AN UNFLINCHING LENS AND EYE FOR BUSINESS
CELEBRITIES, TRAGEDIES AND TECHNOLOGY, PHOTOGRAPHER PJ BROWNE HAS SEEN IT ALL OVER THE PAST 40 YEARS ACROSS COUNTY WEXFORD
IT WAS the arrival of a Kennedy in New Ross that got a young aspiring cyclist to park his bike and pick up a camera, sparking a life-long career behind the lens which saw him cover some of the biggest stories in the country over a 30-year period.
PJ Browne had no training of any kind when he picked up his first camera. ‘ There was nobody with the same interest to talk to or compare notes with. I did buy a book called Camera by Eric DeMare which I used for a focus point. Today there are many opportunities to learn the art. Then there was nothing,’ PJ said.
He bought a better camera, a 35mm. ‘I developed an interest in photography and set up a darkroom in the house we lived in at Chapel Lane, with a makeshift studio in the sittingroom. The reporter for the New Ross Standard was Larry Larkin. I happened to meet him for the first time when Ted Kennedy came to New Ross in 1962 on a fact finding mission paving the way for a visit for JFK the following year.
‘Larry told me it was an opportunity to have some pictures published in the Standard. To my recollection I don’t know if any were published as I think Denis O’Connor arrived from Wexford to cover the event.’
PJ would arrive at dances in the Badminton Hall and take pictures of people and display them at a shop in South Street.
‘If people liked then they may buy. Eddie Prendergast supplied photographs to the paper on a freelance basis. I met the then manager of the
People Newspaper in his office in Wexford and we agreed a price to supply photographs from the area. I would cover events and I would print and caption and take them to Larry Larkin. He would send his stories to Wexford editions. This went on for many years.’
Throughout PJ was working full-time with the ESB, He came to the attention of the Echo newspaper editor after the Wexford hurling senior final in O’Kennedy Park New Ross in 1964 between the Shamrocks and the Faythe Harriers.
He worked for The Echo covering all the major GAA events in the county and all around the country.
‘ Their reporter Sean Whelan would travel to Croke Park, Thurles, Cork, Limerick, Athlone, Kilkenny, Carlow etc. This happened for some years. At that time photographers would camp along the end line waiting for action to come into view. I found that at some games little action came my way so I bought long lens 300mm so now I could go to the sideline and much more of the game’s action was available. I was the first provincial photographer in my area doing this.’
PJ was a regular at Croke Park and he was there in 1968 Wexford won both the minor and senior final. ‘ The coverage from that event covered four pages because Wexford didn’t win many after that; it was 1996 before the next one. I was covering both the Echo and Standard for some years and the workload became too heavy so I stopped the sport and coverage for the Echo. I could now concentrate on the New Ross coverage and cover weddings also.’
Processing photos took a lot of time. ‘In the