Burmese Refugees in Northern Thailand

I travelled to Northern Thailand with Trócaire to work on their 2009 Lenten campaign, which focused on displacement. I had not known much about the plight of Burmese refugees before this, and was shocked by what I learned. The military dictatorship in Burma make it impossible for many minorities to live there, and tens of thousands have been fleeing across the border into Thailand over the past 50 years. Many Burmese refugees only realize the extent of the problems in Burma when they reach Thailand, as that is the first time they have access to free media and education.

Here is an Irish Times photo-slideshow.

Trócaire's website is www.trocaire.org

Powers

This was a photoshoot for Powers whiskey, for use in press ads and billboards. The brief from the advertising agency, McConnells, was for a natual look- and I think we achieved that. I used my cousin and three friends from my football team as the models, and used natural light as much as possible, just supplemented by reflectors and a little artificial light.

Art direction by Tom O'Haire and styled by Siobhan O'Donovan.

Walton's New School of Music

I photographed the various music classes for a new website for Walton's New School of Music on George's St., Dublin 2. This was a very challenging job, as I had just 30 minutes to photograph each class and try to find interesting compositions and to show what was happening in each lesson. I used flash to supplement the natural light, but did so such a way to make it look as natural as possible. I enjoyed this job as there was so much variety of classes, people and instruments, and you can see that both students and teachers are passionate about their music.

www.newschool.ie

Chad

I travelled to Chad with journalist Tom Rowe to make a project about refugees and internally displaced people (IDP). Chad is one of the poorest countries in Africa, and has suffered from civil war and military coups since it's independence from France in 1960. It's geography, as a mostly desert, landlocked country has given it the nickname 'the Dead Heart of Africa'. Irish troops formed part of the EUFOR (European Union Force) which was deployed there, with the mandate of protecting refugees and IDPs. The conflict in the bordering region of Darfur in Sudan has led to hundreds of thousands of refugees and IDPs forced into temporary camps in Eastern Chad.

See www.chadexhibition.blogspot.com and www.msf.ie/chad. Project funded by the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge Fund.

Transport 21

This shoot for Transport 21 was with McConnells advertising agency for use on press and outdoor ads. There was a lot of pre-production for this shoot- like model castings and prop finding, and we had 2 days to photograph 7 set-ups. They say you should never work with children or animals, and although it was challenging, these children worked well and we were all happy with the results.

Art direction by Dillon McKenna. Styled by Siobhan O'Donovan.