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Spirits in sky over Northern Ireland, in photos

Inspired by the moody skies of painter JMW Turner, photographer Stephen ST Bradley has captured a world of grandeur and scale, depicting spirits that guard, hunt and play against dark and brooding blue blackness where cloud, light and vapour are backdrops in an ethereal otherworld.Interspersed with imagery of mankind’s engagement with the skies, as aeroplanes and their jet streams cut through or become subsumed by this expansive brooding world, Bradley’s imagery enables us all to see nature through a new set of eyes.Drawn to dramatic intensity, Stephen began his journey when introduced to the surreal and intricate paintings of Salvador Dali, during a visit the Dali Museum in St Petersburg, Florida.For monthBut it was only after experiencing the Mike Leigh movie Mr Turner that a seed was planted deep in this Irishman’s psyche that germinated with his discovery (both planned and organic) of the drama and lifeforms in the skies above his Northern Irish homeland.After living and working in Atlanta, Georgia, as a lifestyle photographer for advertising, design, editorial and corporate clients, and where sunshine on an almost daily basis was a given, returning home to Belfast reminded Bradley that exterior photography in Northern Ireland can be a bit of a lottery – it’s not unusual to experience the four seasons in one day.Realising that living under inconsistent weather has its advantages, when it comes to photographing the skies, the depression began to lift. Here’s how the man himself explains it.