Snaps of Cork’s coastline shortlisted in national photography competition

Three stunning Cork shots have been featured in the shortlist of the Clean Coasts’ Love Your Coast photography competition, which showcases the beauty of the Irish coastal landscape, heritage, and wildlife.

The winners of the 13th edition of the competition were announced on Thursday at the award ceremony in the Smock Alley Theatre, in Dublin, across the five categories of Coastal Heritage, Coastal Landscape, People & the Coast, Wildlife & the Coast and Creativity and the Coast.

While no Cork photographers claimed top prizes, three beautiful photographs of Cork’s coastline made the shortlist of the 50 best images which were displayed at the awards ceremony.

John Bennett’s photo taken in Ballycotton, ‘Ghost Ship Sunrise’, made it into the top ten under the Coastal Landscape Category. The long-exposure shot of the mysterious MV Alta shipwreck was taken against a clear September sunrise in Ballycotton.

‘Pathway to the Light’, a photo taken by John Hall in Monkstown, made the top ten in the Creativity and the Coast category. The moody black and white photo was taken close to nightfall, and depicts the sharp angles of cranes in Cork harbour against the water and sky smoothed by a three minute exposure.

Sarah Ryan’s shot taken at Lough Mahon on the Rochestown-Blackrock Greenway, ‘Fishermen at Dusk’, was ranked in the top ten of the Wildlife and Underwater category. The image captures the perfect stillness of a heron and curlew fishing together in the pearlescent dusk of a spring evening in May.

Darragh Gorman’s “Splash”, captured in Mullaghmore Co. Sligo, was awarded the title of Image of the Year out of a total of over 1,100 entries.

Coastal Communities Manager Sinead McCoy said that after two years of virtual ceremonies, they were delighted to be able to celebrate in person again “both the beauty of the Irish coast and the talent of the photographers who entered our competition”.

Ms McCoy said that the photography competition which has been running for 13 years is “a way for everybody to appreciate and celebrate our coast and be inspired to get involved” with Clean Coasts.

Clean Coasts is a charity programme, run through the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce, which engages communities in the protection of Ireland’s beaches, seas and marine life.

Currently, there are over 1,800 registered Clean Coasts volunteering groups and 37,000 volunteers who organise hundreds of beach clean-ups annually, removing considerable quantities of marine litter from Ireland’s beaches and waterways.