Celebrating 13 years as a Professional Photographer

February 17, 2026

I recently celebrated 13 years as a professional photographer.

Although I now shoot news, I didn’t start out as a presser, instead focusing (pun intended) on weddings, family and commercial photography.

Despite press photography being my main focus, I still undertake commercial jobs, for instance when the EU Commissioner visited Castletownbere in May 2025.

*EU Commissioner Visit to Castletownbere*

Stock photography is also a necessity - I have over 13,000 pictures on Alamy Stock Agency. I try to add a minimum of 100 pictures per month to my portfolio. An image may not sell for weeks, months or even years, but once it’s visible to buyers, it’s working for me.

My main form of income, however, is press photography. I love chasing a good news story, whether it be hard or soft news. Enough talking - here’s some examples of what I shoot.

*Remember Coronavirus? Garda Checkpoint in Ballinascarthy, West Cork - 2021*

*John & Francis Brennan at their hotel in Kenmare, 2021*

*Sheep Farming in Ballydehob, West Cork 2023*

*Irish Olympic Rowers Homecoming in Skibbereen, 2024*

*Another Coronavirus image created at home - January 2021*

Of course, there’s many thousands of images I’ve captured over the years which I simply don’t have the space for. This is just a flavour of what I’ve been up to for the last 13 years. Keep tuned for more in the coming weeks, months and hopefully years!

Irish Press Photographer - A Fishing Photo Essay

January 20, 2026

A big part of my job is driving around looking for pictures. Very often I can drive for hours and not get a single photograph. However, this day was different. I decided to take a chance in the small fishing village of Union Hall and I wasn’t disappointed.

A trawler, called ‘Emerald Isle I’ was being prepared for a 16 day trip to fish for prawns. I captured pictures of the crew, the food, the nets and even managed a photo of the skipper in the wheelhouse.

*Skipper of Emerald Isle I ‘Smiling Johnny’ as he likes to be called, in the wheelhouse.*

Luckily, the crew of the trawler were very amenable and didn’t mind having their picture taken

*Just some of the crew of the ‘Emerald Isle I’.*

Walking around the quay, I was thinking how to capture the essence of the preparations for a fishing trip. The main focus seemed to be preparing the nets for the trip and, of course, pumping the 39, 603 litres of diesel into the fuel tanks which would be needed for the 16 days.

*Crew members prepare the nets for the fishing trip.*

Talking to Smiling Johnny, the boat’s skipper, he said there’s plenty of fish to be caught, but there’s big competition with trawlers from other countries. Johnny said, as skipper, the buck stops with him - he has to arrange food, fuel, net repairs, be a first aider, firefighter and boss. Rather him than me…

Irish Press Photographer - Photographing New Year's Eve Fireworks.

January 14, 2026

Every New Year’s Eve, Bantry in West Cork organises a massive fireworks display, so every year I photograph it. Fireworks can be difficult to shoot, although with some knowledge and a bit of luck, one can produce some good pictures.

Nikon D5, Nikkor 24-70 f2.8 VR, f9, 15 seconds, ISO 100.

Firework displays usually last around 10 minutes, this adds pressure to get the perfect shot, but calmness is the key. What equipment is needed? Aside from the obvious camera and lens, a hat is essential as one can get cold waiting for the display to start. A good tripod is crucial - I use a carbon fibre 3LT ‘Brian’. Always spend a minimum of 10% of the value of your camera on a tripod to be sure it doesn’t collapse. A remote control is also important because the camera can’t be touched during long exposures. Finally, a head torch is useful for setting up/taking down gear and checking camera settings.

Nikon D5, Nikkor 24-70 f2.8 VR, f9, 8 seconds, ISO 100

Arriving in Bantry early, I took time to find the best position to take the pictures from and set up my gear. Although the aperture and ISO remained the same throughout the display, the shutter speed was always different. Why? For fireworks images, long exposure is the key, so I put the shutter speed on the ‘bulb’ setting, which enables me to keep the shutter open for as long as I need. Capturing fireworks which explode at different heights makes for better pictures.

Nikon D5, Nikkor 24-70 f2.8 VR, f9, 5 seconds, ISO 100

One of the publications which used an image from the shoot was The Echo - click here. Why not try your hand at photographing fireworks? With a bit of preparation and trial and error, you will get good pictures.

