Camera Roll: 2022 from our phone camera

As 2022 draws to a close, T+D contributors take a look back over the year that was by trawling their camera roll for six images that made the year.

We thought a nice way to sum up 2022 would be to ask some contributors to search through their smartphone camera roll for a selection of images that sum up their year, both work and play….

---

Ellie O’Byrne, Tripe + Drisheen editor

Most of the photos that accompany my articles are taken on my iPhone. I don’t love that, because in my dream world there’s a brilliant photographer working with me every interview I do.

But I enjoy taking photos. The disadvantage of an iPhone instead of a proper digital camera is people’s response: they tend to act as though you’re not seriously taking photos and you have to be that bit bossier to get something out of them.

January 2022: the tunnel under Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh

Exploring the Sirius Centre in the company of historian Tom Spalding for a history podcast series called In and Out of Empire, I took a turn into the old service tunnel: for over 100 years, the building was home to the Royal Cork Yacht Club. Clubhouse staff - maids, cooks, housekeepers - brought provisions, and themselves, into the building hidden from view of the “gentlemen” members dining and playing cards upstairs.

February 2022: A bear in Ballymartle

Walking through the woods with campaigners trying to prevent Coillte from selling off a block of woodland to report for Tripe + Drisheen, we happened upon this weird scene: an archery club uses the woods and they are dotted with a variety of different plastic animal targets including bears, deer and even a cobra.

March 2022: Liam Ó hUigín in The Marsh

We were a little short of pics when James Furey and Kieran Murphy from Cork Folklore Project were publishing their lovely article called Swim City in March. I volunteered to go and photograph Liam Ó hUigín, who remembers swimming in the Lee across from the Mercy Hospital as a child. I ended up with a fascinating impromptu tour of the area, and vivid memories. At Christmas, Liam told me, hundreds of live turkeys would be driven up Henry St on their way to be plucked: families in the tenements had terriers trained to slip into the melee and bring back a bird.

July 2022: A potato waits for the lift

One of the big thrills of 2022 was being asked by the Crawford Art Gallery to co-curate a series of food-related events for their Meat & Potatoes exhibition, which ran from July until November. Curator Anne Boddaert and food historian Regina Sexton, with whom I was working on the project, were very patient with my insane schemes, including the growing of a crop of potatoes in the gallery with the assistance of Cork Rooftop Farms: this little fella is waiting for the lift on the day of his installation.

September 2022: Apple Pie Time

I’m not normally scared of creepy crawlies but these sapsuckers really terrified me as a kid: I once had the experience of trying to shake one off my clothes and, because of the barbs on his feet, the unfortunate creature was stuck to me. I called them “pies” because of the markings on their back. My daughter, 17, finds this selective single-bug phobia hilarious. So when she found this monster on an apple in the kitchen, she snapped it with my phone and made it my screensaver so I get a little jump-scare every time I pick up my phone.

October 2022: The Port of Cork, Ringaskiddy

I don’t think people realise what a huge story this is, how much it’s going to change our cityscape, how much harder sea access to the city is going to become: I reported on the public consultation for the changes proposed by the Port of Cork Authority in October. It was a beautiful day. There was almost no-one at the consultation in Ringaskiddy. This is going to impact the lives of future generations forever.

---

JJ O’Donoghue, Tripe + Drisheen founder and contributor

Like Ellie, I have an iPhone full of snaps taken from T+D assignments. And like Ellie, I wish there was a professional photographer out there with me doing justice to our subjects and assignments. Alas, needs must.

That said it was great to get out for the final assignment of the year with photographer Mark O’Shea. It’s a different dynamic when you’re reporting a story in the company of a photographer; you can leave the pro get on with the pictures while you concentrate on the interview. Below is a handful from my favourites folder and one from Mark.

January 2022: The ‘Hut’, Fitzgerald’s Park

Our story on the 100-year old ‘hut’ had a huge response. The ‘hut’ started out as the ‘Firemen’s Rest’ on Grand Parade before it moved up town to St Patrick’s Street just behind Fr. Mathew. There it stood for the best part of last century until it was moved into storage in Fitzgerald’s Park where it remains to this day, falling apart. It was barely hanging together when I went to have a look at it and pay my respects. My father was a bus driver and I heard many stories about the hut growing up. Nearly a year on, I still get occasional emails asking if anything can be done to restore the ‘hut.’ I wonder.

