Life through a lens: Eddie O'Hare, photographer extraordinaire

Last year, photographer Eddie O’Hare celebrated 45 years of service with the Examiner and Echo. We spoke to him about his career in the industry and what makes a good sports photograph.

How did you get into sports photography?

I had an interest in it going back to when I was in school in Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh in Bishopstown, but I never did anything about it at the time.

I was always busy – I played rugby with Highfield, GAA with Bishopstown and soccer with Wilton United but then a job came up in Barry’s photographers in 1978.

I was only in there six months and an interview came up for the dark room in the Examiner/Echo. I worked there for the best part of a year and a half but I was getting to go out and do the odd job.” I used to love covering concerts. I was big into music and I was a pirate DJ – Ed Harris was my name!

The thing is, though, that it wasn’t about photographing the bands; covering concerts is about photographing the people at them.

How did you develop (pardon the pun) as a photographer?

Seeing some of the greats – the likes of Des Barry and Michael Olney – looking at their stuff, and then the interest in all sports.

You never knew what you had until you went back to the office – whether you had award-winning stuff or just rubbish. You stayed for the full game and then went back and developed your photos to see what you had.

I think a big thing was having experience of playing sport as that helped your timing.

It was about always expecting something – you’re reading the game the same as if you’re playing it. Even nowadays, you’re watching where the ball is going to drop, anticipating to try to get the right shot.

What kind of pictures do you enjoy?

The celebration ones after the county finals can always be good – guys are on a high. After the premier intermediate football final in 2024, I got Denis Reen dropping to his knees, celebrating after Kilshannig won.

Do you miss some shots? 

Of course you do. This year, for the All-Ireland hurling, I had gone behind the goal because you’re either going to get an end-of-match celebration or the disappointment of losing.

It meant that I missed the pull on Robbie O’Flynn’s jersey – if I had stayed where I was, I would have had a better shot of that.

In 2023, in the drawn senior A hurling final, I was right behind Mark Coleman when he took a sideline cut that would have won the game for Blarney. It dropped short – if it had gone over, it would have been the picture of the year but there was still something in it.

The other side of that is that photographing losing managers or players must be tough?

You have to try to be respectful. You wouldn’t be standing there next to guy, snapping him, but you might try to get one with a long lens.

You’re dealing with these guys on a regular basis, so you’re trying to do it subtly and sensitively.

And what’s the key to a good photo?

You’re always looking for the next one.

Even in the intermediate A hurling final last year, Cathal Hickey got a goal for Lisgoold and I was in the right spot, the same with Seán Desmond when Watergrasshill won the premier intermediate.

What I always try to do – and it’s advice I give when camera clubs ask me to give a talk – is to come up with the photograph that the non-sporting person will look at.

Sport gives a bit of movement, a bit of action, you’re striving for the best the whole time, no matter what kind of a match it is – a first round or a final.

So you still enjoy it after all these years?

If anything, my passion for it is even stronger than when I started. Even seeing your name in the paper is still a thrill.

If you get blasé about that, you might as well pack it in.

The biggest thrill for me on a personal level was being there in Croke Park when my son Alan won an All-Ireland minor football medal in 2019. That was just phenomenal.