My portrait of writer Nicole Flattery, whose new book “Nothing Special” has just been given a rave review in the The New Yorker.
Behind-the-scenes photo by Ailbhe O'Donnell
The Ball Jar
He smiled and reached into his pocket, saying he had it in a small glass jar if I'd like to see it?
Read MoreJonathan
Jonathan Philbin Bowman ( 1969-2000) photographed for Harpers & Queen magazine, mid 90’s.
My friend Jonathan Philbin Bowman, journalist and broadcaster, who died on this day twenty-two years ago.
He was such great company - precocious, quick-witted, argumentative, hilarious and utterly original. I’ve never met anyone quite like him, and still miss him a lot.
You can hear his voice in this beautiful, moving tribute by Roger Doyle, who took an answering machine message Jonathan had left him and set it to music.
The portrait was made for a profile in Harpers & Queen magazine written by Sean O’Hagen, and you can see a print of it in the Little Museum of Dublin’s collection.
Fintan O’Toole, photographed at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris in June 2019
We Don't Know Ourselves
Congratulations to Fintan O'Toole, who has just won the An Post Irish Book of the Year 2021 for his We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958.
Read MoreThe Genius
I’m delighted to see that my friend Larissa Fasthorse has just been named a MacArthur Fellow, an award known as the “genius grant” to creatives. She’s a Native American playwright and former ballet dancer, who I met a few years ago in the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig. It couldn’t happen to a nicer person.
Larissa Fasthorse with her husband, sculptor Edd Hogan
You can see more of my portraits of writers in this gallery.
Marina De Van
Marina de Van is a very interesting French film director, screenwriter, novelist and actor. She was a great subject to shoot, making it a challenge to pick just one image - I did eventually, and it’s in the “Artists” gallery.
Her new site has just been launched, and offers acting coaching and hypnosis in Paris.
Hugh X 5
Hugh O’Conor, photographed in my kitchen.
Hugh O’Conor is a quintuple threat. As well as being one of the best actors of his generation, he’s an extravagantly talented director, screenwriter and photographer, and he’s the nicest man in the Irish film industry. He defies categorisation, which makes it all the more difficult to decide which gallery on the site to put his portrait into…
(You can see the gallery he went into here.)
Jonathan
Jonathan Philbin Bowman ( 1969-2000) photographed for Harpers & Queen magazine, mid 90’s.
My friend Jonathan Philbin Bowman, journalist and broadcaster, who died on this day twenty years ago.
He was such great company - precocious, quick-witted, argumentative, hilarious and utterly original. I’ve never met anyone quite like him, and still miss him a lot.
Check out this beautiful, moving tribute by Roger Doyle, who took an answering machine message Jonathan had left him and set it to music. It’s great to hear him again.
Annaghmakerrig People
Some of the great people I’ve met in Annaghmakerrig over the years.
Robbie McDonald, who will be leaving next January after ten years as director of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig. The post is currently being advertised
Dancer and choreographer Emma O’Kane
Emma O’Kane in action
Native American playwright Larissa Fasthorse with her husband, sculptor Edd Hogan
Author Diana Souhami
Painter Roisin McGuigan
Sheila Pratschke, the Centre’s second director
Today's office
Photographing Colm Toibin earlier today as part of a series of portraits for the Gate theatre.
Irish Times article here
Growing up in Belfast
My portrait of writer Kate Thompson is in today’s Irish Times, illustrating her piece about growing up in Belfast. You can see more of my portraits of writers in this gallery.
Seamus Larking
Flattery in Paris
We saw these two walking towards us, and I said “He must be in love”. “He must have done something terrible”, replied Nicole.
I first met Nicole Flattery when we were both in the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris, and was really impressed by her clever and funny short stories. We did a portrait in the centre that became the author photograph in her new collection, which was given a rave review ("a highly addictive mix of deadpan drollery and candour") in the Guardian yesterday.
Nicole Flattery in Paris, 2017.
There are more portraits of writers in this gallery.
What have you got to say for yourself?
I shot these portraits of Margaretta D'Arcy and John Arden for a piece on married couples in The Sunday Telegraph Magazine. They refused on principle to appear in the same picture as they weren't actually living together. Margaretta filmed me as I photographed her, and when we were finished took me up to the attic where there was a tangle of wires hanging from a bare bulb in the ceiling. She flicked a switch, thrust a microphone at me and said "You are now broadcasting live on the world's only Irish language, feminist pirate radio station - what have you got to say for yourself?" Not a lot, as it turned out.
