This Photographer Spent Four Years Photographing Irish Travellers

German photographer Birte Kaufmann was on her holliers in Ireland when she first encountered members of the Irish Travelling community, sparking a fascination that took her into a four-year project of photographing, and eventually living, among them.

Interested in how they lived – having heard that theirs was a culture far removed from the settled Irish, or the Romany communities of Europe, with whom she was more familiar – Birte just showed up one day, at a halting site in Carlow.

What happened next isn’t that surprising – she got bitten by a dog – but after that, she set out her stall: she wanted to learn more about them and photograph them in their own communities.

What happened next isn’t that surprising – she got bitten by a dog – but after that, she set out her stall: she wanted to learn more about them and photograph them in their own communities.

Her photographs give a fairly stark insight into a culture that very few outsiders gain access to – check out the full story on National Geographic, and more photographs on Birte’s site.