End of an era for New Ross as Paddy Delaney re tires
HAVING RECORDED ALL OF THE EVENTS IN THE LOCALITY FOR 24 YEARS, A WELL-DESERVED RETIREMENT AWAITS PADDY, WRITES DAVID LOOBY
AFTER 24 years clicking and processing tens of thousands of photographs in black and white and in colour for the New Ross Standard, Paddy Delaney retired last week.
The first photographs Paddy took for the newspaper in September 1992 were developed in a darkroom at his brother Edno’s house in The Maudlins and although digital advances meant the process through which his beloved photographs came to the page changed, his passion for the job remained the same.
Paddy’s grandfather William Kielthy was a photographer and it was always in his blood with his two older brothers Willie and Edno specialising in wildlife photography.
A father of seven – namely Deborah, Audrey, Kirk, Jason, Yvonne, Patrick and Shane – Paddy is married to Frances.
Sitting cross-legged in the Standard office, Paddy recalled the days of processing photographs in a darkroom. ‘It was very painstaking and time consuming and the smell of the chemicals was dire,’ he said.
‘I used to come out of the darkroom with red eyes. Digital has changed all that. When I got my first digital camera I had a day to get used to it. It’s simple now to get photographs ready but it is very time consuming.’
He said taking the photographs is the easiest part of the process.
‘It’s the captions that take time so some nights I finished at 2.00am and I started early in the mornings, sometimes at 6.00.’
Paddy knows every back road and byway in the county and over the years he has driven tens of thousands of miles and taken tens of thousands of photographs.
He said: ‘I had a massive area to cover stretching from South Kilkenny to Enniscorthy over to Adamstown and down to the Hook. I got great satisfaction from my work appearing in print in the New Ross Standard, the Wexford People and the Enniscorthy and Gorey Guardi ans. I will miss being part of the photography team and I always got on very well with the other photographers. I want to thank the management also who I always got on with.’
For 24 years Paddy captured moments of joy and sadness in the lives of people across the county. Providing seven days a week cover, Paddy only missed one day due to a serious incident on his way to a job. He said: ‘When I started I supplied around 12 photographs per week to the Standard and this September for the First Day at School I supplied 156 photographs. Usually I supplied around 80. The most important events for me were dealing with the public all over the areas who volunteered their time to raise money for various fundraising organisations and charities. I will miss meeting these people who give up their time in villages and towns across the district to raise money for worthy causes. Great praise should go to all of these volunteers.’
During his time behind the lens for the Standard, Paddy worked hand in glove with eight reporters, the late Larry Larkin, Damien Tiernan, Michael Ryan, Ian McClure, Aishling Donnelly, Conor Cullen, Elaine Furlong and David Looby, providing them with plenty of tip-offs on stories and as he said himself, ‘setting them straight if they ever put a foot wrong’.
Paddy said he always enjoyed his work even if at times it meant that he couldn’t attend family occasions. He said: ‘I would like to thank Frances and my children for their understanding of the extent of my job and for accepting the fact that I couldn’t attend family occasions. I loved the work but some people thought I was waiting on the other end of the landline or the mobile for them to call for a last minute booking.’
One aspect of the work that never sat well with Paddy was covering tragic scenes knowing that grieving families were affected. He said: ‘There are people behind every story and you always have to think of them. I want to thank the emergency services, the firemen and Gardaí for their cooperation. They had a job to do and they also understood that I had a job to do.’
One of the highlights of his career was attending the senior citizens Christmas parties. ‘I loved going to them because you could go out there and have the craic with them and they always appreciated getting their photo into the paper.’
He also loved covering human interest stories, especially stories where there was a positive outcome, be it for a local child trying to get medical attention for a debilitating illness or someone who was fighting for their rights. ‘I really got satisfaction when there was a proper result for them.’
Paddy earned the nickname Paddy Snaps and he was known to young and old for his quick remarks and friendly banter.
He would often respond to requests from people to make them good looking in the paper that he was a photographer and not a magician.
Specialising in spontaneous photographs, Paddy loved catching people unawares through the long lens.
‘Most photographs are set up but I loved taking photos at field days with a long lens because people were unaware of the camera and children, in particular, were completely unselfconscious unlike adults who are more self-conscious.’
Paddy’s only regret is that every photograph he took couldn’t make it to print.
Paddy, who turns 66 on March 1, plans to continue taking some photographs from time to time for the New Ross Standard and to follow his brothers into wildlife photography.
‘Edno is an All-Ireland winning wildlife photographer and Willie is also an excellent photographer. I’m also looking forward to playing plenty of golf and to having a life and spending time with my grandchildren, wife and children.’
Wishing Paddy well in the future, Jim Hayes, Editor, said he ‘will be missed’. ‘I would like to thank Paddy for the huge contribution he has made to the pages of the New Ross Standard and our other titles in county Wexford.
‘For over two decades his pictures have been a window to life in local communities in New Ross and beyond.’