Joy Dunlop - Caoir
Joy Dunlop is almost the epitome of the ‘weel ken’t face’ around these parts. From tv weather forecaster, to educator, to Gaelic singer. It was in that guise that she got in touch with me last year to work on the artwork for her debut album.
At that point, the album was partly recorded with a little tracking to be done before the mix and master. All that to mean, it wasn’t quite the finished product, including the artwork concept, or even the name. Joy sent me a photograph of a dictionary definition that had resonated with her, which was out starting point.
The word; caoir.
The definition; Firebrand. Blaze of fire, fiercely burning, accompanied by noise. Foam with sparks of fire, as in a stormy sea, phosphorescence.
Holy shit! That’s an exciting prompt right? There’s so much there. So much to dig into, such an evocative expression. My mind was immediately racing.
I instantly had my colour palette. I had an idea that the images should feel somewhat chaotic. I don’t imagine ‘firebrand’ to be too pristine. This has to be more about emotion and evocation that technicality.
Joy came through big style with her wardrobe choices, bring some sparkle and sequins which worked incredibly well with the hard light reflections.
I shot primarily with bare bulbs, reflectors and some specular beauty dishes to make the most of the clothing choices, and Joy has such incredible features she can easily pull off that hard light look.
Some shots involved narrow pockets of light, which I used the pixapro optical snoot sport projector. Pretty much everything was taped with red & yellow gels so we got the warm, firebrand look.
The final images were passed over to Loom Graphics who did a brilliant job designing the cover, sleeve and liner notes. It’s always so nice to see a whole selection of photos from a shoot used in this way. So, thank you kindly for the wonderful treatment.
And most of all, thanks to Joy for such a great collaborator, such a pleasure to have in front of the camera and overall just being excellent to work with!
