Photo win hits home for Kelly

THE Clare Champion’s John Kelly was named winner of the news section at the Press Photographers’ Association of Ireland (PPAI) awards last Friday night.
It was the seventh time that the Mullagh man has won a PPAI award. he has also been second three times and third once.
The picture he won the award for was taken in August following the tragic deaths of Michael Galvin and Noel Dickinson.
It was one of the saddest stories covered in The ’Champion last year and Kelly found it difficult.
“It happened two miles from where I was brought up and a lot of the people involved were from my own parish. When I’m normally back there it’s for football or something and it’s far happier.
“I knew the significance of the event and the scale of the disaster and I wanted to do a picture that would be different from what we normally do. Rather than showing people up close grieving I tried to do something from the point of view of the community supporting the people.
“That was one of the big things that I saw it as, rather than being a tragedy that just affected families it was one that affected the whole parish. I wanted to do a picture that reflected that and at the same time showed the gravity of the situation.”
The judge’s assessment praised his positioning for the photograph.
“News is one of the key categories in any competition that revolves around the newspaper industry. It became clear from early on that the story which our winner depicted had been of great significance last year.
“A clever choice of position, which could easily have been a massive gamble, allowed the photographer to construct an image full of emotion that perfectly illustrated the sadness of the event.”
While proud that his work was recognised by the PPAI, John’s thoughts were with the bereaved.
“Due to family and work commitments I wasn’t in Dublin on the night but when I got a text that night I was pleased but my thoughts turned to the families involved and it can’t be easy for them with it coming up again. The only consolation they might take from it is that they can see in the image how their community rallied around them.”
He says press photography has changed dramatically over the course of his career.
“I’ll be in The Clare Champion 23 years in May and things have changed a lot. When we started you might have been the only one at a job and you had loads of room and time to do things but now the whole industry has changed and you have far more people searching for pictures at jobs. it means that you now have to try and think for yourself, think outside the box, and give a job, particularly a news job, your own slant.”
He was very complimentary towards the PPAI, which he says provides a focal point for everyone in his line of work.
“It’s a great support and network for press photographers. Everyone is involved in the same type of work and the annual awards are a highlight for everybody. AIB are great sponsors and put on a great show. The travelling exhibition comes later on in the year when the best 100 photos go on tour around the country and sometimes outside the country.”
Kelly has a second picture that will also be in the exhibition.
“It’s of a girl called Emily O’Dwyer which was taken at Clarecastle Regatta and couldn’t be more different than the one I won with. It shows the variety of work that press photographers have on a daily basis. It also shows the scale of public emotion that you witness from the very mundane to something highly charged.”