John’s winning cycle continues

CLARE Champion photographer, John Kelly has snapped up yet another award.

His Christmas Day shot of a man cycling across the frozen Gortglass Lake, near Kildysart, earned him third prize in the new environmental category of the 2011 AIB Press Photographer’s Association of Ireland Photojournalism Awards.
Never one to let a good photo opportunity slip past his lens, John was relaxing with his family on Christmas morning when he received a call from a contact to say that there was a rather unusual variation of ‘Dancing on Ice’ happening out at Gortglass. Locals were breaking through the thick ice to enable them take their traditional Christmas charity swim when one man decided to head out on the frozen lake on his bike.
John negotiated the bad road conditions to the lake to snap his Ice-Cycle photo, which the judges’ citation said is, “A very strong image which allows the viewer to interpret the story from all the elements included in a single frame. Very good use of available light.”
Also, his sports action photograph, You Trip Em Up…And I’ll Race Ahead, was included in the top 100 entries, which are to go on a touring exhibition during the coming year.
This is John’s fourth year in-a-row taking a category prize in the prestigious competition and the latest in a host of honours he has won since he began his career with The Clare Champion 20 years ago.
One of the unique aspects of John’s award-winning photographs is that all have been taken in County Clare and all are published in the ’Champion. “I’m proud of the fact that all the photos that I enter in competitions reflect everyday life in my county. Clare has so many diverse characters, as well as remarkable landscapes and seascapes, that there is plenty of subject matter for me as a photographer to draw inspiration from,” said John.