The Makers of Ireland
Toward the beginning of the year we were commissioned by Crown Creative to create a series of prints that would reflect modern Ireland and be displayed in The Dead Rabbit, a series of bars based in the USA. Upon initial conversations our project would document a selection of Irish Makers, most of which had been commissioned themselves to create pieces for The Dead Rabbit, as we learned about the project and the vision behind it, our brief was adapted and evolved to contain video too.
On our first shoot we developed a visual style guide & approach to the photography & video. Our goal was to capture their creative process, their passion around that process and an overview of their partnership with the dead rabbit whilst remaining true to their stories and respecting their spaces.
We avoided formal interviews when it came to speaking with the makers on video. Instead we opted for a conversational approach, we asked the makers to work through their regular process and we were genuinely curious with our questions and conversation. This interview approach facilitated a level of authenticity visually, showing the makers comfortable in their studios and allowing a more immersive visual to be captured.
Jack’s wrap on Modern Ireland
This project took place in partnership with Crown Creative over a year long period, in which we visited around 10 different locations, our photography deliverables came in the form of over 50 prints to be displayed in The Dead Rabbit. For our video deliverables we create a series of mini-documentaries on each maker and most recently we visited The Dead Rabbit in NYC to capture each of the makers pieces in it’s home and create an overall video about the vision of the bar to celebrate modern Ireland moving forward.
As this commission would take place in multiple studios & across the island of Ireland, we knew it was important to have a cohesive art direction decided on to create a level of visual consistency across the project. We opted to use a lot of soft light, allowing us to focus on the textures & details of the subjects, we also chose a tonal palette that would remain cohesive across multiple scenarios but didn’t limit the natural colours in each studio.
It was a joy to talk with each of these creatives and watch them at their craft. It is amazing to see the level of talent and passion here in Ireland. We found particularly inspiring as we strive toward mastering our creative process and talents.
