Galway-based photographer Neil Warner snapped up 18 Gold Awards at the IPPA National Photographic Awards held recently the Burlington Hotel in Dublin.
A former Galway Advertiser photographer, Neil Warner won the awards for a range of images including one of an old dilapidated part of Galway which backs onto Market Street. Commenting on the image, Mr Warner said: “Despite the fact that the Celtic Tiger had bypassed this building, I felt that there was great dignity in the building and was delighted to bring the textures out to show the great dignity in its age.” The winning images also included one of the Radisson Royal Hotel in St Petersburg, Russia, where Mr Warner completed an assignment just before Christmas.
Despite the downturn in Irish industry, he has been at the forefront of developing photography as a communications tool. Last year Mr Warner extended his activities into the moving image and as a result has shot more than 20 mini documentaries. The subjects include everything from developments in keyhole surgery to the repair and renewal of aircraft at Dublin Aerospace.
Mr Warner is the only Irish photographer to have won the Irish Professional Photographer of the Year on more than one occasion and is a finalist in the upcoming British Professional Photography Awards organised by the British Institute of Professional Photography. Mr Warner’s credits his background in marketing for the success of his business in these straightened financial times and he is keen to give back to the community in a variety of ways including the Happy Faces Day event which takes place at the end of March in aid of the Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation.
“Even in these hard times we must put something back. That is why we have teamed up with Gerry O’Gorman of the The Lane Studios to take part in Happy Faces Day, a charitable initiative which this year is raising funds for The Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation,” he said.
For more information regarding the Happy Faces Day event go to http://happyfaces.irishphotographers.com.
