Aged 19, Emilija Jefremova joined her boyfriend, who was in Ireland, for the summer before college. Life didn’t follow its planned course; “the visit extended into what now is 18 years”. Next year, the freelance photographer will have been based in Ireland for as long as she was in her native Lithuania.
Jefremova lives close to Galway city but as we chat she’s out west, in Barna, the sea visible behind her, minding a friend’s home and pet. The weather is wild and she’ll spend her day photo editing. She’s planning to fly to Copenhagen to catch up with an old friend and shoot a Sigur Rós concert. “They’re my most favourite band in the world, and they’re playing with full orchestra in one of the biggest concert halls in Europe.” Then on to Paris to photograph behind the scenes and tech rehearsal for Teaċ Daṁsa’s dance show Mám. She’s thrilled at the prospect of both shoots, and “leisure and work, in the most beautiful balance”. She talks about being focused on the camera but able to absorb what’s happening too. ”
She grew up in Klaipeda, a port town on the Baltic, Lithuania’s third biggest city. “I never left the water.” Her mother and grandmother are still there, and her father died a couple of years ago. Her mother visits often, and she goes back too. Christmas will be in Lithuania, but “my core people are here. I’m blessed with very good friends through the country”.
After school she considered studying theatre or creative writing in Vilnius, then planned to study digital media in London. But after their Irish summer, “the London thing kind of fizzled out”. Her Lithuanian boyfriend was in Kerry, and they decided to work for a year, saving for college. It was the end of the Celtic Tiger and as a waitress in first class on the Tralee-Dublin train, she cleared €650 a week after tax; “we’re earning a lot as kids, as the first job”. As well as saving, they could travel during time off (“a lot of discovering, hiking”), and there was a choice of quality apartment rentals in Kerry.
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She studied TV and film in Galway, and by the time she finished college the economy had changed. “But I was lucky, I got good enough jobs on feature films.” Eventually she and her boyfriend split, but they remain on good terms. For a time she planned to move back to Lithuania, and travelled abroad for long periods too, but returned to Galway. “Good old hedonistic Galway has a tendency of catching you.”
In 2015, she started at TG4 as camera assistant. She recalls a passing comment, by a visitor not a colleague, that “you won’t be able to become camera operator, because you’re a female and a foreigner”. For Jefremova that comment was “a big push”. With training and support from her department head (“she was a great boss”), within two seasons she was camera operator. She did Irish language classes but “they didn’t go down well. The teacher came in with sheets of grammar to start!” Still, “I can get the gist if there is a conversation [in Irish], but I won’t be able to converse back.”
I’m addicted. Connemara is my healing and teaching space. It’s everything. The whole west coast is a big, big part of why I’m in Ireland. It has something I can’t really grasp on
She was at TG4 for six years, “a great training set, lovely people to work with”, and she still freelances there. “Filming on those big cameras, it’s a good thrill. But I was very eager to do something more creative.”
It was probably more than eight years ago, when she fell in love with an Irish woman, that “I knew that I want to stay here, creating this new nest. It just clicked. This is my home now. I found why I want to be here, because it was such a good relationship” along with “some very tight, good friendships. And Galway, I feel comfortable here, I feel at home, the belonging to the place”. She savours that work takes her away, and also that she comes home.
She and her partner split up this year but “it was such an important and beautiful relationship, incredible and very supportive”. While it’s sore at the moment, she celebrates, knowing “not many people will have something like that in their lifetime, ever. Long term I’m happy that I had those eight years of incredible love”.
Her ex-partner and “Irish family” were “big supporters” when she changed career, leaving TG4 for full-time freelance photography. “I will always carry it with me ... She trusted and believed in my work,” when Jefremova lacked self-belief.
She started photography around 2019 while still in TG4, on weekends and evenings, slowly building her portfolio and contacts. “It’s a pretty long journey to get there.”
She’s been a freelance photographer for four years, and “with every job, I constantly learn something. That is the most beautiful aspect of photography”. Her work is eclectic: portraiture, theatre, project-based work, documenting, video and drone, magazine, PR, corporate and freelancing for a news agency.
“Even during Covid ... I had enough stable monthly jobs. I mean, it was scary, but it was easy because I had a very solid support.” She built up clients: Galway International Arts Festival, Mácnas, Fáilte Ireland, several councils. She’s always seeking new challenges. She hopes to travel more with her work, and would like to buy a home.
Part of the draw is Connemara ... “I’m addicted. It’s my healing and teaching space. It’s everything. The whole west coast is a big, big part of why I’m in Ireland. It has something I can’t really grasp on.”
Flying to Lithuania is “going home”, but so too is coming back to Galway. Her memories of Lithuania are of childhood, and Ireland is where “I grew up as an adult, and established myself as a creative”. And, “I don’t know if it’s just pure luck, because I know it happens, but I have never had any comments or bullying about my nationality or that I was with a woman.”
The biggest difference between Lithuania and Ireland is “the warmth and the coldness of people. They’re just a bit more cautious in Lithuania. They’re all very good people. But what clicks with me, that I didn’t find in Lithuania when I was growing up, is the openness, friendliness. The quick interaction, the ability of people to talk to each other. In Lithuania, you don’t do chit-chat. I don’t want to generalise Lithuanians, but people wouldn’t say hello, passing on a mountain walk. They’re a bit more reserved and to themselves. I like to connect with people, and my work is literally that every day. In Lithuania it’s hard work to get through to a person. It’s a bit more relaxed here.”
