THIS year’s Féile an Phobail will host an exhibition featuring the photographs from  this year's Irish Press Photographer of the Year awards – as well as a panel discussion with two of Ireland’s leading photographic journalists.

The talk, which will take place at St Mary’s University College at 7pm on 8 August, will feature both Niall Carson and James Crombie as hosts. Niall Carson is a native of Lenadoon in West Belfast and a former photographer for the Andersonstown News, who has been with PA Media in Dublin for the last 15 years. Niall has been all over the world covering stories, most recently in Ukraine, and also won Irish Press Photographer of the Year in 2007 and Northern Ireland Press Photographer of the Year in 2017.

James Crombie is the current Irish Press Photographer of the Year, and also received the award last year as well. James works for Inpho Sports Photography in Dublin and has covered over 30 All Ireland finals over the past 16 years, two summer Olympics, a British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, two Euro Championships and multiple other sporting events around the world. 

Speaking ahead the event, Niall Carson explained the topics which would be under discussion as well his latest work as a press photographer.

“It’s a panel discussion with myself and James Crombie who was Ireland’s Press Photographer of the Year, moderated by Joe Austin. The talk will exhibit all the work of everyone featured in this year’s Irish Press Photographer of the Year.

"We’ll be talking about what we’ve been doing over the past couple of years, as we’ve been very busy.

"James has covered soccer and rugby matches all over the globe, and I’ve been covering political and world events. I came back from Ukraine with the Taoiseach last week. I’ve been in various parts of Africa with the Irish Army, and with the Taoiseach meeting the American President at the White House in the Oval Office.”

“We were very lucky when we were in Ukraine in that we were very heavily guarded by Ukrainian soldiers and Garda’s Emergency Response Unit. We were well protected, but there was still danger as there aren’t any flights in Ukraine, so we had to travel there overnight in a military train from Poland. It’s still quite risky as the train is full of soldiers and there’s a risk the train will be derailed. 

“We wore body armour and helmets, and were taken to Bucha outside Kyiv which was the site of a recent massacre by Russian troops. We were in Irpin on the front lines and saw terrible destruction in civilian areas. People are still living in half demolished blocks of flats as they have nowhere else to live. At the moment I’m covering the Ukrainian refugees in Ireland who are currently being housed in a tented village in Gormanstown Barracks, so in and out of Ireland, Ukraine is still the biggest story we’re covering at the moment.”

During the recent awards, both James Crombie and Niall Carson won prizes in several categories, as well as James picking up Press Photographer of the Year for the second year in a row. James won first prize in Nature and Environment for a photograph of a murmuration of birds, creating the shape of a bird over Lough Ennell. James also won third prize in ‘Daily Life and People’ for a fishing photo and third prize in ‘Sports Feature’ for an image of boxer Kellie Harrington as she celebrated with her gold medal for Ireland at the Tokyo Olympic Games. 

Niall Carson won third prize in the ‘Portrait’ category for his photograph ‘Remembering Joan’, featuring Briege Voyle, who’s mother Joan Connolly was murdered in the Ballymurphy massacre in 1971. Remarking on the photo, the judges at the awards said: “In May the coroner’s inquest in the North found that the civilians killed during the British Army operation were innocent. The photographer shows a clear understanding of colour and texture in this portrait of Briege Voyle on her sofa surrounded by family photos and paintings.”

Speaking about his photo of Briege, Niall said: “I’m immensely proud of that photo, and to capture Briege under the portrait of her mother Joan Connolly, as someone from West Belfast it is fitting to see a photo from here that represents the people here, and the Ballymurphy families.”

Niall Carson also won first prize in the ‘Arts and Entertainment’ category, as well as second prize in the ‘Politics’ category for a photograph of Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill sharing a round of golf.

The event will be held at St Mary’s University College on 8 August at 7pm. All are free to attend to learn about press photography and see a brilliant exhibit of Ireland’s top photo journalists.