Cat Gundry-Beck Photographer

Cat Gundry-Beck Photographer Photographer, filmmaker, educator and musician living in Dublin, Ireland and sometimes Iceland

When I was doing a firefighting course as part of my STCW (safety training for seafarers) the instructor asked in front ...
01/09/2026

When I was doing a firefighting course as part of my STCW (safety training for seafarers) the instructor asked in front of the class, ‘so Cat you’ve been on an interesting journey from Greenland to Antarctica, what’s the best thing you saw?’

My face lit up as I said I saw some really cool rocks in Northeast Greenland National Park. Everyone laughed when he said ‘out of absolutely everything you saw, I wasn’t expecting the best thing to be rocks’ to which I replied, ‘no no I swear these rocks were INSANE’ and passed my phone around the class. He agreed they were some pretty cool rocks. Here are some photos of those rocks 😁

This one time.. at Burning Man.. Swipe to the end to see how much mud my boots were carrying during the flood, it was li...
31/08/2026

This one time.. at Burning Man..

Swipe to the end to see how much mud my boots were carrying during the flood, it was like walking with bricks on my feet 😂

Burning Man is on this week so I’m thinking back to when I went 3 years ago! The experience was magical, tough, healing, beautiful, lonely, connective, educational, mind-bending, expanding, fun, overwhelming, inspiring, chaotic, hot, cold, dusty, wet, tearful and euphoric all rolled into one 9 day journey!

One of my favourite evenings was when I performed burlesque in a fire dome - the roof was on fire (on purpose) and I did an act I made about an AI robot gaining consciousness and made a bunch of friends from Colorado and Colombia and stayed up all night with them. As I took a quick nap in one of their camper vans I heard rain and everyone was whooping and saying ‘f*ck your burn’ 😂 then the next day the rain got a lot heavier and caused flooding which was super scary - they called it a national emergency and called in the army to help and closed the exits. Thankfully my tent stayed dry and we reshaped our camp to cope with the flooding.
The thing is, the floods changed everything about the event from then on. Instead of riding my bike all around Black Rock City having random experiences by myself, I was confined to my own area as it was too muddy to cycle. It meant I made way better connections with the people in my camp. We formed some really strong bonds and had an absolute blast dancing in the mud and doing photoshoots exploring nearby art.

I’m so grateful that I got to have this wild experience and cannot wait to go again someday!

I hope everyone at the burn this year is having the best time 🔥

I met one of my favourite artists for the first time the other day and she said she was sad that I rarely post my work o...
19/08/2026

I met one of my favourite artists for the first time the other day and she said she was sad that I rarely post my work on here. So Elnaz Mansouri this one’s for you!

I barely ever get round to posting because life’s so busy and overwhelming and I find it super hard to prioritise social media. I take all these ethereal pictures that I’m super excited about but when I sit down at the computer I usually prioritise client edits, pitching and admin. Can anyone else relate to this? I’ve tried strategies like blocking Friday afternoons for personal edits, does anyone have something they do that helps them prioritise their own work?

I know that posting my own work is super important as it helps me towards my longterm goal of running photo tours with big dresses to crazy places so I will keep going with this and try post more regularly 😁

This self portrait was taken in Iceland, my happy place on the ice in a dress 🩷❄️

Glen, it’s hard to put into words what you meant to me. I had the absolute honour of meeting and photographing you multi...
29/07/2026

Glen, it’s hard to put into words what you meant to me.

I had the absolute honour of meeting and photographing you multiple times, both as The Frames and with Markéta as Swell Season.

Falling Slowly with Markéta is one of the most important songs in the world to me. Every time I listen to it, watch it in Once or play it on piano it reminds me of the kind of love I’m waiting to find. There’s a whole backstory there which I’ll tell another day.

When I was a teenager I listened to the live recording of The Frames’ Star Star / Pure Imagination on repeat. In the song, you tell the audience to close their eyes, count to three and make a wish. I was going through some tough times and wishing for a better future helped lift me up.

I finally got to hear that song live only a few months ago while shooting the Hot Press 50 Year concert. I cried behind my camera, I was so moved by it. On the same night I stood at the side of the stage with you and a handful of other artists watching Van Morrison together, it’s such a precious memory.

You were a true performer. Your energy was such a joy to photograph, your music so touching and your storytelling between songs so memorable.

You’ve inspired so many musicians in Ireland and worldwide and did so much for the community.

