I’ve often wondered at why the street proves so elusive to me in Australia? Or, what is it about the street in other cities that attracts me?

The fact is: In terms of photography, my practice turns completely inward when working in Australia and this is becoming very interesting to me.

When I first arrived here in Australia, back in ‘96, it was a source of massive frustration, confusion and anger. I’d been working back in Dublin and really just finding my feet. I had been working with a contemporary, Joe Owens at that time. We were exploring street photography for ourselves.

I hadn’t been consciously following some of the seminal street photographers like Frank, Winogrand, Friedlander and Klein; or much of their work. I wasn’t even very aware of it at the time. But there was certainly an energy about the street and charged up web of complex narratives that were constantly being played out there, on the streets of Dublin. To discover this energy and sometimes tap into it was exciting and sometimes even frightening.

It ended fairly abruptly when I arrived on Australia’s shores; despite plunging straight into a creative environment, at university.

Perhaps it was the wide open spaces and predominance of roads and vehicles that changed the dynamic. The light was another thing. Compared to what I had been used to, it seemed harsh and unforgiving, hiding as much as it revealed in its stark shadows.

I also sometimes wonder if it isn’t perhaps the interaction between people which is different here.

These days I feel the urge to paint, more than ever. Or maybe it’s that I wonder if painting would not allow me to describe my emotions better; to go further than the pictures that I see as photographs.