A Night to Remember
A TRIM photographer says he was inspired to create a charity calendar of stills from the historic town to capture the unique era in time that is the pandemic.
Robert McCormack has started a project showcasing Trim at night that will act as a time capsule to educate future generations on how the community came together in lockdown.
Speaking on the idea behind the calendar he said:
“I had taken a break from photography for a couple of years and needed to get back to it, so I decided to put my training and skill to good use.
“I wanted to document the stillness and quiet of Trim at night during the January lockdown so the community will have it as a visual document of how we played our part in trying to suppress the virus like many other towns and villages all over the country, no matter what the government try to say.
“I decided to capture one image of Trim every night during the month of January, as a motivation I shared the first image in our local Facebook group ‘The Real Trim Discussion Board’ just letting people know what I was doing as a way to commit and keep me motivated.
“People started to really enjoy the project, and some looked forward to the images every day, before long there were calls for a calendar to be made.
“Myself and my wife Feena considered it, luckily Feena is a graphic designer so we have decided to team up and produce a calendar with all the proceeds going to a local charity.
“With this in mind I had to start to vary the project and capture some beautiful images that would work well in a calendar as I want to make it special.”
“The community in Trim like others around the country have felt a lot of fear and insecurity over the course of the pandemic, we will come through this, but unfortunately many are going to feel economic insecurity for a long time after the pandemic. We need to help out in any way we can, by getting behind and helping local charities you can do this.
"I will continue to work through the February lockdown documenting Trim at night and also trying to finish the images for the calendar.”
Robert originally from Galway city, has a background in construction but after the recession ravaged the industry, he decided to turn his passion into career. He added:
“After the financial crash in 2008 and with the downturn in construction, I decided on a new career path, in 2009 I moved to Dublin to attend Dublin Institute of Technology as a mature student, studying photography on their degree course. I completed the course with first class honours in 2013.
“In 2014 I was awarded the “Kirsty MacColl” scholarship to attend Goldsmiths College in London to complete a master's in photography & Urban Cultures, graduating in 2015.
“My work has been shown in group shows in numerous galleries including the Gallery of Photography Dublin, The Library Project Dublin, Royal Hibernian Academy Dublin and The Centre Culturel Irlandais Paris.
“I was invited back to DIT, to teach on the degree course in 2016-17 and 2017-18 teaching first- and second-years darkroom skills and how to develop a concise photography project and giving master classes to third and fourth years.
“I met my wife Feena in college in Dublin and after coming home from London we settled in her hometown Trim.
“Along with the teaching I worked in a local bar ‘Lynch's’ - it was good fun and a great way for a blow in to get to know the locals from around the town but mind you I did find out from a local historian my great-grandparents are buried in Newtown cemetery so I’m a blow back.”