Profile of photographer Mike O'Toole, Irish Marketing Journal, Feb 2003

In the first of a new series profiling Ireland's top creative photographers, I went to the South William Street studio of Mike O'Toole to speak to him about his work. You will have seen Mike's work on billboards round the country for recent Coke and Bank of Ireland campaigns. A member of the Association of Photographers (AOP) he was the first Irish photographer to win silver at the AOP awards.
To say Mike is passionate about photography is an understatement and this is fundamental to his success in image making whether that is measured in economics or aesthetics.

"Photography to me is a way of life and the fact that I have been commercially successful not as important to me as where I go from here and what useful things I can do with whatever talent I have."

By exercising and stretching his creativity Mike believes he gives himself an edge. He loves his work and believes creativity in your work is a key to job satisfaction.
"Creativity to me is paramount. It is a natural state for us humans and that is probably why we have, as the human race, done some many amazing things, like flight and writing and the computer chip. During my work as a photographer I have come across many people who work in dull routine jobs, but its not the natural condition, it makes people dull and unhappy."

There is no doubt that in most cases photography is not used well in this country. There are thousands of cases of images used badly in our public spaces and in advertising and marketing promotions. In most cases these jobs are probably done cheaply and fast. Tight deadlines exacerbate the problem of the propensity of poor imagery on display. If you need an image yesterday, then it is much easier to go royalty free or to a large online stockhouses and download an image rather than commission work. But Mike also believes that one of the reasons for this is the structure of the companies who buy photographs. "There are no art buyers in Ireland. The creative is also putting the ad together. There are people in ad companies abroad who just spend their time looking at photographer's portfolios and going to see exhibitions. There may be 15-20 photographers asked to submit their book for a job and then they choose the person who is most suitable for a particular job."
Mike shoots most of his work on film and prefers it this way. Although he believes that asking someone if they prefer film to digital is not a relevant question because they are different tools.

"It doesn't matter what you use film or digital. It is a bogus argument. They are two different formats. It is not important. I just personally like to use film. It is just a way of making images," he says.
It is the act of the photography and the final image that is important and not whether this is a digitized image. He does get his work professionally scanned.
He believes that currently film produces superior quality work than digital, especially for advertising where most clients still prefer film to be used.

"They want the best. They pay a lot of money for it. They will get something of inferior quality if digital is used."
He also feels that by giving a tranny to a client they can use it as a colour reference. Submitting a digital file to a client who has not calibrated their machine in the same way as the photographer will result in a different colour final image in the ad.
"The tranny is used as a reference. If you send them a digital file, they haven't a clue what it is meant to look like." But there is something else about the tradition and feel of film and contact sheets that Mike prefers.
He is not afraid to turn down work and recently turned down an ad job. "It was a job for a technician. If you don't turn down these jobs, then they will give you the same thing again. They will put you in a box."

Although Mike shot a lot of his work in black and white in the past he now uses almost exclusively colour film and likes the challenge it offers and believes that we are in an age of colour. "Black and white is easy. Colour is more challenging. This is the colour decade."
Mike knows his film well and has spent much time experimenting with the different characteristics of each type of film, so he can achieve an effect he wants to when he needs to do a job.

"I know which film I want to use for the effect I want to achieve in the final image."
He loves to experiment with his photography and will spend hours playing with objects and looking at them under different lighting conditions. He has been known to spend hours at home photographing bits of screwed up tinfoil and what is on the menu for dinner. His family have to cope with the cold food, but he is not afraid to experiment with his photography.
"By making mistakes and looking differently at things you can produce interesting work." There is no doubt Mike O'Toole is doing that.

Mike In Brief

Married with two little girls Hazel aged 2 and Sally 4.
Educated at Photography College in Kevin Street.
Trained as an assistant to Malcolm Venville who is now a commercials director.
Started his studio in 1994.

Studio: 10 South William St, Dublin
Web: www.mikeotoole.com

General photographer or specialist? Specialist advertising and food photographer.
Digital or film? Film, but does use digital sometimes
Black and white or colour? Colour.
What do you like to shoot most? Everything
His book is out now: Native Trees and Forests of Ireland written by David Hickie, Photography by Mike O'Toole.
Recent Campaigns: Coke,

Current projects: Among many of the projects on the go there is a TG4 ad campaign, a food book and a brochure for Bord Glas.
One to look out for: TG4 ad campaign in the new year.