The Business Post recently commissioned me for some editorial portrait photography of well-known Irish musician and singer songwriter Declan O’Rourke. The photographs were to accompany an editorial interview in The Business Post Magazine by Nadine O’Regan. Declan original hails from the heart of Dublin but now lives Kinvara, Co. Galway, a place he told me that he loves. Kinvara is certainly a juxtaposition of inner-city Dublin and I guess it is that juxtaposition that appeals to him. I had never met Declan before, but straight away after a few minutes of being in his company we had a natural rapport with each other. He was a gentleman and very giving of his time and willing to collaborate on the shoot and was totally open to any ideas that I had. The focus of the interview was the fact that Declan has now published his debut novel The Pawnbroker’s Reward to great acclaim.

The Burren stretches down to that part of Co. Galway, and it was literally on his doorstep well fifty metres down the road to be exact. The ruggedness of the landscape acted as a great backdrop for the pictures and maybe aligned itself in a small way to the context of Declan’s novel and stories which occurred around the time of The Irish Famine. After we were finished on the Burren I suggested one other location to Declan, which would give a slightly different feel to the images. No problem let’s do it was Declan’s response and we headed off in his jeep to the location about five minutes from his home. I scouted the location before calling to him, often you don’t get the chance to do this, but I cannot recommend highly enough the value in doing a recce. A little scouting will go a long way to having a successful shoot. The clouds cleared and blue skies appeared and with the help of a very nice man from France who decided not to go for a morning swim in the sea with his friend and held my light stand instead so it wouldn’t fall over, we produced some striking colourful images. Wherever you are sir ‘Merci Bouquet’ once again. 

All during the shoot the conversation was great with Declan, I thoroughly enjoyed his company. A very talented individual and I recommend checking out The Pawnbroker’s Reward by Declan O’Rourke. I’ll be picking up a copy and I might even head down to Kinvara to get it signed if my shyness doesn’t get the better of me.