Finbarr O'Reilly

Canon Ambassador Finbarr O'Reilly began his career in journalism as a writer, but later discovered he could communicate the stories he was covering more effectively with photography. "It really struck me that telling stories through images has this very immediate and emotional impact," he says.

"Often my written reports were condensed into briefs or overshadowed by news from the Middle East. But then, when I started taking photos to accompany my stories, my pictures were suddenly on the front pages of international newspapers and across double-page spreads in major European magazines. It's important to drive people to find out more about a situation by reading the accompanying text, but images can capture people's attention much more quickly than a bank of words."

In 2001, the urge to travel overseas and cover harder news stories led Finbarr to take a job as a correspondent for the international news agency Reuters, initially based in Kinshasa, Congo, then Rwanda. Photography had always been one of his main interests and after having success in using it to bring stories to wider attention, he switched to become Reuters' Chief Photographer for West and Central Africa in 2005.

From early in his career, Finbarr sought to avoid the common narratives defining foreign media coverage from the countries he worked in. "I was photographing conflicts and coups and famines, but always tried to look past the obvious scenes of violence and distress," he says.

"As photojournalists, we need to be conscious of how we work, so that we're not producing images that desensitise us and dehumanise those who are already vulnerable, marginalised or oppressed. We have a responsibility not to inflict further harm upon those we are documenting."

Finbarr lived and worked in African, Asian and Middle Eastern countries including Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, Afghanistan, Libya and Gaza for 12 years. However, after covering the Gaza War in 2014, he consciously stepped back from conflict photography and co-wrote a book, Shooting Ghosts, with former US Marine Thomas J Brennan about his experiences.

Since the book was published in 2017, Finbarr has covered many stories for The New York Times on health and social issues, including Ebola in Congo, Islamic extremism in Africa's Sahel region and the involvement of criminal networks in Madagascar's vanilla trade.

He has been awarded Fellowships from both Yale and Harvard Universities and was chosen as the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize exhibition photographer. He is also the 2020 Laureate of the Prix Carmignac, an award that will enable him to produce an in-depth photo reportage on a range of contemporary issues in the Congo.

For both his Nobel and Carmignac commissions, Finbarr collaborated with Ethiopian and Congolese photographers to produce joint exhibitions and projects, in which local photographers shaped the narratives around their own countries. Much of his work now involves mentoring emerging photographers.

What are the main skills needed to be a photojournalist?

"You need to have curiosity, patience and determination because this isn't an easy profession. You need to have an understanding that things happen slowly and that the best work takes time. Ultimately, you need to really care about the stories and people you're photographing. Today, it's also a shrinking profession so you need to be very entrepreneurial about how you do it and smart about how you market yourself on social media."



What's been your relationship with other photographers in the field?

"Photojournalism is competitive, but in most of the environments I've worked there's been a really strong sense of camaraderie and support for each other. For most photographers it's about working together to get the story to a wider audience."



How have you changed as a photographer during your career?

"As I've grown as a photographer, I've consciously worked to challenge preconceived notions about places. Now I'm increasingly engaged with issues around representation and looking at who's telling the story. Across our industry, we really need to be thinking about where the storytelling power lies, who controls the narrative, and who shapes the stories we see. Those of us in positions of privilege need to be sharing our opportunities and what we've learned through experience."

Finbarr O'Reilly