Kim Haughton Photography

Our first shot..

2010-03-06T15:13:36Z

Here are some images photographed by students who participated on the first documentary photography course in the Gallery of Photography. What a time we had... from "Yer Wan In Da Windah", a curious reportage about the statue of the white lady on the rock who looks out through the windows of houses, particularly around Crumlin to "Angels Plot", a gentle and poignant study of the graves of over 50,000 children who were buried in Glasnevin cemetery, we had a really interesting selection of stories that students chose to document for their projects. There were also documentaries on a yoga practitioner, an artist moulding a strange looking punk fish out of clay and a haunting set of images documenting Dublin as a city of blinding lights... Well done to all who participated.. note:copyright is belonging to each photographer.. anybody know how to customize this for individual images on photoshelter, please let me know. kh

Women of Concern Photo Exhibition

2010-03-01T20:55:54Z

In January, I was in South Wollo in the Amhara region of Northern Ethiopia to photograph women for the upcoming "Women of Concern" exhibition which takes place in the Gallery of Photography in Temple bar from 4-21st March. I met Zinet on the last day of shooting. Zinet's life was already predetermined in birth. Betrothed as an infant, she was abducted and forced into an early marriage last year. Her father was arrested and accused of organising the abduction. The entire ordeal has torn a close-knit family apart.

]]> Her father Yesuf, like many parents who marry off their daughters at a young age, was acting in the belief that marriage would secure Zinet's future. This is a real paradox given that poverty fuels child marriage, which in turn perpetuates the feminisation of poverty.

I also photographed a smiling and proud Alganesh Assefd with her herd of goats. She bought three of them through a loan scheme run by a self-help group. A year on, she has ten goats and can pay for her children's school fees and buy them clothes. Studies have shown that a woman in the developing world will reinvest 90% of their income into her family wheras a man will only reinvest 30-40%.

The self-help group is supported by Concern's local partner the WSA (Women's Support Association) There are 115 self -help groups in the region with 2340 members. The groups enable women to have a collective negotiating power, educate themselves, protect their children and become self sufficient through savings and loan schemes. "Women of Concern" is a group of Irish women who support the WSA initiative in Ethiopia and other projects in Haiti and Bangladesh.

There is an image in the exhibition of Zinet standing on a hilltop. Through the lens I could see a sadness in her eyes reflecting what had happened to her but I also saw hope which I think comes through in the image. After taking the photograph, I asked her what she would like to be when she grows up. "A Teacher" she replied.

Capturing emotion and feeling in a photograph is what has always interested me the most. Despite their harrowing experiences, the strength and dignity of the Ethiopian women that I met is testimony to the power of the human spirit. I came away thinking how I got so much more from them in those terms than I could ever give. kh

A Lesson in Documentary Photography

2010-02-01T13:05:09Z

From February 2010, I will be teaching an Introductory Course in Documentary Photography at the Gallery of Photography in Dublin. Courses for February and March are sold out but we will try to do more later in the year as there has been quite a demand for places. Being in the business for over ten years, it's exciting now to be in a position to pass on some of my knowledge and experience as a working photographer in the field, to share some of the crazy stories the scary situations and hopefully be an inspiration to others who have an idea for a photo story or a dream to be a documentary photographer.]]>

The Stolen Generation awarded at Fastnet

2009-07-28T11:15:35Z

We shot this short documentary last August in rural Mozambique. It follows a day in the life of the Antonio family whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS We entered it into some film festivals really just hoping it would get screened somewhere, anywhere. We're glad to say it did get screened and it also won the best documentary award at the Fastnet Short Film Festival which was held in Schull, West Cork last May. It's a great beginning to what I am hoping will be a new multimedia adventure. Thanks to the Simon Cumbers Media Challenge fund for their support.

The Last Republican

2009-07-02T09:54:57Z

"The picture speaks of mid 20th century rural Ireland: the old-fashioned stove and the turf box beside it; the reupholstered Cavan chair; even the co-op calendar on the roughcast wall. All's missing is the votive light beneath the picture of Our Lady. The sitter has put on his good suit to have his picture taken.

Except that the photograph was taken by Dublin Freelance Photographer Kim Haughton on March 13th 2009"

This is the opening quote from a recent Sunday Independent article by journalist Jim Cusack about the photograph (above) of founder of Republican Sinn Fein, Ruairi O' Bradaigh. It's always interesting to hear other people's descriptions of your photographs.

]]> I photographed Ruairi in the kitchen of his Roscommon home, originally for The Observer. I remember thinking at the time that the co-op calendar might make the wall look a bit too messy and I was also thinking it would have been better if the turf wasn't in the turf box, but just sitting there beside the old aga on the floor so you could see it better. But, I left everything as it was. Ruairi wanted to move the kettle off the stove but I asked him to leave it there. It wouldn't have worked without the kettle. I wasn't trying to make any political statement with the image, it was just the most visually interesting place in the house to photograph him.

Michael Jackson Memoribilia

2009-06-29T14:50:50Z

Back in March, while Michael Jackson was in London announcing his "This Is It" comeback gigs, Newbridge Silverware somehow managed to get a major scoop. The Kildare based company held the World exclusive Michael Jackson auction preview at the Museum of Style Icons. Rumour had it that thousands of devoted fans would roll into town. Jackson himself would secretly jet across the Irish sea to take a final look at his precious things. We hoped. We waited. Jackson didn't show up of course, neither did his fans and the auction, scheduled to happen in LA at the end of April, didn't.

]]> Invasion of Prague 1968 series. Afterwards, I was with friends sitting outside the IFI having a glass of wine and discussing the demise of kodachrome, the basics of rocket science and haiku walks in Howth amongst other important topics of our time when the news of Michael Jackson's death reached us via our friendly waiter. Koudelka's images from Prague were secretly smuggled out of the country, eventually reaching Magnum in New York and the pages of newspapers a year later. The news of Michael Jackson's death took less than thirty minutes from the time it apparently happened in LA to reach us in a Dublin bar..

Farewell Alice

2009-06-19T14:51:24Z

On 30th May, my friend Alice McLoughlin died in her sleep at home in Dublin. I first met Alice in 1994 when, as a young student photographer, I shot my first photo story in Fatima Mansions. Alice was outside her flat cleaning the windows while her mother Kitty sat on the wall smoking cigarette after cigarette. In 2006, Alice featured in ">Farewell Fatima, a documentary I made with Filmbase about returning to Fatima and reconnecting with some of the people in the old photographs.

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PPAI Photojournalism Awards 2008 Winner

2009-06-17T15:30:29Z

This image was taken in Ethiopia in August 2008, while I was on a separate assignment and I was delighted when it was a winner in the People category of the PPAI Photojournalism Awards which were held in Dublin in February 2009.

]]> I had a couple of days to spare in Addis Ababa, so I hitched a ride South with Louise Finan from Concern. We stopped at a feeding centre where Concern were assessing the needs of malnourished children and that's where I photographed Fatima and her twin babies (the other baby was sitting on her lap)