Chapter 1
The Ghost of Cathedral Cave
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..a musician was surprised by the rising tide, and it pursuing, he retreating, and playing as he went, he became lost for ever to sight, but not to hearing - for still, they say, can be heard Jackson's unearthly music, sounding faintly miles and miles inland.
Titan, A Monthly Magazine, Volume XXIV
Published 1857, James Hogg & Sons
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There are several historical accounts of vast and inaccessible sea caves on the North Antrim coast, but I had never ventured to find them. However, in 2007 I discovered a century-old cigarette card of a “Cathedral Cave” at White Rocks. The old card gave me the inspiration to look a little harder and to try to recreate a modern day version of the old photograph. Little did I know that this card would also become the starting point of a much longer journey to photograph Antrim's mighty sea caverns.
Photographer unknown, possibly R.J. Welch (1859-1936)
The limestone cliffs of the White Rocks near Portrush in Northern Ireland are intimidating, loose and very steep. Furthermore, the tidal swells around the cliff base make exploration hazardous. I contacted a local gentleman who provided me with some detailed information about these cliffs. It was then a case of waiting for the right conditions. I needed good weather, a low sea swell and a low spring tide to safely navigate the headlands. I also needed a sure foot as the descent is steep and eroded.
So on a fine September morning I climbed cautiously down and followed the tide out around the headland. And there it was, Cathedral Cave, 180 feet deep and at least 30 feet high at its entrance. As I ventured inside I felt like an explorer who has discovered the lost city of gold. A place that every boy and girl should visit.
I tried to stand close to the position that the old photograph was taken. It was clear that some rockfall and erosion had occurred in the 100 years since the original was taken but the cave was remarkably familiar. This is quite surprising when you consider that the cave has been subject to over 70,000 tidal cycles and a century of atlantic storms. To bring the photo into the 21st century I used a modern digital technique called High Dynamic Range (HDR) to peer deep into the shadows of the cave.
On seeing my nearly complete photograph, I felt that my recreation lacked a sense of scale. It needed a figure perched on the rock. For fun, I cloned the old figure from the cigarette card into the recreation taking care to maintain the correct scale by using the rock below as a reference.
5P1 © Andy McInroy
The manipulation intrigued me. The figure looks ghostlike in this version and, of course, the person is long deceased. It got me thinking about who this person was, how they got into the cave and how they might feel about being transported from an old cigarette card into a 21st century recreation.
After taking this image, I felt myself returning to the ghostly figure again and again. I now realise that the purpose of the person in the photograph is not just about giving scale. The figure also represents the shortness of our lives in this ancient and unflinching geological frame. The figure is not a real ghost of course, but a photographic one. Perhaps we all become ghosts every time our photo is taken, captured like phantoms within the paper.
Inspired by these thoughts I returned 6 months later to photograph myself on this very rock. Here it is. Not a cheat this time but a real modern day photographic ghost. I hope that one day, perhaps 100 years from now, some other photographer might continue the story and once again stand on this very spot.
5P1b © Andy McInroy
Continue to the next chapter in the story.
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