Documenting Ireland’s changing environment

A dream job for many, Paula T. Nolan has spent the past few months travelling around Ireland and photographing its landscapes, traditions, people and ways of life.

The 65-year-old took up photography at age 53. As well as being the photographer in residence with the National Library of Ireland (NLI) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), she has also had her work in various exhibitions, with three of her photos in the State Art Collection.

“Seriously, this is not to brag at all, it’s that I believe anyone can have a major life change, or find something they are passionate about, at any age,” she told the Celt. Paula’s project, titled ‘ReViewing Ireland: A Photo Study of Ireland’s Environment’, involves travelling via public transport nationwide over the course of a year to capture the changing Irish environment, which will conclude in a collection of photographs of all 26 counties in the Republic, to be added to the National Photographic collections.

The Kildare native is taking historic photos from each county, from the National Library’s collections, and retaking photos of the landscape, site or area as it is now. She is connecting with EPA scientists and experts to learn more about the landscape she is photographing, and how the changing climate has impacted how they look - or how particular sites are used today.

Paula was undergoing the Cavan stint of her project when Storm Éowyn hit, meaning she ended up covering the county in two segments. When speaking to The Anglo-Celt, she was in Longford having spent the previous day in County Leitrim.

While in the Breffni County, she initially planned to go to two locations, however ended up visiting four. She finished up in County Cavan two weeks ago.

Her first stop was Inis Escargot Snail Farm just outside Virginia, where she spent a morning chatting with owner Peter Monaghan about farming and looking around the farm.

“I was interested in a few things about snail farming, one it’s very environmentally friendly,” she said, adding that when done right you can “make a living from it” with “very little land”.

“I found that very interesting especially in terms of farmer and people with a small plot of land that they want to make money from.”

Next on the Cavan trail was Cavan Adventure Centre, which saw Paula hop on a bus to Cavan with Sean Thornton giving her a lift out to his Inishmore centre.

“I’m doing all this by public transport but I do take a lift with people when their place is out of the way,” she explained.

Paula was interested in Sean’s passion for “bringing people on to the water and making use of Ireland’s waterways”.

“He inherited his father’s farm, his father’s land and obviously farming has changed so much so this is how he has changed the use of the land.”

Paula also spoke to Sean’s partner Nuala McCann who founded Cavan Lakeside Wellbeing, with mediation, yoga and workshops for groups and individuals.

It was at this point that Paula returned home due to the storm, which afforded her the opportunity to document Cavan before and after the winds. Upon her return, she went to Deerpark Forest, which she described as “shocking”.

“It was a disaster zone,” she commented. “You’re used to looking at the trees and seeing upright trunks but what you were doing was looking into the trees and seeing upright but horizontal.”

She described the experience as both “interesting” and “sad” and took many photos “to try and capture what Storm Éowyn did”.

Finally in Cavan, Paula visited Headfort bog. She described the word bog as a “buzz word”.

“They’re supposed to help Ireland dramatically reach its target of carbon emissions, rewetting them.”

She said it was the only bog she visited where the designated plots were “really clearly marked”.

Her work focuses on documenting what is “interesting” and “innovative” now, which will be looked back on in years to come.

“It’s hugely varied, I cover all sorts of issues.”

Looking back on previous work in the archives, what the photographer noticed the most to date was how there is a “clutter of lamp posts” in our towns and “so many cars compared to the old photos”.

“And often fewer people [now],” she added.

“It’s telling us people are coming out their doors and getting into the car,” she said.

Paula has had a very positive response to the project.

“People are interested in the environment either for themselves, their grandchildren or their great grandchildren, it’s affecting everybody.”

She aims for her project to “give hope to younger people”.

“I would have been much more negative about the environment before I started this. I have a belief now where there could be at a tipping point, where the good things people are doing could tip into a good outcome - not the disaster it seems as if we’re facing.”

She hopes the project will encourage other people to begin environmentally friendly initiatives and that it will familiarise people with the EPA.

“If enough people do it, it becomes a thing.”

Photos from each county will end up in the National Photographic Archives in perpetuity, with an online exhibition of the work in 2026.

For now, Paula is still making her way around the country taking photos and meeting communities. When last speaking to The Anglo-Celt, she was on the Local Link bus from Longford to Roscommon.