series of photographs he took of Samuel Beckett in London and Paris, that have made John Minihan's reputation. The Man Who Shot Beckett is both a pro and personal profile of the man actor Stephen Rea singles out for his "blustering sincerity". Tracing John's life and go from humble upbringing in his aunt's house in Athy to his relocation to London at the age of 12, The Man Who Shot Beckett explores how John Minihan became one of the most respected press photographers in London, and beyond. London made Minihan. Recalling those early "vibrant, exciting" days, John recalls how it was at the Daily Mail, working as an office boy, that he got his first experience of the blue room. One of his first photographs quickly won the Evening Standard Amateur Photography Award, and from there John moved with growing success into a heady new world of celebrity. Photographing, among others, The Beatles, The Who and The Kinks, Minihan's iconic portraits of Chuck Berry and Jackie O. and the infamous transparent Lady Diana, are nevertheless recognised today as among the finest press photographs ever taken. John's was a happy childhood, and in many ways his early years in Athy provided that essential grounding in the inventory and turn that was to characterize his most sucessful work. For John, re-visiting the corporation houses of Athy and the fields that were his childhood playground, it seems not much has changed. "The dogs sound the like as they did when I was four or five .". It was years later, in the 1970's, that John produced his landmark work, The Last Wake. Shot mainly in Athy, the series explored an Ireland now gone, with many images going on to decorate the covers of Irish novels, books and posters. Intimate without being intrusive, John Minihan named his "unknown" subjects, an act that singled him out from his contemporary practitioners. His photo of Mickey Bowden in Andersons' pub in Athy still graces the Penguin edition of Joyces' Dubliners. For John Minihan, it is as significant that Mickey is named as it is significant that the film was used. It was The Last Wake that proved to be the key that unlocked the door to Beckett. When Beckett saw the shots, he was immediately smitten by the similarity between them and the characters of Beckett's own works. "I met Sam through the photos of Athy . through the ordinariness of life. He saw more in them that I did!" John Minihan's second great body of work, the Beckett portfolio, took shape throughout the eighties in London and Paris. "Paris is the city of photography," says John, "the metropolis of street photography." Acutely aware that "photography creates myths and destroys lives", his relationship with Beckett was always one of intense respect. But far from being distant and difficult Beckett was, as Stephen Rea says, "very clear to friendship, if you had the nerve ."John now lives in West Cork and still works with as much energy as he did 30 years ago, recently documenting portraits of artisanal food makers in that area. From Soho in London to St Germain du Pres in Paris, and on to Athy, The Man Who Shot Beckett charts the remarkable artistic journey of John Minihan. Featuring world renowned painter Maggie Hambling - who has only completed a portrait of Sam based on one of John's pictures - and Stephen Rea, a lifelong fan, The Man Who Shot Beckett is both an intimate portrait of one of our greatest photographers, and the intriguing story behind two of the twentieth century's great photographic bodies of work.
