@lorcanfinnegan is one of the freshest and finest Instagram environmental portrait photographers I know on IG. The day his images drip fed into #thehashtagofman I was looking at people like I never seen before. This guy IS incredible and one really needs to travel through his field work to see what I mean. The topography of his subject’s faces, the contours and contortions of their skin and expressions, caught in a milky Dublin light, showcase a people life seemed to be a bit harder on. Whether it’s the climate, the socio-economics of his location or simply age drying up dreams these images etch a hard, cool stare from something so far removed from the usual suspects. There is no apology here he makes, only a beautiful despair (if there is such a thing), and if there isn’t well he invented it. Often we see this work in black and white, but the rich colour he shoots with nails down a reality that sometimes feels physical. There is no abstraction, no apology, no light way around the truth – only a kick in the teeth narrative showing us what life can give and what it can take whether in a moment or throughout decades. His portraits portray gasps of bitter luck, missed opportunities, long forgotten youth, or a t-bone smash that serves as a wakeup call. But it is the way he captures them that are so poignant, so lush, that one can still feel whisper of hope.

@lorcanfinnegan