Out There Productions and the Beara-ble Lightness of Being in West Cork!

It is raining cats and dogs in Dublin as I write this.  A dirty day to beat all other dirty days.  It now seems like a dream that I was in a pocket of sunshine out on the remote Beara Peninsula, West Cork, a week ago with Out There Productions.  Paradoxically, it was the Oscar Wilde Statue in Dublin's Merrion Square that brought us to Beara.

Geraldine and Danny Osborne, in Danny's studio with elements of Oscar

For this remote outpost of Ireland is where intrepid sculptor Danny Osborne made his masterpiece Oscar Wilde Memorial Statue, and we are making a short documentary on this delightful and most fascinating subject.     It took me all of eight hours to drive there, in my stalwart jalopy.  It should take at least two hours less than that, and I take full responsibility for the extra two.  But I got there, laden with all the lighting and filming equipment in tact.  The tribulations of the journey, and the repeated attempts at getting the car over the top of various hills (seriously!) dissolved the minute I set eyes on the spectacular view from my destination the edge of the Beara Peninsula.

This is the reason mysterious places like Dun Aengus are where they are, I reckon.  No surprise then that the Buddhist Meditation centre Dzogchen Beara, which was at the top of my "to check out" list was also nearby, drawn no doubt towards the spectacular, almost abstract, view of sky and sea.

I was in a magic zone, where donkey sanctuaries and animals with special needs (for example the one-legged gannet) rule.  An artist and meditator-strewn peninsula.

Mia Mullarkey, DOP & Editor

Mia Mullarkey, our DOP and editor, followed down by train to Cork, and mini-bus to Castletownbere.  The sun came out, Lanzarote-style for our shoot. 

Bord Failte will be delighted with the immortalisation of these weather conditions. 

The shoot went well, and I dropped Mia back for her 8.30pm train from Cork to Dublin.

Danny Osborne's Studio

Selfie with Danny and Oscar in Studio

The next morning the clouds had moved in across our view and it was lashing rain.  A day pretty much like today.  I was delighted though, that the shoot was on the right side of that grey deluge. Where there was blue, as far as the eye could see, and blinding light, now all was shrouded in steely grey.  You would never guess what lay behind it, if you didn't already know.

Sarah Walker Gallery, Castletownbere

 On the way home to Dublin I took at pitstop at the amazing Sarah Walker Gallery on the Harbour at Castletownbere, and among many other lovely things in the group show, admired paintings by Tempy Osborne (daughter of Danny and Geraldine).  The gallery doubles up as a gig venue too for "High Tide at the Sarah Walker Gallery". Hope I make one of those some time.

Interior, Sarah Walker Gallery, Castletownbere

View out the door, Sarah Walker Gallery

Paintings by Tempy Osborne at Sarah Walker Gallery

Now safely back in the big shmoke (the drive back took five and a half hours, I'm getting better at this), I'm looking forward to putting this video together over the next couple of weeks, in between other engagements connected with the impending Dublin Dance Festival - more of which anon!