50/52 & 51/52

—Rachel

This girl is special. I was ten when she was born and I completely fell in love with her chubby baby cheeks and infectious laughter. I remember standing in her old kitchen tickling her little face with my curly hair. I remember my mum picking me up from school with her in the car and getting to spend the whole afternoon playing. I remember carrying her around on my hip in 6th class and the boys teasing me about ‘my baby’. I can’t wait until I have babies of my own someday and she will come and hold them and kiss their faces and get to experience all I have with her. She is bright and bold and unafraid to speak her mind, all good qualities if you ask me.

—Fiona

I don’t know what Fiona saw in me when she asked me to be Rachel’s godmother at twelve, but I am grateful that she did. I am grateful of her open door policy, her expanding dinner table—always with room for one more, for her vitality, enthusiasm and commitment to seeing the beauty and magic. Fiona never sits still and has more energy than anyone I know. I will never, ever understand her desire to get up and swim in sea in the morning, every morning, all year round but I admire whatever is inside her that motivates that desire. Sometimes friendship stick around for so long that they become more like family. Fiona and her husband and sons and beautiful girl are family, simple as.

49/52

—Cian

We were spoiled on Christmas day getting to spend the afternoon and evening with this little lady, her beautiful mama and her chef-extraordinaire father. Cian and Eoin and Cillian, supervised by the lovely Mike, cooked up a super storm of roasted potatoes, vegetarian and non-vegetarian brussle sprouts, carrots and parsnips which we added to with our nut roast and veggie gravy*. It was a veritable feast and we needed a considerable gap before we tucked into the most delicious desserts. Cian always entertains us with endless streams of fascinating (and sometimes quite technical) stories of his work abroad and life at home. I might be biased but I think himself and Melanie make the cutest, cuddliest and funniest babies around and I am so glad that there’s going to be another one next summer.
I am truly sorry for all those times I’ve accidentally called you my uncle Cian, thank you for being such a lovely cousin!



* Ok, so they also cooked a massive ham and humongous turkey but I don’t eat those things so they don’t come to mind immediately when reminiscing about Christmas dinner. 

48/52

—Ciara

I did a photo-shoot for Gwen on Monday and her friend Ciara modelled. It was freezing and she had to hop into the car between outfit changes to prevent her extremities from falling off but she sucked it up and even managed to laugh and smile in between looking serious for the camera…something I don’t think I could have mustered, I was cold in four layers of clothing!
I’ve met Ciara a couple of times with Gwen and she has the loveliest personality. She is the kind of girl you feel like you’ve met a million times before in the best possible way. After the shoot we had lunch, talked about our futures and all agreed that that was too scary a topic to dwell on. Ciara is a sweet heart, I hope we get to hang out again…in less freezing cold circumstances! 

46/52 & 47/52

—Niamh

I have known for three-ish years now.

—Guy

I have known for 10-ish years now.

The years can fly by can’t they? Look, this one is nearly over already.

45/52

—Richard…

…deserves a second portrait because he’s officially got a degree! A graduate, woo hoo! And he gets a lovely picture of Autumn too because orange is his favourite. And he is my favourite.

Cue end of mush.

(Don’t forget to sign up to my Christmas Post Swap)

43/52 & 44/52

 Andrew—the women were talking behind his back, but he didn’t mind. Our family dinners are always a scene of organised chaos.

Fayz—always hard working, a good example for all of us who come to studio for chats and procrastination.


(Don’t forget to sign up to my Christmas Post Swap)

42/52

—Cathal

Cathal is a first class joker, a messer and an all round lovely guy. (He also really hates having his photograph taken) I never know if he is serious or joking and I’ve learned that actually a lot of the ridiculous things he talks about he actually does do! Like running a marathon…I can never imagine Cathal running a marathon but, lo and behold, he has been plugging away running in circles around UCD for months now and is set to take on the challenge at the end of this month. He also erected a hollywood-type wooden sign in homage to his hometown of Clonskeagh as a temporary (not to mention possibly illegal?) work of art. He founded Chuddler Collective a couple of years ago and has been making sculptures with his brother and some other recurring characters for Electric Picnic since. He works his heart out and is refreshingly in love with his craft*.


