Recently I've been submitting pictures to the Southern Star newspaper. The Star circulates weekly around West Cork and has a readership of 50,000 - not bad for an out of town, country-based newspaper.

Photo-journalism can be difficult at times; trying to be creative under pressure brings its own problems. One might get a brief of: shoot this person, do a feature on a bar showing its 'quaintness', photograph a new shop, etc.

Often, one only gets a flavour of what's involved on arrival at the location, so the pressure to think of something different and creative is quite substantial.

*The images that appeared in the latest edition of the Southern Star - oneis on page 3!*

Two of my shots appeared in the latest edition of the Star - I shot the launch of a healthy eating booklet in a supermarket, so had to think of a way of making the pictures interesting. My train of thought was to highlight healthiness, hence the vegetables. Throw in some of the booklets, the author, and the supermarket proprietor and, there's your image!

*The original picture that appeared on page 3.*

Even though my pictures are published regularly in the printed media, I still get a thrill when I see one of my images in any sort of publication. It lets me know that someone likes my photography!