Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

These unpublished photos show familiar Irish faces like you've never seen them before

Photographer Conor Horgan has gone through his work to pick out the great photos that never saw the light.

Jean_Butler_edit

PHOTOGRAPHER CONOR HORGAN has taken thousands of photographs over the years.

As one of Ireland’s most sought-after fashion and portrait photographers, he has amassed quite an archive of incredible photos of familiar faces.

But not all of them made it to publication – for a variety of reasons (including the fact that one magazine shut down before his commission got to be included).

Now he has looked through his archives to find the photos that never made it, from beautiful landscapes to Morrissey and Mary Robinson, and they’re on show at the Little Museum of Dublin until January 4, 2015.

Morrissey_edit

The exhibition was something Horgan and Trevor White (of the Little Museum of Dublin) had been talking about for while.

The photographer wanted to avoid the “dreaded R-word”, given the connotations to him of a ‘retrospective’, but could still see the value in having his photos included in the museum.

“When I started looking back through the files, I was quite chuffed by how well a lot of the old material stood up,” recalls Horgan. Some of them were clearly of their time, while others had a “more playful quality to them than maybe I was looking for when I took them”.

Mary_Robinson_Election_Poster_7_BW Mary Robinson Conor Horgan Conor Horgan

“We are always looking for hidden history and aspects of Dublin that have not yet been seen”, says Little Museum curator Simon O’Connor. “This exhibition of Conor’s photography is a rare glimpse of some of his own favourite images, people and places.”

Seasons change

It was also a chance to reassess Horgan’s work, and assess how his career had evolved.

“When I was a hot snot fashion and portrait photographer in my 20s and 30s, I have to be frank and say a lot of the time I was picking pics so maybe people might think I was cool or people I admire [would be impressed],” says Horgan.

But today, the more pictures he takes, the more he responds to the ones that make him “feel something”.

Ali_Dunne_edit

He is glad to see that others feel an emotional connection to the same photographs. “You never really know how they’ll affect other people,” he explains.

In his more recent photos, he sees himself having “developed some way of connecting with people in pictures more than I ever could before, and that comes out in them”. And, says Horgan, “people can sense that”.

IMG_2408

In addition, some of the pictures have more depth or a bit more feeling to them than he says he felt at the time. He really enjoys the “slightly messy shots” in particular. If you want a perfect photo, pick up a glossy magazine, he advises jokingly.

“If you’ve made a film or creative effort, you don’t ever really see it yourself with the right perspective until it goes up on a wall,” says Horgan. “Until other people can see it. It’s not necessarily what other people would say to you… you get a bit of perspective and you can see the work with a bit of distance.”

Des_Bishop_edit

It’s a nervous time, too, but one that brings its rewards. Seeing his work through other people’s eyes has left Horgan feeling “very happy”.

Now a director as well as a photographer, he’s using his skills in new ways. “It’s hard to draw a line between them - in some ways they’re part of the same process,” he says.

Film is “all about story” and however that story has unfolded or portrayed, while he thinks “a good photograph has got some sense of story about it”.

It’s all about the way you look at things.

All photos Conor Horgan. Dublin Unpublished – Photographs by Conor Horgan runs at the Little Museum of Dublin until Jan 4 2015.

Read: Check out these beautiful photos of Irish families enjoying our heritage>

Read: 14 never-before-seen photos from the world’s best photographers>

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
34 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chelsea Berry
    Favourite Chelsea Berry
    Report
    Mar 30th 2013, 8:09 AM

    Decided since I was 8 i wanted to donate all organs. I rarely drink , don’t smoke or do drugs , I’m very healthy, never been gravely ill, excellent sight , good heart, lifeguard so lungs are swimmers lungs etc. I would be delighted to give all them away. Card signed and in my purse by myself and my mother. No if buts or ands if I pass away , god for bid.

    50
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ted Power
    Favourite Ted Power
    Report
    Mar 30th 2013, 9:27 AM

    I wasn’t a Chelsea fan before reading this article but I’ve had a change of heart ;)

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute johnbeckett
    Favourite johnbeckett
    Report
    Mar 30th 2013, 9:18 AM

    A friend of mine died tragically about 8 years ago and 5 people were saved with her organs. I needed and received a kidney in 2010 and while most of us don’t put too much thought into the whole thing, it’s incredible how life changing the selfless act of carrying a donor card can be for some desperately ill people. If the worst happens, I can’t think of a better legacy to leave behind!