Stay tuned to my blog, another post will appear in the next few weeks. Thanks for reading!

Irish Press Photographer - Photographing Sheep Shearing in West Cork.

July 03, 2021

The thing I like about being a self-employed press photographer is the variety of my work. No two days are the same as I strive to shoot different and interesting subjects. And so it was last week when I decided to contact a sheep farmer to photograph him shearing his flock of sheep.

After a long drive, I arrived at the farm, which was near Mount Gabriel, very west from where I live, set in beautiful rolling countryside. John, the sheep farmer, had brought the sheep down from the mountain where they graze and by the time I arrived, was well into the shearing.

*John and his brother Don shearing sheep.*

With the shearing taking place in a small part of a shed, I chose my Nikon 14-24mm f2.8 lens to take the shots, attached to my D5, so I could get up close for interesting pictures and to get the whole scene in the frame. As the shed was quite dark, I bumped up my ISO (3,200 for the above photo) as I wanted a relatively fast shutter speed and a narrow depth of field to get the whole scene in focus.

*Close up of the shearing using the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 lens.*

Obtaining some nice detail shots was on my mind, so I brought out my Nikon D4s with the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 lens attached for the above picture. One always tries to capture something a little different when given a rare opportunity to photograph sheep shearers at work!

The trip paid off as I got two hits in The Irish Farmers Journal and The Echo, which rounded off a great afternoon’s work in the scorching sunshine!

I hope you’re enjoying these snippets of my life as a press photographer. Remember, you can leave likes and comments below and I’m always open to suggestions as to what to write in future blog posts. Until next time!

West Cork Press Photographer - Photographing Ian Bailey

June 28, 2021

Back in 2019, Ian Bailey, the chief suspect in the murder of Sophie Toscan Du Plantier, went on trial in France ‘In Absentia’ for Sophie’s murder. Ian Bailey didn’t travel to France for obvious reasons, rather staying in West Cork.

The verdict in the trial was due to be announced on Friday 31st May. Every Friday in Bantry, the farmers market takes place and Ian Bailey always attends. I knew Ian would be at the market at some stage so set out with my cameras in an attempt to get some shots. On arrival in Bantry, I saw a staff photographer from an Irish national paper, but I was the only freelancer present. After a good hour of waiting I was about to give up and leave Bantry when I saw Ian Bailey, working his way from stall to stall.

*Ian Bailey picture usage in the irish Sun on Sunday dated 27th June, 2021.*

Whilst I was shooting a ton of pictures, I heard Mr. Bailey use the words ‘Media Feeding Frenzy’, which made me chuckle. He told bystanders he wasn’t aware as to why he was being photographed, but seeing as it was the day of the French verdict, it must have been pretty obvious.

After about 10 minutes of taking pictures, I had a ton of images and decided to leave Ian alone and go back to my car to send the photos to the various pictures desks. Unfortunately the staff photographer kept photographing Ian Bailey, even taking some shots whilst he was having a cup of coffee, which is something I wouldn’t do, because ethics…

*Ian Bailey picture usage in the Irish Sun dated 26th June, 2021.*

After headlining, captioning and editing the images, I carried on with my day as normal. Little did I know the amount of usages I’d get from these pictures! The Irish Sun, Southern Star, irish Daily Star, Irish Mirror, The UK Times all picked up the photos, both online and in print. I even managed to get the front page of the UK Times the next day.

*Ian Bailey usage on the front page of The Times dated 1st June, 2019.*

To this day the pictures have been used repeatedly, even more lately, as documentaries about the Du Plantier case have been aired on television. I actually appear in the Sky Crime documentary, made by Jim Sheridan, taking these pictures - have a look and see if you can spot me!

More ramblings about my life as a professional photographer to come soon. If there’s something about my job you want to find out, do leave a comment below and I’ll try and cover it in a future blog post. Until next time.

Irish Press Photographer - Shooting a Yacht Race in Schull, West Cork.

June 17, 2021

Most of the time I shoot rather mundane subjects - COVID, general news, crime, court, etc, but occasionally something exciting shows up. And so it was last Saturday, I had the chance to shoot a local yacht race in the beautiful village of Schull.

