Ferbane photographer prepares new book on Lough Boora

By David Flynn

A woman who spent time experiencing the beauty of the flora and fauna of Lough Boora during lockdown has created a new and unique book of photographs of the West Offaly gem, which brought her other work and inspirations to the fore in the process.

Aidean Ryan-Egan is a native of Ferbane and when she was going to St Joseph’s and St. Saran’s school, her favourite subject was Art, taught by Miss Henshaw (aunt of Robbie).

“She was one of my best teachers, and was an influence, but I wouldn’t have considered myself an amazing artist, although I loved colour, and abstract art,” said Aidean to the Westmeath Independent, this week.

After school she applied for a course in Photography.

“The only way you could study photography then was to get an apprenticeship and I got one in Whelan’s in Limerick, which is still there,” said Aidean.

“I was absolutely delighted, but then the man there, in his own handwriting, wrote to me and said that unfortunately he couldn’t take me on, because he didn't have the money to pay me. There everything died for a while but I went travelling and worked in Italy, which later helped me when I went back to college to study Italian.”

When she returned to Ireland, Aidean went working in restaurants as a chef, and then she managed a pizzeria in Dublin.

“I think I got bored working at the job and I didn’t want to be doing it for the rest of my life,” said Aidean. “I was interested in knowledge and at a certain point I thought, I’m going to take a chance and give it all up and go to college in Galway, which was in my mind.”

She studied Sociology and Politics, Italian, Philosophy and Classical Civilisation.

“Those years went quick, they flew, and I spent a few months in Italy again around that time,” said Aidean. “I put a pin on the map and I arrived in Sorrento and stayed there for four months. That was a great summer furthering my Italian language study.”

After college, Aidean went working in Galway, administrating at a puppet theatre, before going back to UCG to do an H.Dip in Ed, and she did her block teaching in St. Flannan’s college in Ennis, where she taught her degree subject of Classical Civilisation. Along the way, Aidean also trained as a hair stylist colourist.

“While doing teaching practice, I started going to Reiki in Galway and I got off the table after the first treatment and knew immediately that that work was for me, and I would be doing that until I was 90,” said Aidean laughing.

That was 25 years ago, and Aidean is still practicing and teaching Reiki and has added Reflexology among other therapies to the practice.

She used the money from Reiki to finance her H.Dip and then Reiki took off for her, and she saw it as another decision she made that was right.

“I usually take an hour and a half, between the talking, the treatment, the talking to the person afterwards and people do like to talk afterwards,” said Aidean.

“Their story is their story, whatever their body wants to deal with at the time. I don’t know what will come up for them, physically, mentally or spiritually. I’m the facilitator and I allow them to release what is holding them back, which could be emotional, but I have no clue at the start.

"Another thing that might happen is the release of some ancestral issues which get stuck, like past lives stuff that are maybe holding them back. It might reveal itself as a pain in the shoulder. It can be a physical thing as well.”

Aidean said that Reiki and Reflexology has influenced her art, and definitely influenced her photography.

“I felt directly inspired to share images of nature as another form of healing therapy,” said Aidean. “The colours in nature are part of the healing qualities of the chakra colours. Colour Therapy is very important in healing.

“I started taking photos of swans in Lough Boora before the lockdown and I shared them on Facebook.”

She started using her camera phone and later began using a Fuji Bridge camera that she had once given to her husband, Kieran, and she began to use and study it herself, through trial and error.

“Then the lockdown started, and I began to take more photos, but I hadn’t even a clue what a sparrow was, and had no clue about the species,” said Aidean.

“I knew about swans and ducks, and began to get more of an interest in the different species in Lough Boora. I had been walking my kids, Ava Grace and Reuben there over the years, and it’s amazing the things I didn’t see then, like the Bee Orchid flower, which Boora is famous for, and flowers for a month every year and it’s gone.

"I got interested and studied all wildlife, including the different birds, animals and plants. The magnificence of the Hen Harrier and the many different flocks of Goldfinch and Linnets are a sight to behold.”

Aidean said that she spent “hours and hours” on Lough Boora discovering new things all the time.

“I moved from the Fuji to a Canon DSLR, and then I began to get more knowledge and I knew I needed to share this with the world, not only the colours and the textures and species of birds,” she said. “It was a method of healing when the lockdown came and it became not only my therapy but I saw the whole healing quality of nature. Now I’m publishing a book showcasing the wildlife in Lough Boora and the surrounding boglands.”

Aidean’s father, Brendan Ryan, who is an historian, has written many books about Offaly including the recently published, ‘As The Years I Backward Span’. Brendan has written the foreword to Aidean’s book, which has a working title, ‘Out of the Mists of Time’.

Aidean, who is also a member of Athlone Photography Club, has created many prints of different species and wildlife from Lough Boora.

Her pictures are for view and for sale on her website; www.bogwildlife.com and Aidean can also be contacted on her Facebook page – Aidean Ryan Egan.

Her prints and greeting cards can be found at the Christmas market in Lough Boora on Sunday, December 15 and in Ballinahown Market on Saturday, December 21.