Inner View: Celtic Girl Travels, So You Can too

By John O’Brien, Jr.

Hello Cindy, very nice to have this chance to sit down and chat at last; Slyman’s makes it easy for a good lunch too. I think we first met at Cleveland Irish Cultural Festival?

Yes, it was a great festival. I think that they’ve been doing a fantastic job since they brought it back from after COVID. I know you guys have been working really hard. I travel to a lot of festivals in the in the area, also into other states as well, mostly on the East Coast, and I’ve been doing some art shows as well.

Tell me a little bit about your business, first how you got into it?

My business is Celtic Girl Travels Photography. I sell my photography from the Celtic Nations, mostly Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall … I share the Celtic heritage with people. I like to bring people to a place; that’s the whole point of my photography, I want people to feel immersed in it, and feel that they’re there, in that place, and standing in the middle of that picture.

How do you pick the place? 8

It could be people ask me to go and shoot a specific place, or it’s places that I want to see, places that I’ve researched and explored.

Someone comes to you and tells you the particular site they love, you make the best effort to get there?

Correct, people give me a list for the after-show season. I take a list of all the places that people have asked me to try and get to. People ask me to go to their family’s home, give me the contact to reach out to … “they’ll let you take pictures of our family home.”

I gather all that information and then when I plan my next trip, I plan it around those spots, doing my best to hit the majority of what I can.

You are shooting for purpose, but also traveling and seeing other things as well? 2

Correct. Then I explore things that I want to see or things that I haven’t had a chance to see. My great grandma came over from Ireland, I remember her very vividly. She was such an awesome lady; I’m glad I had the opportunity to know her for the short time that I did.

How did you progress from being something that you want to do, to something that you're doing for a living? 7

It was kind of a weird thing. Photography was never on my radar.

My grandfather was a photographer, in addition to being a business owner; that was a hobby that he had. I’ve always appreciated photography because I like looking at the world through other people’s eyes; that’s what I feel that photography is.

The year I turned 40, I went over to Ireland, my dad was with me. I came back, and my sister was going through my pictures. She [said], you have a really cool eye. I said OK, whatever.

No, she said, you have a really cool eye. So, I did some research, and bought myself a good camera, and I went back over. I taught myself everything that I know. I took a class on how to use the camera and that was about it. I’m self-taught.

I started with a handful of pictures at an art show. Then I happened to get into Cleveland Irish Festival the next year. It’s just kind of grown from there.

The skill level that you have is amazing. 3

Thank you, John. It’s been about seven years. I explore different places.

One of the things I do is, I don’t alter my photography. There’s no Photoshop, no Lightroom, no filters.

It’s all natural because I want to share the true natural beauty that can be found. Finding the perfection in the imperfection that’s out there; there’s so many amazing places to see; they don’t need to be altered, especially over there.

What are some of your favorite places to go? 4

Everybody always asks me that. Then I always feel bad if people say, well what about this?

I love the West Coast of Ireland. There’s nothing wrong with the East Coast. The East Coast is beautiful too.

I do love the West Coast, especially up in Donegal, that’s one of my favorite areas. In Scotland I love the Highlands. There are also very beautiful places there.

There are too many beautiful places in the world we want to see – don’t you feel that we're never going to get to them all? 6

Oh absolutely, absolutely. There are beautiful places here in the states. I had the opportunity to go the Pacific Northwest earlier in the year; that was absolutely amazing and gorgeous.

I love the East Coast too. The New England states, again, beautiful places, but my heart truly lies in the Celtic nations. That is what calls to you and what speaks to you.

Do you teach photography? 9

I do not now, but I have been approached and asked to teach some photography classes. I’m talking through with some people on that. There are certainly things, skills with photography, that I can help people with.

Are there dreams, other places you'd like to go, do, or see? 5

There are lots of places that I still haven’t explored or touched or scratched the surface of, in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall …

I want to go to the Isle of Man. I want to go to Britannia, that area of France that have the Celtic roots. I want to hit all the Celtic Nations.

I want to go to other places, but every time I go over, my heart just keeps taking me back there. I know I need to step out of that.

Honestly, I just thought I’d try it and see what happened, see if people appreciated what I can give to them. It’s grown over the years to the point where it means so much to me.

People hunt me down at festivals. [They say] I want to see what you have new. That means so much to me. I love giving people memories and sharing in people’s memories.

When I can give somebody a memory; I wanted to bring people to a place. I do that because people have attachments to things.

People either want to travel and have a memory of that place. They may not have gotten a picture or something that has meaning for them. I can give that to them.

There is a little boy that wanted this picture of the Giants Causeway. That was the last trip they took as a family before his parents separated. He had to have that. When I found out the whole story behind the picture, it meant so much to me that I could give that little boy something.

Most people want to travel, but they may not have the means, their health may not be able for that. I can give that to people, that’s what means the world to me; that’s what speaks to me.

I’m looking at travel agencies that are doing photography tours over in Ireland; we’re putting feelers out now for that, to see if there’s any interest in going to some of the iconic places. Everybody wants to do those things. Some of those out of the way places that I found; I’ll talk to the local people – what is really cool here that people don’t know about?

I’ll find those out of the way and those little hidden gems that people don’t know about. There is a beautiful holy well, a children’s well, in Sligo that is in the middle of the forest; it’s stunning. It is so peaceful.

There is a waterfall hidden in Donegal, just outside Donegal town; there’s those little hidden things that you find, you stumble on.

Where should people go to get a look at/purchase your work?

My website is CelticGirlTravels.com. Contact me to purchase my work because I’m building a separate website for retail; I do wholesale as well. My work is in stores across the country, and in some local stores.

I love exploring new places and meeting new people. That’s one of the things about going to the festivals. You meet people and they share their experiences with you. They want to talk; they want to have conversations with you. You meet amazing people.

A great lunch with a gifted photographer, one who can translate what she sees and feels in person into an image that speaks to viewers, and evokes memories, dreams, meaningful moments and people precious in their eyes. Check out Cindy’s beautiful work, untouched, personally unique, and timeless.

To Read More of John’s Inner View Columns, Click HERE