    34
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tracey Coughlan
    Favourite Tracey Coughlan
    Report
    Mar 30th 2013, 8:33 AM

    Don’t forget to donate blood too. It can save a life. I’m giving blood since I was 18 …… You never know you could be on the receiving end I too want to donate my organs. Why waste them in the earth.

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Aoife Dooley
    Favourite Aoife Dooley
    Report
    Mar 30th 2013, 9:44 AM

    IMO Organ donation should be an opt-out process.
    Some people just don’t carry cards, etc. So if someone felt strongly about not donating they can carry an opt-out card instead. That way more lives could be saved.

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute dubdon
    Favourite dubdon
    Report
    Mar 30th 2013, 8:56 AM

    Chelsea do u go out every night dressed like that???

    Seriously though I think the opt out rather than the opt in donor system should be used. How many people would refuse a donated organ to keep them alive while at the same time not offering the donation themselves should the worst happen???

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Damian O'Brien
    Favourite Damian O'Brien
    Report
    Mar 30th 2013, 9:30 AM

    They can take all or any of me if its of any use, and can help someone.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ben Fede
    Favourite Ben Fede
    Report
    Mar 30th 2013, 11:48 AM

    I’d be happy to donate organs, or even blood for that matter but the gay blood ban is still going strong. Sorry to say that someone who desparately needs the blood or organs will be denied.

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cliodhna O'Sullivan
    Favourite Cliodhna O'Sullivan
    Report
    Mar 30th 2013, 12:29 PM

    That is one of the biggest problems with donation in this country, that and people who lived in the UK in the 90′s not being able to donate blood or bone products.
    They do such stringent tests on blood ect anyway no one should be ruled out anymore, and especially not because of their sexual orientation.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Shanahan
    Favourite Paul Shanahan
    Report
    Mar 30th 2013, 9:57 AM

    The lottery and public funded organ donor awareness week is more a fundraising exercise for the kidney assoc than improving organ donation.
    If the ika believe that improving organ donation retrieval will improve by hiring coordination staff in our hospitals then here’s an idea, identify a large hospital with low organ retrieval and install a member of staff whose sole purpose it is to increase organ donation. This can be done on a trial basis and can be used to prove that it can be rolled out in other hospitals.
    Every year we listen to murphy waffling on about organ donation with his opinion changing with each threat to the lucrative amounts of money the ika pull in from donation week.
    A donation card is a useful as used toilet paper.
    If people are serious about organ donation they would be better off lobbying the government to correct failed policy in our hospitals rather than giving money to the ika. The ika have repeatedly failed in this area.
    How much do the ika receive each year to promote awareness?
    How much do the ika spend on donor awareness each year?
    I think you will find a rather large gap between the 2!
    Of course the other charities who claim to have an interest are no better, leaving the “campaign” to the tired and failed ika.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Declan Donnelly
    Favourite Declan Donnelly
    Report
    Mar 30th 2013, 8:48 AM

    Why is there a low turn out on organ donations Is that because of trust !

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cliodhna O'Sullivan
    Favourite Cliodhna O'Sullivan
    Report
    Mar 30th 2013, 12:36 PM

    It’s because it’s very difficult to ask a family who see their loved one on life support to give up hope on them coming out of icu alive to make a decision that will see that little bit of hope gone forever.
    An organ transplant coordinator and the intensive care anaesthetics teams in this country have very difficult jobs at times like this, they walk tightropes where one wrong word or gesture is enough for family members not to consent.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mag Rinne
    Favourite Mag Rinne
    Report
    Mar 31st 2013, 3:08 PM

    I believe that more educational programs for promoting organ donation should be in school systemespeciallyaimed at new teen drivers.

    Also I think that the idea of a hospital not accepting some perfectly good organs due to person commiting suicide is absurd. I can understand them not taking organs from person that died from a disease or something like that. However, if the body is received immediately (24hrs) following death and the organs have not been compromised then why can the organs not be accepted?Yes organs need to be perfused (meaning filled with blood and vital fluids) at time of transplant. So if this is possible I believe family members should be advised and asked for donation.

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds