Peter CostelloBeautiful Landscapes of Ireland by Carsten Kreiger, with an introduction by Peter Harbison (The O’Brien Press, €9.99 / £8.20)
German photographer Car-sten Krieger is not the first foreigner to fall in love with the landscape of Ireland and to try and record its constantly moving impressions.
This collection of his images cover does not cover the old four provides of Ireland, but the eight natural regions of the island. The introductions to these regions have been written by the travel journalist Muriel Bolger.
However, it is the introduction by archeologist, scholar and author Peter Harbison that best encapsulates the purpose behind this little book. “Even if a photographer Like Carsten Krieger may have to wait for the light to be just right, he has an advantage over the water colourist of being able to just press a button to immortalise a moment, whereas the painter is often frustrated by the fast changing hues of the magic Irish landscape evaporating in front of his eyes before he can document them with his brush. So, let us celebrate the photographer’s triumph in capturing wonderful insights into an almost untouched world which needs recording before it may change in undesirable ways we may not wish to contemplate.”
The size of the book is not always to the advantage of the images, which are often too crowded into the pages. Fewer images on a larger page would have made for a far more attractive appearance, but nevertheless this is a book which will appeal to many, especially visitors.