Bryan Glynn

Photographer Bryan Glynn recalls that his earliest memory was an image of the moon on the lunar dial of the grandfather clock in his home. His grandmother explained the moon cycles to him telling him when to expect the ‘kindly face’ of the full moon, and so began a life-long fascination. His first powerful telescope fostered this interest (it was given to him by his art teacher at school in Glenstal Abbey) and throughout life the moon has been his lodestone, his own guide and protector.

The challenge was to photograph the last moon of 2020, on a freezing cold New Year’s Eve, in Kilrush, Co. Clare. 60 videos were shot, each composed of 1,300 individual frames. Bryan wanted to photograph the moon over a three hour period and this entailed using a telescope which rotates against the earth’s natural spin, in order to retain the image in sight. The final ‘moon’ is deceptively simple, and belies the complexity of the making. Printed onto specially coated luminescent paper, the image absorbs daylight and then glows softly in the darkness – just like the real moon.