*which is…painting? sculpture? making stuff? I dunno what those guys get up to over there in Fine Art but I know Cathal’s good at it!

41/52

—Neil

Neil has been waiting for this post his whole entire year. Every time I see him he asks me for it, or rather he scolds me for not having written a ‘lovely thing’ about him yet. He will probably give out about this photograph being not nice enough, or these words not being lovely enough but that is just Neil. He can not help but tease and bitch and swear and give out yards…but it’s usually all jest. He messes up my hair, forces me onto the dance floor, buys me drinks, swings me around and calls me ‘ole flower’. He has a pretty serious job and often acts like it ain’t no thang but I know that underneath it all he has a heart of pure gold. A softie of the kindest order. Neil is a sweetheart. I’m so glad he’s one of my big brother’s best friends. 

/52 Catch Up

My wonderful friend Lauri (hey Lauri!) chastised me today for not keeping up with my project 52. I have to be honest I’m pretty embarrassed that I let this happen…but it was too easy to stop. I found myself being stupidly shy and often choosing photographs I had happened to take of friends & family as opposed to purposefully going out to capture a portrait. There is a difference and it really bothered me that I was doing the former rather than the latter. I felt that it lacked sincerity and gumption.  

So…as per Lauri’s suggestion I am going to overload you with a bumper pack of portraits here to catch up for the last couple of months and thennnn get back to it. 

—Gill

—Eoin

 —Kris

—Aoife

—Lesley

—Ross

—Emily

 —Aoife

—Eoin


These portraits are some of my favourite from the past couple of months (and are, for the record, not exactly in order). Some of these faces have been featured already and some are new. I am looking forward to starting afresh for week 41! Only 11 weeks left of 2013…how did that happen so quickly?
Be warned pals…I will be coming for you with my camera soon!

30/52

While in Portland we met with David of the Free Portrait Project. It was nice to meet someone who knew the area and with whom we shared a common interest. At the end of our first, rather eventful day, it was kind of nice to be meeting anyone. We wandered through the residential streets of Alberta looking for the perfect place to shoot. You can see some of those photographs on my post about Portland.

In exchange for the portrait David shot of my I also shot one of him. Actually I shot two. David’s project entails ‘One honest portrait, captured on film’ and he literally means, just one portrait. He only pressed the shutter twice, once for me and once for Richard. I took one photograph and then when he thought I was finished I took another. Sometimes this works and the second photo reveals a more honest, relaxed capture…but this time I wish I had followed David’s rules because the first photograph was the photograph.

I haven’t seen my portrait yet but keep an eye out on the project facebook page for our familiar faces :)

*We are now in week 35 and while it is clear that I have somewhat fallen off the portrait bandwagon, I hope to be able to share photos week by week again (if not every single week as I originally planned), and some retrospectively as well. 

26/52

A portrait a week, every week(ishhh), in 2013.

—Thelma

Where do I begin with Thelma? She is someone who is always genuinely totally happy to see you. You know the way sometimes you can run into someone and not be in the mood, or not have the time or the patience or the energy to chit chat? Well, Thelma is not like that. Whenever you need her she’s there. She is cheerful and eager to listen and tells the best stories. She always has the good gossip.
Thelma, is totally ace. She has graduated college already which completely freaks me out but her cool, calm and together attitude makes me feel like graduating next year won’t be that big of a deal. Thelma is ever supportive and comes to my silly college exhibitions and listens to my endless ramblings about my crap tutors and project mishaps. She slots right in with my brothers and sister and feels just like family. There’s nothing nicer is there?
Thanks for being such a dear friend Thelma…I am soo happy we’re going to be neighbours again this year! 

25/52

A portrait a week, every week(ishhh), in 2013.

—Zephra

I don’t know Zephra* that well but what I do know of her I really like. She has one of those faces that is open and warm. She has the loveliest of voices and when she gets a good idea she gets a wild glint in her eye that is infectious. She is so easy to talk to and so nice to work with. She came to Romania with us to film for a documentary being made of the trip. Last week on site it became evident that Zephra is hardworking, sensible and really sweet. She has her head totally screwed on. I got a chance to catch up with her at the end of the week on our last day in Budapest and it was so nice to chat and ‘de-brief’ about the whole experience, from both my side and hers. She got to see so much of the project and it was really lovely to hear her speak about it as a whole from an ‘outside’ perspective. 

