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Pound, County Kerry, 1994Born in County Kerry, Ireland, O’Shea has been returning annually to his home county for 30 years to pursue the Kerry Beagle drag hunt. Kingdom of Hounds is published by RRB Photobooks. All photographs: Tony O’Shea
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Carhan, County Kerry, 1991In a drag hunt, an artificial scent – in this instance aniseed – is laid by a human. There is no pursuit of a live animal. O’Shea says: ‘Growing up in South Kerry I would regularly see and hear the hounds and their owners on the Sundays of late spring and summer as they gathered for the drag hunts. It looked and sounded primordial and somehow to belong in this terrain on the western edges of Europe’
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County Cork, 2006Kerry Beagles, one of the oldest native Irish dog breeds, are bred as hunters and trained by the local huntsmen. The Kerry Beagle is one of only nine Irish breeds recognised by the Irish Kennel Club. The hounds have heritage as well as pedigree
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Carhan, County Kerry, 1991The huntsmen photographed are O’Shea’s old neighbours and friends, giving him a unique perspective on the community: ‘What was refreshing was the continuity of commitment within families and how succeeding generations replaced each other in the devotion to this breed of hunting dog and the desire to breed or train a legendary champion’
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Carhan, County Kerry, 1991O’Shea: ‘Drag hunting is considered a sport by most people including those most closely involved with it and there is no escaping from the strong competitive element of its structure but I feel it also is an expression of a desire to experience the earth beneath our feet, the squelch of bogland, the smell of heather and the taste of the salty rain on our lips, the ever changing light of mountain and shore and also the ever present threat of a serious wetting and all this in the company of creatures with whom many of us feel a special affinity’
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Finians Bay, County Kerry, 1999The route is designed to take advantage of the best jumping opportunities
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Carhan, County Kerry, 1993In an essay from Kingdom of Hounds, Paul O’Sullivan writes: ‘There is little forgiveness in this landscape for man or hound. Many of Tony O’Shea’s images feature drenching rain that huddles the huntsmen under the scant shelter of a stunted hedgerow or a parked van. The men are stoic, attuned to this world of slough-pasture and mountain and the cold misery of unremitting rain. The photographer finds the authentic in the faces he captures, sculpted by lived experience and environment’
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Carhan, County Kerry, 2005The hounds are shown, often in gruelling weather, plunging into river currents, soaring over high hedges and rough terrains. Here, a platoon of brave bobbing heads swim up-river against a strong flow, in an image that is both thrilling and strangely moving
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Valentia, County Kerry, 2002O’Sullivan writes: ‘Courage, speed and endurance are bred into these hounds. These are not the small dogs of the fox hunt – they stand 23 inches or more at the shoulder, with the conformation of a natural athlete. In Tony O’Shea’s images they are a powerful physical presence as they emerge in a quicksilver burst from car boots and trailers, or are caught in steeplechase flight across a high bank, or navigate with precarious balance the vertical hazards of barbed wire’
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County Cork, 1996The narrative mimics that of the hunt with the participants – human and canine – congregating in the countryside, lined up at the start, the frantic following and pursuit followed by the celebrations of jubilant winners
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Valentia, County Kerry, 2007As strong a presence in the images as they are in the community, throughout the book the Kerry Beagles demonstrate their hardy bloodlines
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Carhan, County Kerry, 1997Many of the huntsmen come from families who have been breeding and training hounds for generations and the rivalries between neighbouring hunts have been around for just as long
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Waterville, County Kerry, 1993O’Shea says: ‘Now there were fewer people and a different generation involved but it felt wonderful that people still experienced the need to do it despite the many distractions of the digital age’
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Carhan, County Kerry, 1991O’Shea is interested in capturing the deeper truth to how people live. Through gruelling weather, competitive tensions and celebrations, O’Shea’s delicate photography shows us the intimate moments of a community coming together to continue this deeply rooted tradition
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