Schull Harbour Sailing Club was the organiser and all boat skippers competing were members of the club. It was the first club race of the year so I thought it would be nice to document it. After managing to blag a ride in a RIB and donning my life jacket, I set about thinking about my shots.

*Boats competing in the Schull Harbour Sailing Club race.*

I not only wanted to show a flavour of the race, but also some close up shots of the sailors in action during the race. Luckily my RIB driver was very good (thanks Martin!) and got me in nice and close to the boats, without interfering with the racing line.

Gear used was my Nikon D5 with the 24-70 f2.8, Nikon D4s with the 70-200 f2.8 and the trusty Nikon D700 with the 200-500 lens. I kept my shutter speed nice and high, ranging from 1/1250 to 1/3200 sec with various apertures and low ISO’s, as it was a lovely hot, sunny and bright day.

The two pictures used:

The trip was a success as I managed two hits, both in The Southern Star newspaper!

If you like these blog posts, do consider leaving a like and/or a comment and tell me what you’d like to see in future ramblings - more ‘how I do it’ posts, gear related blogs, the business side, etc. Have a look next week to see my latest post and thanks for looking!

Irish Press Photographer - On Spec Pictures in West Cork, Ireland.

June 09, 2021

Although I love photography and my job, there’s times when I have to photograph stories which aren’t pleasant. Many subjects I’ve photographed are enjoyable - beach scenes, portraits, pets, etc, but when it comes to crime scenes and funerals, that’s a totally different proposition.

So it was, recently, I learned about a crime which happened relatively locally to me. A woman had been stabbed in her home by her son. Once I found out where the location was, I set out to find the house and get some shots. Soon I found the location, introduced myself to the Garda on duty and showed him my press pass. I took various pictures of the house, which had been sealed off by Gardai, from different angles and drove to a car park to edit and caption the pictures and send them to the various pictures desks.

*Scene of stabbing in West Cork, picture used by The Echo.*

The above image was picked up by the two local papers - Irish Examiner and The Echo. The Irish Sun also used the picture below.

Not a nice subject to shoot, and rather mundane, but crucial in telling the story, which is what press photography is all about.

If you’re enjoying these blogs, do tell me what sort of post you’d like to see, whether it’s a specific story, my photography gear, how I send my images to the news desks, etc, etc. Until next week…

Irish Press Photographer - On Spec Pictures, Cork, Ireland.

June 01, 2021

As a freelance press photographer, most of my published pictures are sent in to news desks ‘on spec’. This means I haven’t been commissioned for the picture, rather, I send images in which I think may be of interest to the newspapers and if so, I’ll make a sale.

The usage in today’s blog post is a classic example of the ‘on spec’ system. I was in Cork city covering the last day of the Debenhams protest (which I’ll cover in an up-coming blog). I was walking back to my car after photographing the protest when, crossing the road bridge at the Port of Cork, I saw a bunch of pleasure boats and merchant vessels moored on the quay and in the marina.

I couldn’t resist taking the picture, even though it was a very grey day, with the hope it might get used at some stage in the future. Imagine my delight when it was used the very next day!

*An ‘On Spec’ image usage in the ‘Picture Diary’ in Cork newspaper ‘The Echo’.*

I do enjoy this part of the job - searching for photos to send in to the newspaper picture desks. Being a freelance press photographer means freedom to go where I want, when I want and shoot what I want!

Keep an eye out for next week’s blog post, where I’ll tell the story of another picture usage. Maybe…

Press Photographer - Covering a Fisherman's Protest in Cork, Ireland.

May 27, 2021

After looking through various news channels, I found out about a fisherman’s protest taking place in the Port of Cork on 26th May. Fishermen were to protest about their fishing quotas, how their catch is weighed and other issues. The fishermen were to gather at Roches Point, the entrance to Cork Harbour, and then make their way up the River Lee to Cork City docks.

I decided to cover as much of the protest as possible, thus maximising my chance of sales. Starting at Roches Point at 06.30 on Wednesday 26th May, I took a bunch of shots then drove to Passage West, Blackrock Castle and the docks in the heart of Cork City, where the fishing boats would moor during the length of the protest.

After filing pictures from Roches Point, I drove to Passage West and then to Blackrock Castle to get some images of the trawlers passing the iconic Cork landmark.

