The Keeley Factor

Cian, Jon & minder, Liliana SUN18DEC22

t’s just about our most popular annual gallery, Greystones Rocks being the perfect opportunity to capture a moment of the magic that surrounds us every day.

And having impressed the bejiggers out of us in 2021 with his 2018 entry Your Way Is Lit, My Son, Jon Pierce returned to Kindlestown Wood for this year’s winning shot.

Bucket Of Sunshine by Rob Lawless.

As chance would have it, his son is there too, four years older, and clearly curious about the big, beautiful world beyond his walks. Sweet!

It was a hard-fought contest, given that there were at least 20 shots that deserved to be crowned our once and future Kodak kings and queens.

Supermoon Over Greystones Vlad Bodarev

So, when it came to our two expert judges, whittling it down to just three was even a near-impossible task.

“I just loved the light in these shots,” says Phil McDarby, a master of nature photography who, like the late, great patron of Greystones Rocks, Brian Keeley, will wait as long as it takes for the perfect shot. “I must have changed my Top 3 at least eight or nine times, but, in the end, I went with The Light by Josephine Lloyd, Bucket by Rob Lawless and Supermoon Over Greystones by Vlad Bodarev.”

Reflections by Ann McCabe

For the town’s #1 roving snapper John McGowan, the three personal favourites were Reflections by Ann McCabe, Bear With Me by Richard Moore and this year’s champ, No Mountain Too High.

The winning pic…

Somewhat ridiculously, we only got around to presenting Jon with his framed award on this wet Sunday in mid-December, after the first two prints of his winning photo just weren’t up to scratch for framing. And, hey, we’ve been busy.

Keeley in action…

Coming along to present the award was Cian Cardiff, grandson of the late, great Brian Keeley, whose name is stamped on this award, given the great photographer’s belief in keeping it real when it came to his nature shots. No fake rainbows, dancing dolphins or passing unicorns for the Keeley lad. Or for the young Pierce lad either, it turns out – you can check out his work on Instagram here, where you can also buy prints.

You can check out the full line-up of Greystones Rocks 2022’s entries, over here. And while we have you, you can check out all the previous years’ entries and winners here.

Big love too, to The Whale, for sponsoring this year’s competition. Go explore the world outside your TV here.

In the meantime, kudos to everyone who entered this year, and congrats to the young Pierce lad – young Ben is one hell of a lucky charm…