Blackrock

A word about the work

Summer 2015, Galway, Ireland.

I live close to the ocean in the Netherlands and frequently go to the coast. The atmosphere at the seaside is very special to me. The sea gives me a feeling of infinity, peace and freedom, but the ocean can also be dangerous and grim. This makes the ocean an interesting subject.

After the success of the first photo of the diving board in St. Malo it was a challenge to create a new one. I am very content with the new image of the jumping board in Blackrock. The atmosphere of photo is different from St. Malo, where the event took place against the background of a beautiful summer holiday. In Blackrock the Atlantic Ocean was rough with a lot of wind and waves. Look for example to the small girl in the foreground of the photo. She is chilly, but is still enjoying. The local people are used to these tough conditions. The combination of the swimmers dangerously jumping one after the other into the infinite ocean and the elements of nature makes the photo special for me.

The photo of the diving board in St. Malo, Bretagne inspired me to create a series of natural diving boards around the world. Accidentally I came across a story in the National Geographic about a beautiful area in western Ireland around the city of Galway. The story was illustrated with wonderful photos. One of them showed a diving board in Blackrock were local people were jumping in the Atlantic Ocean. I immediately knew this would be a wonderful place for the second photo in the series.

In the summer of 2015 I travelled for a couple of days to Galway to shoot the photo. It was uncertain if I could realise my goal, because I needed good weather and people jumping off the diving board. When I arrived in Blackrock, I realised that there was a third condition to fulfil, high tide. It was only possible to jump off the diving board two hours before and after high tide. In the end it worked out. I started shooting in the afternoon just before high tide. There was a lot of wind and the sun was shining. The water was very cold (17 oC) and only a few older people were swimming. After some time, the local heroes arrived and started their show with impressive jumps in the rough Atlantic Ocean. It was difficult to approach the diving board because of the big waves. One waves hit me and the camera, which intensified the emotion of the rough Atlantic atmosphere.