I hope that we will have the chance to work together again in the future… I know that Zephra will go on to make lots of beautiful things.



*coolest name ever?!

24/52 (long long overdue)

A portrait a week, every week(ishhh), in 2013. 

—Eoin.

My little brother is not so little anymore. He never really was actually, people mistook us for twins often when we were small. We were both tall for our age but in his case Eoin continued to grow after the age of 10 and I did not. I went from being the tallest in the class to being of pretty average height but Eoin grew and grew like a weed. At one stage he could not tell where his limbs ended and the world began—it made him a terrible hockey player but a damn fast walker. He can now pick me up, turn me upside down and swing me around, which is less than desirable when you are trying to be a bossy big sister. 

I am very proud of my little brother. He is so much fun to be around and when it’s just us two we get on well, scheming plans and baking treats and generally getting up to nonsense. It’s those times that I am so thankful that we are so close in age. When he’s stolen my headphones, is hogging the remote control or has invited all of his friends in the entire world over on Paddy’s day to get drunk we are less amicable. But that’s just how siblings are I believe.
One of my favourite things about Eoin is his big fat heart, it usually only takes a couple of doses of perspective or reason if he’s acting the maggot and we are right back on track. Eoin knows how to apologise and forgives easily, he does not bare grudges or make rash judgements. He is friendly and smiley and happy and kind.
In the above photo we were chilling on the deck and I went to get some suncream. When he saw it was a spray bottle he said ‘spray it in my face’ so I did. It was hilarious, but the seriousness of putting on Daft Punk’s new album overshadowed the gross suncream/face situation and this was the face I captured. I hope he continues to grow into the lovely man he is becoming and manages to remain a little bit of a messer (which I think is kind of inevitable!). 

23/52

A portrait a week, every week, in 2013.

—Chris

This picture epitomises Chris to me: hard working, quiet, gentle and unobtrusive. Chris literally, never stops working. He juggles earning a humble living, excelling in college work, designing for freelance clients and spending time with his beautiful girlfriend seemingly effortlessly. Though I think I know his secret, Chris never sleeps! I don’t know how he does it because I would turn into an absolute bear if I tried to survive on as little sleep as Chris manages. Despite being the busiest guy I know Chris is also the most willing and helpful friend. He will assist anyone with any design (or paper or printing or anything-whatsoever) problem and does so without ever being patronising or rolling his eyes in boredom.
Chris always gives of his best and gets every job done to the highest of standards. He reminds me to keep on trying and experimenting and working because one can almost always do better. Chris is a constant reminder to me that doing your best is so much more important than being the best*.





*and I truly believe that for former leads to the latter in many respects anyway

22/52

A portrait a week, every week, in 2013.

—Siobhán

I have really gotten to know Siobhán properly this year because she lives with my lovely friend Nicole but once I heard that she was writing her thesis on Clueless I knew we would be fast friends. Last week I shot some photographs for her textiles degree show (coming soon!) and let me tell you Siobhán Rafter is one talented woman. Her work is so so beautiful and I definitely hope to wear something by her in the not-too-distant future. The collection was inspired 1950’s resort wear and we had a load of laughs pretending to be Lana Del Ray (tangent alert: Siobhán went to her concert and actually touched & spoke to Lana herself…major jealously going on over here!!) and contestants on America’s Next Top Model. Basically if Siobhán is involved then good times are going to be had, no exceptions!

21/52

A portrait a week, every week, in 2013.

—Caroline

Caroline lives with Lauri and Mica in the sweetest house in Kilmainham and they have all the best parties. You can’t help but have a good time there. Caroline’s going to be an art teacher someday and I can’t imagine how any student couldn’t help but love her, she is so sweet and smiley and has the loveliest Donegal accent that you ever did hear. I’m pretty sure that every girl in college is envious of her incredible skin and long dark hair…she’s like Snow White only ten times more gorgeous. Caroline is sincere, honest and so so nice. It’s hard not to have fun around her because she is always up for an adventure (especially dressing up…this girl goes all out for our college balls as you can see above ;) which is a quality I greatly admire in a person. 