May 2022: in the hurley maker’s shed, Douglas

The best stories often come from everyday conversations. And so it was when a neighbour out front on the green playing hurling with his two sons told me about Adam Lingane, a local lad who made the hurleys his sons were playing with. I interviewed Adam, who is studying at the University of Limerick, in the shed at the back of the house he grew up in. His grandfather played a big part in getting Adam interested in woodworking. Above are two wood planes belonging to Adam’s grandfather which Adam uses to fashion his hurleys.

May 2022: in the bunker

Bunker Vinyl is one of those rare spots where you really do get a mix of many different people under one roof. I went to interview proprietor John Dwyer for a profile for Lives Less Ordinary, a new section which we started this year. We started chatting well before John opened up for the day’s business, but I ended up staying long past the hour we had allotted for our interview. John has oceans of time for everyone.

June 2022: what a day to start a cycle bus

The weather was not on the side of the small handful of volunteers who kicked off the first cycle bus in Ballincollig at the very end of June. On the drive out to Ballincollig I wondered if anyone would turn up as it was pelting down. You’d forgive them too had they not. A few committed cyclists arrived at the grounds of the rugby club and around 8:30 am set off in the rain cycling through Ballincollig. Slowly they were joined by youngsters and more parents carrying kids on bikes. And that’s how movements are born.

September 2022: a quarry full of hope

What a summer it was this year, with weeks on end where it didn’t rain. During one of those days I paid a visit to the small community in St Luke’s who are transforming what was a dumping ground into a community garden. There was a lovely sense of community as the locals set about planning for an upcoming festival while toddlers wandered the slopes. The St Luke’s group is just one of many community gardens that have sprung up in the city: hopefully in 2023 I’ll get to visit more of them and meet the communities who help grow them.

December 2022: Teddy bear’s picnic at Tramore Valley Park

This shot of the Tramore Valley Park teddy bears is from Mark O’Shea. We went along to check out the cuddly bears and the toys that get a second life when we interviewed Cork City Council worker Finbarr Sheehan. That picture story will be out next week, so have a look for it in your inbox.

---

Noel Sweeney, Tripe + Drisheen contributor

January 2022: Kíla in rehearsals

2022 saw me produce a radio documentary about trad/folk titans Kíla and their navigation through the live music sector’s Covid restrictions. They kindly let me in to record rehearsals for a major show. While that was amazing in itself, the (albeit rather amateur) percussionist in me wanted to join in and jam. As I was taking the photo, I was thinking “there’s probably five of the best percussionists in the country right there.. “ The documentary aired in May 2022 and will be repeated on January 2nd at 6pm on Newstalk 108 FM.

March 2022: Garryduff woods

Garryduff woods in Rochestown is one of those special places for me. Taken one fresh spring morning as the rising sun crept in through the trees. Nice pic, but in no way does it do the real scene any justice whatsoever. 

June 2022: Liam in St Fin Barre’s belfry

Liam O’ Sullivan is a Campanologist and the new tower master at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral. We chatted for a written series I was doing on The Bells of Cork for The Echo. He was very generous with his time and knowledge. My job can allow me to see places most people don’t get to, and being in the St Fin Barre's belfry really reminded me of that.

September 2022: Maria and Ger at Listowel Storytelling Festival

I help out The Listowel International Storytelling Festival with some media and PR each year. During the festival’s ‘Story Walk,’ Cork singer-songwriter Ger Wolfe sat down for a song and Maria Gillen, seanachaí and festival organiser, jumped in beside him. Straight away I thought it would be a scene to look back on, so the smartphone came out for a snap.  

October 2022: Cork docklands from The Dean

Cork Docklands seems to be an epicentre of development right now, representative of bigger changes happening nationally and even internationally. A good friend and I noted the same point while having lunch in Sophie’s. Staring straight down into the middle of it, it was a no-brainer to pull out the smart phone for this one. 

December 2022: Banna Beach, Co Kerry

Looking southwest from Banna Strand in Kerry, the sun sets behind a Dingle Peninsula headland. I hail from Banna in Co Kerry and I walk the beach there whenever I can. There can be thousands of kodak moments while walking on a beach like that. This is just one of them.