful and thought provoking work.

Red Carpet

Red Carpet by Rohan Reilly
I love black & white photography and Rohan’s work especially, He style is pure simplicity and always manages to transform a scene into a work of art.

 
On the left is Lifted, and on the right is Lone Tree Girl, both by Pawel Pentlinowski.
I really admire this guy’s work. It is the work of an up and coming photographer; a Polish guy who lives in Bray. He has a natural talent and unique style for creative and fashion photography using County Wicklow’s scenery as a backdrop. I think he may need A Kick up the Arts soon himself!

You can catch more of Anna’s work right here. Oh, and her Flickr account is right about here. And if you’ve been inspired by the work on display here, go join the Greystones Camera Club – details here. The pic of Anna O’Rourke is by Barbara Flynn/Bray People.