Society has been fundamentally changed with the invention of biometrics and AI. While controversial, at the same time this is making the experience of viewing images ever more exciting. I believe in the power of photography to evoke emotions that connect times in people’s own lives to other stories and narratives. My aim is to create visual contexts that enable people to explore new technologies as well as new perspectives on the experiences of others as well as themselves. I aspire to share in the explorations of other photographers who are introducing VR to contemporary practices in photography. Location and studio work anchors my practice and my learning in these situations and allow me to explore the effects on my practice of incorporating drone footage with VR environmental design. The immersive experience of VR has a lot of potential in terms of the development of my skills.
Over the past 12 months I have taken a series of photographs from different church ruins across the North-East of Ireland but was drawn to return and focus my attention on one particular place where I took many different types of images from all over the site at different times of the day and year throughout the different seasons.
“Immersive Ruins.” is a series of panoramic photographs that capture the feelings of visiting the church ruins at Kildemock, Co. Louth. Otherwise known as “The Jumping Church.”
After creating these panoramic images, I came up with the idea, that it would be nice to share the feeling of visiting this site with others who may not be as fortunate to be able to travel to locations like this. With that in mind, I decided to create a VR experience of this ruin.
Using images taken from the site I used a process called photogrammetry which is the process of creating 3d assets from 2d photographs using dedicated software. Photographs are used to create a 3D Model from a large number photographs taken in a circular motion around the different parts of the Ruins. These photographs are then run through the software to create an exact 3d replica of the ruin and its many different graves and crosses.
The model is then exported in to a game’s engine called “Unreal Engine” to create an Immersive Experience using Virtual Reality. With the completion of the VR experience, the public, with the use of the VR headset can choose to move freely around the site in an “Open World” scenario exploring the many different areas of the ruins while listen to a brief description of the historical background surrounding the mystery of “The Jumping Church”.