Gallery Manager's Favourite Images
In the last 'Gallery Notes' feature, our Gallery Manager, Niamh, shared the five images that attract the biggest response in the Kinsale gallery, but here she shares her own personal favourites.
‘Oh La La’ is probably my favourite image – the plan is to have it hanging in my future walk-in wardrobe (dream-house goals!) – but I spoke about this piece in the last ‘Gallery Notes’, so I thought I’d share another favourite of mine from Giles Norman’s Paris collection. I love the imperfection of this photograph: how the couple are slightly out of focus and not the centre composition. And I like the moment that it's capturing. And I love Paris, and I don't think you can get an image that's more Parisian than this - it's passionate and elegant and effortlessly cool.
This was my first Giles Norman photograph and I bought it when I was living in London; I wanted something that reminded me of Kinsale for those days when I was missing home, but I also wanted something that was calming (to contrast the manic city pace around me). I love the stillness of this image, especially the glassy texture of the water. And I also liked the fact that it was captured the year I was born (which Giles does not like to be reminded of!).
My first thought when I saw this image was that this lady looks like Madame Bijoux from Jack’s sketch in the Titanic (Titanic fans out there might appreciate the resemblance in the coat and hat). There’s a lot going on in this image, but that's what I like about it: you’ve got different textures and shapes from the bottles in the window to the aging wall and the mammoth coat. And even though you can't see her face, she seems to be giving off a bit of an attitude. I’ve always thought this would be a great piece for a gallery wall.
This photograph sat above my desk in the gallery for a while and I love it. Giles is known more for his dramatic seascapes, and maybe it’s the contrast of this calm scene among all the raging waves and jagged cliffs that draws me to this piece, but I love its simplicity: it’s its own version of a blank page waiting to be filled. And I like how its slightly blurred texture makes it look more like a charcoal drawing than a photograph.
As someone who loves books, I love everything about this image. There’s great little details in this photograph: the comfort of the radiator next to the man; the old-school gate on the left; and the window creating its own frame within the image. I think all bookworms out there will enjoy the moment captured here: that feeling of being lost in a really good book.
