Written by Maria Dunphy – November 2020.
Who are we?
We are photographers/videographers.
We are MEMORY MAKERS.
We are there for the important occasions of your life, we capture the Newborn babies, christenings, 1st birthdays, first holy communions, confirmations, Family Portraits, Generational Family groups, Graduations, School Photographs, Big Birthdays, Anniversaries, and Weddings.
This year many of the big events in peoples lives had to be put on hold or scaled-down. Big family gatherings are not happening.
We are HISTORIANS.
We are there to record events as they happen. The political and business innovators, sports, the amazing things that people do in their daily lives.
These activities have been dramatically reduced this year: no large business conferences, no awards ceremonies no trade fairs.
We are ARTISTS.
We are passionate about our work. We live to create beautiful imagery for our clients, for ourselves.
We are MARKETING EXPERTS.
We know just what angle and light to use to create the best image or video of your product, building or model to successfully allow you to sell and promote what you are selling. This area of our profession was hit in the first lockdown.
We are the forgotten profession.
When photographing people we are one of the few professions whose clients can not wear a mask when we are working with them. We need to capture their smiles as they create memories for the future generation.
We are forgotten when other service providers got a VAT reduction. Why?
We are forgotten when artists are given the entitlement to a living wage. Why?
We have battled through this year to be able to keep our businesses going. We pay VAT, income tax, and many of us pay rates. Many of us are generational businesses, our families trading for up to 3 generations.
For most of us, the annual boost Christmas business gives us is not going to happen this year. We are not retailers, we have no product to sell until we create the images. We normally create them in October and November.
We are artists so our products take time to produce: the time taking the photographs, editing on the computer, sitting down with our clients to show them our work and help them decide what best way to display their portraits, manufacturing the frames and printing the portraits. It all takes time to do and December 1st for many of us is too late to capture the business we need.
We need supports from the government.
We do not want to be the forgotten profession.
About Maria
Maria Dunphy is a third-generation Professional Photographer who joined the family business in 1988. Oliver and Noeline Dunphy – Maria’s Parents – and Eileen Dunphy – her grandmother – were also photographers.
Maria is a Portrait Photographer, specialising in Newborn, Children, Family and Pet Photography.
Passionate about her work and her profession Maria has over 100 awards of excellence for her Photography, has held the title IPPA Pet Photographer of the year 3 times, she is a Qualified Associate of the Irish Professional Photographers & Videographers Association and a craftsman. Maria served 2 terms as President of the IPPVA.
www.mariaofkilkenny.com
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