A few portraits of Annalise Murphy, photographed at the National Yacht Club in Co Dublin. Who didn’t watch Annalise fight so hard for that coveted Olympic medal at London 2012 in Weymouth. And whilst she came 4th that day, Annalise is getting stuck into her preparations for Rio 2016. The Sailing Competition of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games will take place on Marina da Gloria in Guanabara Bay. 
An image from a series of portraits shot for the Irish Coast Guard. This was a challenging shoot. The tide was rushing out and the wind was trying to knock over my lighting gear. But we got it done with the help and patience of these guys… and I love this image.
An image from a shoot with Clara Peters, Irish figure skater. Clara began skating when she was 7 years old, and moved to the US to train at the age of 17. She has been there ever since. Like all sports, skating requires serious dedication and it’s beginning to pay off as this year she is ranked 29th at Worlds. She is about to turn 21 and her aim now, as it has been since she was very little, is to become Ireland’s first ice skating competitor in a Winter Olympics – that of Sochi 2014.
Let’s wish her some luck.
Quick image from shoot today with Duncan Healy on the family farm which grows and sells organic fruit and vegetables through their business Organic Delights.
And yes Duncan has just murdered some lettuce…:)
This email promo blast went out today to ad agencies, graphic designers, certain corporations and publications etc in UK and Ireland. This one is hoping to attract the attention of those involved in the agri-food business. Follow ups and fingers crossed!
Some still shots I also did when I filmed the mini-documentary of Simon Hutchinson which can be seen in the earlier post. Also a behind the scenes image. Simon is now travelling through the United States. Check out his website and facebook sites for more info. The race started in London on the 18th February last and won’t end until sometime in July. As of today, the 1st June 2012, Simon is currently cycling across the United States. It’s been a tough old slog at times with sickness in India that required hospitalisation, and a road traffic accident in Perth, Australia. BUT he’s still going and is making good headway. He’s totally on his own out there with no support other than the goodwill of people he meets. So go on send him a hug. I wish him well. He’s racing for, Brainwave, the Irish Epilepsy Association.Also check out the race at worldcycleracing
A few images from a shoot earlier this week.
My mother grew upon a farm. I even studied veterinary medicine, and for a while farming was in my blood. That was in the 1980’s and farming has changed so much since then, and so I feel privileged to have known the great characters and a way of farming life that has largely fallen away into history.
Farmers have always interested me, from the big corporate style of farming to the smaller farmer. They live in a curious world where the old comes toegther with the new. They also form the backbone to the agri-food sector in Ireland contributing €24 billion to the national economy.
So who are these farmers? This is what my ongoing personal photographic project is about. Keep ya posted.
Image from last week’s shoot with Paul Cooper of Howth Coast Guard
Here are some images of Madeline Perry, professional squash player. Madeline, from Northern Ireland, boasts at least 13 national titles. She also reached a career-high world ranking of World No 3 in April 2011…..and she’s still there. There are many reasons why squash should form part of any future Olympic programme so lets hope it’ll form a part of the 2020 Olympics.
This is Rhona ‘Crow Jane’ Flynn. She’s a skater and head coach with Cork City Firebirds. They are a flat-track roller derby league in Cork, Ireland. They train 4-5 days a week, about half on-skate, half off-skate. So yes they’re serious about the sport. In fact very serious. Crow Jane also skated on the Irish national team at the Roller Derby World Cup in Toronto in December 2011. Check out a recent story on them in the Irish Times about how they fared here. Roller Derby is a full-contact team sport, played on quad roller skates, on an oval track. Since the birth of the modern sport ten years ago, there have been over a thousand teams formed worldwide. In Ireland, there are teams training in Cork, Dublin, Belfast, Limerick, and Greystones, with more forming around the country. A game is made up of bouts called jams, in which each team has an assigned jammer, a player who can score. The jammer scores points by lapping the opposing team around a track, so both teams try to assist their own jammer and block the opposing jammer. The result is a competitive and very physical sport, with ice-hockey levels of bruising contact.
But as they say on their facebook page:
A little violence never hurt anybody.
I recently photographed Ursula Jacob, who as captain of Wexford’s Senior Camogie team, helped retain their All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship Title. Not bad for a day’s work, and her efforts were rightly recognised in the Irish Times Sportswomen Awards of 2011.
Images below:
” We add an extra 200 lbs of fuel for the wife and kids”
Excuse me? Let’s rewind a bit.
I photographed Senior Aircrewman, Alan Gallagher, last week. He’s an operational winchman and a winch operator with CHC Search & Rescue. In other words he’s the man who fishes you out of a raging sea or a wind-blown mountainside.
The shoot took place at CHC Search and Rescue HQ, Dublin Airport. CHC operate the largest commercial helicopter company in the world, and have been providing Search and Rescue services on behalf of the Irish Coast Guard since 2001. The images below were taken as part of a bigger photographic project I am working on.
One of their biggest concerns on a sortie is fuel use and calculation. A huge proportion of their time planning a sortie is spent on fuel calculations, trying to consider all the angles such as wind speed and any unexpected situations that may occur, and quite often when they come up with a figure, they add a little bit (generally around 200 lbs)…..“just to make sure you get back to see them again”. 
…And you think your job is stressful….?
