Mark Collins is an award-winning freelance photographer currently based in Holycross, Co. Tipperary. Having spent 20 years working as a cinematographer in the Australian film industry, August 2019 saw Mark returning home to the land of his birth, Ireland. Upon his seeing what was both his past and now present with fresh eyes, Mark was inspired to photograph his surroundings. Informed by his love of cinema, he is driven by a longing to highlight the inherent natural beauty, form and texture, particularly in places overlooked or unnoticed. Previously behind the lens within film and cinema, lockdown saw Mark return to education whereupon he studied photography at LCFE, School of Creative Media & Visual Arts, in Limerick. His studies have reignited a passion for both his home and visual storytelling.

In his work, Mark draws from his aesthetic roots in cinema, inviting viewers to see beyond classical notions of beauty. An active focus on the decontextualising of forms, Mark welcomes audiences to look beyond the categorisations of still life, landscape etc & allow our own imaginations to adventure across the visual terrain of his works. "The challenge is to see beyond the distraction of the conspicuous", the observer is invited into a creative dialogue with the pictures and asked what their own impressions of the world within the art is, what kinds of characters, forms and stories inhabit these worlds? Marks careful and meditative approach to the detail and materiality of subject examines a notion to look more closely at the world around us & discover beauty in unusual or unexpected places and moments.  

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

- 2022 “Attention/ Intention Vol.1”, Cashel Library, Co. Tipperary, Ireland

- 2022 “Attention/ Intention Vol.1”, Templemore Library, Co. Tipperary, Ireland

- 2024 “Attention/ Intention Vol.2”, The Source, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, Ireland       

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

- 2022 Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick, Ireland

- 2022 “ABC for Mental Health”, Treaty City Brewery, Limerick, Ireland 

GRANTS/ AWARDS 

- 2021 Smedias News Photography Category Winner (Ireland)

- 2021 Smedias Photography Category Shortlist (Ireland)       

- 2022 Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) Pilot Project, Dept. of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media 

MEDIA/ PUBLICATIONS

- 2021 Christina Bennott, i-Ink Newsletter, pg. 19, Limerick, April 2021

- 2022 “Attention/ Intention” Promo, Tipperary Star, pg. 26, Tipperary, September 2022

- 2022 “Attention/ Intention” Promo, The Nationalist, pg. 22, Tipperary, September 2022

COLLECTIONS 

Photographs are held in numerous private collections throughout Ireland as well as Tipperary County Council Public Library Collections.