My year photographing female entrepreneurs began at the end of 2018 when I was awarded the contract to be the Press and Public Relations photographer for Network Ireland West Cork for 2019.
Network Ireland is a Women in Business networking organization, helping and empowering Female Entrepreneurs to grow their businesses through support from the other members and from established business women such as Dee Forbes, Director General of RTE and Margaret Nelson, CEO of FM104 and Q102.
Press Photographs
See Press Coverage 1 See Press Coverage 2
The national organization was established in 1983 and there are branches all over Ireland, the West Cork Chapter was established in 2018. Each month they hold a meeting at a West Cork hotel or restaurant, which has a networking component for the first hour, and then a series of short soapbox speeches where members introduce their businesses, followed by a motivational talk from the guest speaker.
My job was to create press worthy shots of the guest speakers with the members of the committee for the print and online business publications, and a set of more informal social media photographs for use on the networks Facebook and Twitter accounts. I also documented any key events in the year such as the handover of the chain of office from the 2019 president Ciara Lucey to the 2020 president Caroline Murphy.
Social Media Photographs
After each shoot, I would choose the best images, and working in conjunction with the PRO, Orla Clancy, I would resize and caption each image in the correct format for press publication and send the photographs and the press release out to our mailing list.
I was also asked to set up my portable studio before one of the early meetings at the AIB in Bandon and capture professional headshots of the committee members.
Headshots
Over the course of the year, I had images published in the following print and online publications…
The Irish Examiner, The Evening Echo, The Southern Star, The West Cork People, The Opinion, RSVP Magazine, Irish Country Magazine, Image Magazine, Business and Finance, Women Mean Business, West Cork Times, Cork Independent, and Business Cork.
My Year Photographing Female Entrepreneurs