Rest in peace Glen, I’m sending all my love to your family, Markéta, The Frames bandmates and all your friends and fans around the world.

Glen Hansard

15/07/2026

Yesterday I woke up to two big rejection emails. I wanted to share this as I know I’ve been sharing a lot of great news the last few months (which I am so grateful for) and I think it’s important to talk about the reality of being a freelance photographer.

It’s not easy. It’s sending out 5 pitches after a 13 hour work day. It’s constant rejections from brands, competitions, grants, etc. It’s being ignored regularly after sending ideas or pricing to a potential client. But the key to it all is resilience, keeping going when things are tough.

When I get a rejection, I feel it for a bit, then take a deep breath and remind myself of the times I did get named as a finalist, that I did get the dream client, that I did get accepted to display at a dream exhibition.

I remind myself that there’s many more to come, I just have to move past the rejections and keep trying.

I heard someone once say that when they’re doing outreach, they’re not counting the pitches they send, they’re asking themselves ‘how many rejections can I get today?’ Because rejection is still success, as it shows that you tried. And to know that you tried to go after you wanted, that’s absolutely amazing. You should be proud 🩷

I hope you enjoy this calm scene from Norway today!

Coming home to Iceland in August 🩷 when I moved away I promised myself I’d be back often and still spend a lot of time t...
11/07/2026

Coming home to Iceland in August 🩷 when I moved away I promised myself I’d be back often and still spend a lot of time there. Somehow this year has flown by and I haven’t been since November! Can’t wait to finally see everyone, shoot the solar eclipse (a once in a lifetime opportunity, hopefully it won’t be cloudy 😂) and go explore some beautiful nature. Who wants to go on a highlands adventure? 😁

Everything in this photo is real except for the wings ✨

I haven’t been to a desert in a while, craving this kind of beautiful landscape! Anyone have any suggestions where I sho...
10/07/2026

I haven’t been to a desert in a while, craving this kind of beautiful landscape! Anyone have any suggestions where I should go? 😁

This self portrait was taken in Namibia, one of my favourite places in the world 🩷 Shot on the Creative Adventure by the legends , and 😁

The song is by who I had the pleasure of taking portraits of while I was there!

26/06/2026

So so so grateful that I got to see this in person in London!!!! It’s up in Granary Square til 12th July, if you have 30 seconds and want to vote for my photo the link’s in my bio!!

Some portraits I took of the Irish icon Damien Dempsey for Hot Press magazine! Absolutely loved this shoot 😁
26/06/2026

Some portraits I took of the Irish icon Damien Dempsey for Hot Press magazine! Absolutely loved this shoot 😁



I won my first ever award!!!!! I won Creative Businesswoman of the Year in the Dublin branch of Network Ireland, I absol...
25/06/2026

I won my first ever award!!!!! I won Creative Businesswoman of the Year in the Dublin branch of Network Ireland, I absolutely couldn’t believe it when my name was called at the awards night.

I’ve been working through a limiting belief recently that I’m always second best, always doing ok but never top at anything. It’s been a belief I’ve held about myself for as long as I can remember. Even in my best subject in school, French, I got an A2 not an A1 and there was one other guy in my class who was better than me. Other than French I was a solid B student in most subjects. That mindset carried over into my career - never believing I deserved to win anything. Often shortlisted or a finalist, which I am still so happy with, but never quite winning. Until I did the work on myself and my mindset and things changed. I worked with mantras, visualising and exercises in understanding why I believe that and how it’s served me so I could understand it enough to rewrite my thoughts and let go of what wasn’t true.

The awards evening was magical - it was so incredible to be in a room of about 140 amazing women doing what they want in life. When they called out the list of finalists for the creative section, all I could think of was that I was so grateful to be among these hugely successful women. When they said my name as the winner I was in absolute shock.

This award means the world to me - there have been so many times I’ve wanted to give up in my career but something inside me always tells me to keep going through all the rejections, things falling through and tough challenges. It also feels like the best ‘welcome home’ after moving back to Dublin after 14 years living abroad.

In the photo I’m wearing a ring passed down by my maternal grandmother Peggy and a bracelet from my paternal grandmother Eveline, a nod to the strong women who came before me.

Thank you so much to for this amazing video of the award winning moment and to the incredible women at and for working so hard on making such a memorable event!

Address

Enniskerry

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Cat Gundry-Beck Photographer posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Cat Gundry-Beck Photographer:

Shortcuts

Share

Category