Dermot Blackburn’s photographs are striking in their charged observation and clarity, writes Stephanie McBride
In a fragmented AI world, where images and meanings are increasingly unstable and dubious and viewers’ responses unsettled and sceptical, Antrim-based photographer Dermot Blackburn’s commitment to documentary is fervent. ‘It may seem odd in this age of AI, but none of these images is manipulated in any way. I trained as a documentary photographer, so I rarely even crop an image.’
Ecological concerns are consistently part of his documentary practice, some of which requires meticulous planning. His 2022 ‘Lough Shore’ project, for example, a study of the landscape and ecology of Larne Lough in Co Antrim, required ‘constant monitoring of tides, wind speed, weather’ and formed part of Friends of the Earth’s campaign to challenge gas storage there.
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