Live Encounters Magazine Volume One November-December 2024.
Winter Wonderland, photo feature by Tina Claffey.
I love to get ‘lost’ in the bogs, eskers and wetlands of Ireland with my macro lens throughout the seasons.
Winter is a most magical season.
The plunging temperatures, and sharp frost decorate the flora of the bog with icy jewels.
The bog landscape becomes a world of white, a magical wilderness. Sphagnum mosses, the bog builder, sparkle in the golden Winter light, icicles suspended from fallen reeds drape above the mosses, like priceless jewels. Spider webs appear like shattered windows encrusted with ice diamonds.
Bracken fern dies back in the chilly temperatures, and turns to a deep ruby red, in many ways at its most beautiful when lit by the evening winter sun, dying in a blaze of glory. Deep in the bog’s wet woodlands, wondrous False Turkey Tail emerges and reveals its layers of glorious colours from fallen waterlogged tree trunks.
It is easy to get lost within the lichens of the bog, especially when they have a layer of that magical frost. Devil’s Matchstick with their scarlet tips, Trumpet Cups full to the brim with icy dew, and ghostly frozen forests of Reindeer lichen. A magical Winter wonderland.
© Tina Claffey
Tina Claffey is an award-winning Irish nature photographer and author of ‘Tapestry of Light-Ireland’s bogs & wetlands as never seen before’ in 2017, and ‘Portal-Otherworldly Wonders of Ireland’s Bogs, Wetlands and Eskers’ in 2022. Her observations and unique perspective through her macro lens of the flora and fauna of the raised bogs and wet woodlands of the Irish midlands are celebrated in her work. She has exhibited in group shows in the US, Botswana, Zambia and has had solo exhibitions throughout Ireland. Her work is part of many art collections, permanent exhibitions, including the permanent collection at Áras an Uachtaráin, home of the Irish President. She has presented her work on many worldwide online platforms including the Wildlife Habitat Council Online Conference in the US and the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) to promote the importance of the Irish bog wilderness.
Congratulations Tina on all your successes. Keep going!
I was very happy to see you on screen on my last Aer Lingus flight to NYC. I felt the urge to jump up & announce to ALL “thats my cousin”!! I Didn’t! Just in case I’d be thrown off the flight (disorderly)
You have such a wonderful eye Tina, focussing on those minute details others would walk past. These images are so beautiful, and yes, winter is magical on the bog, especially through your lense!