20/52

A portrait a week, every week, in 2013.

—Cillian

At six years old Cillian was apparently totally smitten with me when I was born. Looking back at baby photos I can attest that I was equally so with him. And still am…most of the time. I mean it’s hard to ooze admiration and respect for a brother when he is holding you by your ankles over the kitchen floor. Ha!

The first time I remember Cillian told me he loved me we were walking down the stairs and even though our family say this to each other all the time I knew that this was special and not to look at him or make a big deal…so I just said ‘I love you too’ as cool as a cucumber. Another of my favourite memories is of the day we spent hours building a sand town in the sandpit at the end of the garden, I remember feeling so special and lucky to have such a cool older big brother who wanted to hang out with me.

Cillian is loud and fast and has more friends than I could ever count and it is impossible to keep up with him. He can be mean and a big ole bully at times but he most definitely has a heart of gold underneath it all. He is always here and there and everywhere but thankfully, most of the time if I do need him he’s there willing and able to lend a hand or an ear or a hug. Cheesy cheese, just how I like it. 

19/52

A portrait a week, every week, in 2013.

—Claire

Claire and I went to secondary school together, and she went to primary school with one of my best friends so I kind of weirdly knew her before I knew her…if that makes sense. What I’m trying to say is that we’ve been friends for a long time. We don’t spend tons of time together and I’m sure there’s a whole list of girls she’d call before me but those things don’t really matter to me because we have a really lovely friendship. Claire is the easiest person to talk to, she always knows what’s going on and can provide good perspective on most situations…and she can always make me (and pretty much anyone) laugh.

Claire is literally the definition of humble and despite being the most talented artist I know she has not got one ounce of arrogance in her bones which is so refreshing. Claire can do anything creative she puts her hand to…drawing, photography, painting; you name it and she will excel.  Oh and she can play sport and is totally beautiful and funny too…I really don’t think that many good genes in one person should be allowed.

18/52

A portrait a week, every week, in 2013.

—Aoife

Aoife and I are sisters. She lived for nine years before I was born, already going to school, playing with friends, making lunch and doing the washing up when I was just a baby.

We are, in short, like chalk and cheese. 

When I am lazy she is full of energy. When I am tired she is running or cycling or swimming or stretching. When I want chocolate she wants green juices. When she wants to shop I would rather sew or make something. She knows who’s celebrity is going out with who and what their babies are called and if I ever need some gossip she is the one to contact. We both like to bake but she likes to be a little more than creative with the ingredients and quantities. We both love yoga and I really love getting to do something together ‘just us’ each week. 

She is training for a triathlon and while I often give her grief for working too hard or ‘being totally mental’ I am rather envious of her strength, commitment and attitude to get the job done. I can’t imagine taking on a project of that scale at this time…but I know one day if I do she will cheer me on, just as I look forward to cheering her on in August. I took the above photograph just before Aoife embarked on a 40km cycle after a full day of work at the office. She might not look her most ‘glamorous’ in that sexy hi-vis jacket but she looks like my sister, happy and ready to go. 

I love Aoife —even though we drive each other crazy— and I can only hope that as we grow and marry and have children (hopefully not too far apart!) we will continue to live and work and argue and love side by side because no one knows us quite like we do, and no one ever will. 

17/52

A portrait a week, every week, in 2013.*

—Trisha

This beautiful lady is going out with my brother and they live together in the loveliest little hobbit house…the doors are round at the top and there’s pretty things everywhere you look. I could not ask for a better almost-sister-in-law than Trisha, she is so funny and kind and fiercely independent, traits I will always admire in a human. Trisha’s wardrobe is vast and she carries herself with an enviable confidence, it seems like she always looks her best. I may or may not have tried on quite a few jackets and shoes while living in their house this spring! 

I asked Trisha if I could photograph her for my current college project and I am so thankful that she agreed without hesitation. The photographs turned out gorgeous. Especially the one above, don’t you think? 

Trisha works hard, laughs often and has a strong sense of family—herself and her sister Nadia are thick as thieves. I am so so excited that one day soon she may become an official member of our ridiculous family. We all love her to bits.


*Almost caught up…back on track with 18/52 tomorrow.