*The trawlers pass Blackrock Castle witnessed by a crowd of onlookers.*

Finishing the journey at Cork Docks, the 73 trawlers made for an impressive sight. As a press photographer, I’m always looking to add people to my images, as human interest is crucial to a good picture. Spending time taking photos at the docks was worthwhile as the Irish Sun and Southern Star illustrated their articles about the protest with my pictures, through Alamy Live News. Not only was it a good day in terms of sales, but an incredible sight seeing all the fishing boats gathered in Cork.

Click > The Irish Sun’s coverage. <

The Blarney Castle Hotel.

September 27, 2017

In last week's blog post I wrote about an event at the Blarney Castle Hotel and said I'd talk about a shoot I did there a few months ago in this week's post.

Earlier this year I was asked to photograph the hotel and provide a bunch of images for the hotel's new website. There was such a lot to photograph, the shoot was spread over 3 days and involved an overnight stay.

The brief was to photograph everything - accommodation, food, bar, live music, staff and to try and show the hotel is family owned. Moving from room to room, I wanted to capture the luxury of the accommodation.

As well as wide shots, showing the facilities in the rooms was very important.

Food is a big part of what the Blarney Castle does so the chefs pulled out all the stops and prepared some amazing looking dishes for me to photograph. In the first shot, I tried to convey warmth and the low key lighting, whereas the second shot was more about the food on offer.

The staff and customers got involved, too.

The hotel also caters for events, this was a place setting for a celebration booked in for the day I was shooting so naturally I had to photograph it.

There was so much to photograph, this blog post will have a 3rd part, which I'll post up next week - you'll see music, staff, breakfast, the owners and a lot more!

A trip away...

September 20, 2017

Sometimes shoots require I spend a night away from home. This was the case a couple of days ago when I travelled to Blarney to see a video of an event I photographed back in June. Although I wasn't working as such, I decided to take some social shots to submit to the Southern Star. Where to start? The committee, of course!

I like to get a variety of people at these type of functions, just to give the editor a good few pics to choose from. Remember, if it doesn't get published, I don't get paid!

As I wasn't working in an official capacity, I didn't take a ton of pictures - I love my job, but it is nice to have a break occasionally!

The event was held in the Blarney Castle Hotel, which I photographed a few months ago for its new website, which I'm told will go live very soon. It's always satisfying to see one's work on a new website, it makes the hours of shooting and processing all worthwhile!

I blogged about one of the shoots at the hotel a few months back, but I'm going to tell you all about the second shoot I did in next week's blog post, so watch out for that one! In the meantime, here's a taster of what's coming up...

Variety is the spice of life.

September 13, 2017

For this week's blog post I'm simply going to show you a variety of pictures I take on a weeks to week basis. As a professional photographer, one has to be able to shoot everything successfully, there's no second chances! This is where the years of practice comes in - technique is everything and it changes from shoot to shoot, so you'd better know what you're doing!

Anyway, I'll quieten down - here's the images.

Now here's a paparazzi thing...

September 06, 2017

I finally experienced the paparazzi way of life back in July. Pippa Middleton, the sister of Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, was in Glengarriff for a friend's wedding and as a news photographer, I just had to get the shots. There were lots of rumours as to where this wedding was taking place, with many people believing Bantry House was the venue. However, there was a music festival on with Bantry House being the main venue, so I know it wasn't going to take place there.

*Calling the subject's name always helps to get a smile!*

I received a phone call from the editor of the Southern Star at 14.50 telling me the wedding was starting at 15.30 in Glengarriff and to get down there. Of course, Glengarriff is 40 minutes away so by the time I arrived, the wedding was just about to start. I captured a few images of the bride as she arrived, but I was there for Pippa Middleton so a long wait ensued!

*The bride, her father and sister enter the church.*

I was expecting a ton of photographers to be there, but there were only 2 others - from the Irish Indo and the Daily Mail, so I knew I'd make some sales... When Pippa exited the church, the only sound which could be heard was the sound of shutters clicking like machine guns!

After a few minutes, the other photographers left to wire their pictures away, but I stayed hoping to get some exclusive shots - and I did! The wedding guests proceeded to walk up the road to the buses which were taking them to the reception venue, so I did a little walking backwards, calling Pippa's name and just pressing that shutter button.

*It's important to get both portrait and landscape shots.*

It was then time to get back to the office to process and caption the pictures before sending them away to the various agencies and publications.

What kind of reach have the pictures gained? Well, they went viral - national and international newspapers, Hello! magazine, local papers, and various sales through Alamy.com, including Germany, Spain and New Zealand. Photographers are always looking for 'the' shots, well I have them, and boy, does it feel good!

Now here's a business thing...

August 31, 2017

I joined my local Chamber of Commerce the day I started my business. Being a member of the Chamber not only enabled me to make very useful connections, it gave me more work as a photographer. Let me explain.

*Using the surroundings to add interest to the image.*

As well as providing support, advice and training to businesses, the Chamber holds regular events such as networking evenings, business breakfasts, and information and launch type of events.

*I always try to do something different.*

These events are always photographed, which generates more business and more income for me. The challenge is always to stray from the norm and come up with something interesting and different, which is why I love my job!

Trying to think creatively is what's required here, taking one's time is important, although when busy business people are being photographed, time is usually something you don't have! For the final image in this blog post, which was for the launch of the Cork/Dublin Chamber's annual dinner, the feeling of connection had to be conveyed, hence the 'connect' word. Having a brief think led me to come up with the idea of shooting on a bridge - bridges connect two sides, like the two Chambers.

*I got this image, and a variety of others, in just 9 minutes!*

So there we are, another type of commercial photography in my arsenal. I'm no longer a member of Cork Chamber as now I've moved to the country, travelling 100km for events isn't justifiable. However, I will be joining a local Chamber very soon.

The Chamber generated a lot of work, both commercial and personal and I'd advise any new business to join its local Chamber, it's well worth the membership fee.

If you're a business owner or employee with an event coming up which needs photographing, get in touch - my contact details are at the bottom of this page.

Now here's a thing...

August 23, 2017

Even though I'm a full time, professional photographer with 27 years photographic experience, it doesn't stop me learning or doing new things.

Doing a new thing was exactly what I did at the beginning of August - I photographed a sailing regatta called Calves Week, which was held in Schull, West Cork.

*Sailing yacht 'Freya' in action during Calves Week 2017.*

There was only one way to photograph the yachts - I had to get on a rib and up close and personal to the boats. Luckily, I have a great friend called John who has a rib so with him as Skipper and me as the cabin boy with the cameras, we were all set.

After getting over my initial fear and screaming every time we hit a small ripple, I started to concentrate on getting the necessary shots. I knew I'd have to use a fast shutter speed, but had no idea I'd be at 1/2000th second! I started at 1/1000th, but that simply wasn't fast enough as I was getting motion blur.

I finally got the gist of things and by Friday, the big swell and awful weather weren't affecting me or my images at all! I shot 1,200 images over 3 days, far too much, but I was loving it! Hopefully I'll be shooting some more boaty stuff soon.

*'Witchcraft' on a collision course with the camera!*

Now here's a thing...

August 18, 2017

I love story telling through photography, whether that's for my social media channels, editorial, newspapers etc, I love people, talking to people and finding out about people.

There was a recent story about a local entrepreneur who runs a food van. He'd set up on the pier in Schull and was told he didn't need planning permission. Weeks later, he received a letter from the council telling him he must cease trading from the pier. This caused a lot of stress and upset for him - where was he going to trade from?

*Nico's Kitchen at the new trading location.*

At the eleventh hour, the rector from the local church stepped in and gave him permission to operate from the rectory lawn, just yards away from his old spot, which is arguably more picturesque.

Having kept up to speed with the story on social media, I just knew I had to get some pictures and submit them to the paper. I went for a wide shot, getting the kitchen and customers in, as above. I also wanted an environmental portrait of Nico and his wife Holly, as below. Both pictures made it into the newspaper, along with the story, so I was one happy photographer!

*Nico and Holly all smiles at their new trading location.*

Now here's a thing...

May 17, 2017

Although it's not a regular thing I photograph, sport is a type of photography I can shoot and I enjoy it very much when I do shoot it. I was told about a local boxing club's upcoming open day so I took my camera along to see what I could do.

*Nikon D3s, Nikkor 24-70 f2.8. f4, 1/500, ISO 4000.*

The lighting in the club was very poor, and as I didn't want to use flash, it made the shoot very challenging. I had to really push the ISO - sometimes as high as 4000 but as I was using the D3s, this wasn't a problem. Obviously, the reason for such a high shutter speed was because I wanted to freeze the action.

*Nikon D3s, Nikkor 24-70 f2.8. F5.6, 1/640, ISO 4000.*

It was important to capture the action and everything which goes on in the club, so that new and prospective members could see what goes on and make an informed decision on whether to join or not. There's more to a boxing club than just sparring and training with gloves - fitness is a massive part of the sport.

*Nikon D3s, Nikkor 24-70 f2.8. F7.1, 1/320, ISO 4000.*

Smaller kids took part as well!

I ended the shoot with a couple of random pictures - just to show the flavour of the club.

Now here's a thing...

April 14, 2017

As I alluded to in my last blog post, I purchased an event printer whilst I was at a trade show in Birmingham last month. I used it at an event for the first time on Sunday last, and it was a roaring success!

The event was a cheval. For those who aren't aware, a cheval is where numerous horse owners gather with their horses and undertake a ride to raise money for charity.

Not many professional photographers own, or have access to, an event printer and, indeed, Joe Public isn't used to the novelty of having printed pictures available to buy at the event they're at.

After photographing the horses before the cheval started, I uploaded them to my computer which, along with the printer and display board, was set up in my gazebo. By the time the riders arrived back from the ride, all the pictures were on display as contact prints for people to browse through and decide whether or not to make a purchase.

The concept of buying prints at the event proved extremely popular, with the gazebo full of browsers and customers numerous times. Customers were impressed with the quality of images I was producing operating from a car park in Skibbereen!

This type of service isn't just for chevals; I'm available for birthday and retirement parties, anniversaries, confirmations, communions, christenings, sporting events, awards nights and, of course, everything equine - the list is endless! Remember, I can operate both indoors AND outdoors, in all sorts of weather. I can also provide a photobooth for events, which is guaranteed to provide a ton of fun!

Contact me for further details, should you be interested in this service.

Now here's a thing...

March 23, 2017

I was at The Photography Show last weekend. The show has numerous stages where one can listen to photography experts lecture about themselves essentially, how to do this, that and the other and generally listen to their own voice over the 4 days.

There's also the small matter of 250 trade stands selling everything from cameras to bags, from association membership to drones and everything in-between.

*A photobooth picture for your delight!*

Amongst the rubbish and junk I purchased, my biggest buy was an event printer. I had done a lot of research before the show and had decided an event printer was a great way to develop the business. From now on I'll be able to do a photobooth, with pictures available within minutes of the photo being taken, and all sorts of events catered for - debs, grads, sporting awards nights, dinner dances, birthday parties etc, etc.

How does it work? On arrival at the event, I set up a background, lights, camera, laptop and printer. When the first client arrives, I take the picture and print it out (a 6x4 takes 8 seconds to print!) then simply sell it to the customer.

If you're interested in hiring me and my printer, give me a shout - contact details are at the bottom of this page.

Now here's a thing...

March 08, 2017

Whilst many professional photographers specialize in fine art, portraits, weddings etc, my work encompasses all types of photography. However, over the last year or so, I've been increasingly taking on more commercial work. Photographing interiors is my speciality, so I was very pleased to be given the chance to shoot a hotel in the north-west of Cork. Upon arrival, scones with jam and cream and a nice latte were waiting for me - nice!

*Nikon D3s, 24-70 f2.8. f4, 1/60, ISO 200*

Moving from bedroom to bedroom, I wanted to capture the warmth, comfort and peacefulness of the hotel, always keeping in mind the hotel is family owned and run.

*Nikon D3, 14-24 f2,8. f5.6, 0.6 sec, ISO200.*

There's more to a hotel than just the bedrooms - there's usually a bar, the reception, hallways, landings, and of course, the staff, so I made sure to capture everything.

*Nikon D3s, 24-70 f2.8. f2.8, 1/40, ISO 1000*

The shoot lasted all day and I delivered just over 50 pictures to the webmaster (the hotel is having its website updated). I've been asked back to the hotel to take more pictures, this time it's a 2 day/1 night shoot - I can't wait!

I thoroughly enjoyed shooting this hotel and so did the owners and the webmaster, they loved the pictures! Watch out for another blog post in the coming weeks.