This project has been a long time coming. I settled in Ireland in 2002, in a place called the Loop Head Peninsula, a narrow stretch of land surrounded by the estuary of the river Shannon (locally known as the river) and the Atlantic Ocean. It is a place I fell in love with during a number of holiday trips, a place I longed to go back to the moment I was back in Germany, the place I still love dearly today.

 

Over the years I started several times to put together a book on the place I now call home and every time I eventually abandoned the project. Something else always came up… other books, other assignments, …

 

Now that it is 2023 and I am officially no longer a working and travelling photographer, I finally have the time to pick up the old idea again. This project will not only deal with the Loop Head Peninsula itself. I will revisit all the places in the west and south of County Clare that left such lasting impressions on my early visits and over the years. From Bunratty along the estuary, around Loop Head and up the coast to places like Doonbeg, Quilty, Spanish Point and Lahinch.

 

A few of the images here have been taken from the archives and reprocessed, the vast majority are and will be however new images. For the moment I have set myself a timeframe of two years during which I will indulge in photographing all the familiar places and maybe discover a few new ones… along the river and the sea.