ZELDA CHEATLE /

Curator, Editor, Lecturer and Consultant. From Introduction to Quietude / 2026

David Magee’s new photographic series, Quietude, is a striking and personal evolution in the Irish photographer’s decades-long exploration of landscape. Visually, the series continues Magee’s characteristic gravitas - his print qualities are integral to the work itself. The tonal range is dark, inky, charcoal-like blacks with subtle textures in the shadows; the prints remain unmistakably characteristic of Magee.

If the earlier works in Outside I and II were meditations on external landscapes, Quietude transforms those horizons into a metaphor for the inner one. The result is a transcendent series of pictures, which quite possibly turns darkness into an act of quiet illumination.

BRIAN MAC DOMHNAILL /

Director of Lavit Gallery, Cork, Ireland From Introduction to The Old Head / 2024

For David Magee, seeking immersion in the natural world is both a passion and a way of life. Like many artists drawn to the wild, there is an impulse to record and share the power of these moments so that we might all take notice and learn to look and experience for ourselves

His photographs do not feature recognisable landmarks and, as such, we are denied the impulse to identify each location. Instead, we are welcomed directly into an intimate and personal space - to see what the artist sees and to feel what he feels.

PROFESSOR W.SCOTT OLSEN /

Author, Editor, Reviewer of Photography From Frames Interview / 2021

David Magee’s images - the seascapes, grasses and rocks - are compelling invitations to linger and examine not only the scene, but our own hearts in response.

These are wonderful works: elegant and enduring.

DR JEAN WAINWRIGHT /

Art historian, Critic and Curator From Interview in Outside II / 2021

Nature has immense power; it can be capricious and unpredictable, reminding us of our humanity and insignificance. It can also empower and heal us. David Magee is an artist who harnesses Nature and stills it with his camera. His compositions have whispers of photography’s antecedents - Ansel Adams, Wynn Bullock and Thomas Joshua Cooper - yet his vision is uniquely his own.

Listening to him as he describes his photographic wanderings, whether in China, Japan, America, England or the west coast of Ireland, is to be transported. His pictures are compositions breathed onto the page and left there to exhale into our imaginations.

TERRY GEORGE /

Academy Award-winning Screenwriter-Director From Introduction to Outside I / 2017

David Magee’s work is a wonderful example of what photography does best. He seeks to reveal the invisible yet truly sensational dimensions of nature. Engaging with elemental forces, Magee’s work evokes emotions and atmospheres that move beyond pure representation. Through his images, he shares his memories. It is a gift. It is elemental.

DR COLLETTE NOLAN /

Visual artist, Fine Art Educator From Interview in Outside I / 2017

In David Magee’s work, very little is given away to indicate any geographical sense of place. His pictures offer suggestions to the viewer and are, in some sense, abstract. They speak of place and space, presence and absence.

Utilising a thoughtful palette of light and shadow and juxtaposing tones, his photographs are meticulous and patient in composition, highlighting the experience of being in nature and part of nature, as well as broader themes of transcendence and oneness. In a world of Social media and instant imagery, his work stands out for the serenity and presence he creates.

Seeing his prints means studying every rock, every wisp of cloud; one can almost hear the wind whispering and smell the salt of the sea as it hangs in the air.