Cathal Dawson didn't take up photography until the relatively late age of 27. Before that he spent a number of years doing sweet fanny adams. Washing dishes in the great hotels of Europe, pumping petrol in the great petrol stations of Ireland and signing on the dole at various stages in between seemed to be about the extent of his capabilities. Eventually he decided he needed to do something positive with his life and, following the suggestion of an interested party, borrowed a camera and started shooting.

The results were shockingly bad but the bug had bitten and consequently he joined the Dublin Camera Club. It was there he learned how to process and print B/W film. Making full use of the available darkrooms, he would often go in around 8pm and find himself emerging at 6 or 7 the following morning, eyes squinting in the light of day, exhausted but exhilarated because he might have produced one print he wouldn't be ashamed to hang on his wall. He had his first picture printed in the Sunday Press sometime in early 1988. That picture was taken in the RDS at a Level 42 gig, having smuggled a camera body and lens in with the help of a female friend, who refused to allow security to frisk her on the way in!

After that he started going to gigs regularly, blagging his way in with the camera (somehow managing to convince security he was a press photographer), and then continually submitted photos to various papers and magazines, particularly Ireland's premier music magazine, Hot Press, until eventually they accepted and printed a picture sometime in late 1988. Cathal has been working regularly with Hot Press ever since, shooting almost exclusively in black & white, (until around 2001) and primarily in the music scene.

Over the years he has photographed many of the legendary figures of rock including David Bowie, BB King, U2, Oasis, Sinead O'Connor, Johnny Thunders, Manic Street Preachers and many others, too numerous to mention. His photos have appeared in Hot Press, NME, Q, Mojo, Rolling Stone, Select, Marie Clare, and various other European and Asian magazines.

Cathal began shooting in colour around 2001 and made the switch to digital photography in 2003, but his first love remains traditional black & white.  

Photo: Self portrait