Award-winning photographer Paul Mealey has had to suffer for his art. His first Irish exhibition includes one photograph where he almost caught his death of cold.
He jumped into the ice cold Atlantic Ocean so he could capture just one set of footprints on a snow-covered pier.
Said Paul, 45: “I wanted it to look as if the person who made the prints had vanished.
“So I walked down the pier and then jumped in off the end before wading back to shore.
“The water only came to waist-height but it was early morning and January and the water was freezing.”
Father-of-two Paul has moved to Mayo with wife Mona and children Cian,9, and Molly, 5, after spending a quarter of a century working for national newspapers in Britain and Ireland.
Among the jobs he has covered were three Royal weddings - Princesses Anne and Diana as well as the Duchess of York, now plain Sarah Ferguson.
Other highlights of his career include the visit of John Paul II in 1982 for which he won Press Picture of the Year for a shot of the Pontiff’s hat flying off his head as he climbed from a helicopter. Also spending many years at Anfield and Old Trafford photographing football on and off the field photographing the Beckhams, Micheal Owen, the Rooney’s Sent to Ireland to capture images of U2, Westlife, Enya and the wedding of 007 actor Pierce Brosnan, WestLife, and Boyzone, He even managed to snap American President Bill Clinton playing a round of golf at Ashford Castle in Cong, County Mayo!
Now Paul and his family have returned to live in Mona’s home town of Westport where he is pursuing photography in a different way, putting a unique slant on what he calls “social photography” - weddings, children’s portraits and Communions and Christenings.
But all of the pictures in the exhibition reflect his fascination with the glorious west coast of Ireland and its inhabitants.
Paul added: “I”ve spent enough time crunching concrete and chasing so-called celebrities. I trained at the Liverpool Institute of Art - where Paul McCartney and John Lennon met - and I spent two wonderful years there. I want to go back to the true art of photography and where else could you find scenery to match what Mayo has to offer.”
The exhibition - called ‘Unspoilt’ - will be opened by Michael Duffy, editor of The Mayo News, on May 7 at 8pm at the Clew Bay Hotel, James Street, Westport. It will run for the entire month and admission is free.
