Starting my own Business at 16.

I started off taking photos of local events and posting these pictures on a bord into the shop window and people would see them and they would contact me and they would basically buy the prints. I was getting paid for photography for the first time.

I was then being commissioned to do more portraits, more local events and more weddings and lots of different things. So at 16 I decided to make it into my business. And I took it very seriously. I was very optimistic that I was going to succeed . I had small office at the side of my parents shop which I could use to invite people in to book me and to look at my work and stuff like that. So I was really lucky to have that. 

One of the first weddings I was asked to photograph, I had to get my mother to drive me to Virginia County Cavan  because it was before I could drive myself.

Another early wedding I shot was in Dublin. I remember the priest giving me a lift there and he also gave me a lift back. I remember his cynicism about marriage, moments after leaving the church, he was striking a different tone about weddings, which I found very hypocritical. I would be available for photographing communions and confirmations. However, when it came to some of these events, there were some pushy salesmen / photographers that arrived down from Dublin to solicit work and I was a bit shy, so it wasn’t very easy for me to compete with them. I also would photograph debs dances and would come home my pockets stuffed with cash.

One couple came to me and seemed kind of interested in having me photograph their wedding. But they never called me or they never booked me or confirmed it. And then, one Saturday, I got a call saying where are you ? They’re all waiting for you, the bride has arrived, and there’s no photographer. So I had to jump in my car, go down to the local chemist shop to buy the film and drive to the church in the next parish. And of course, it was, you know, the most embarrassing thing in the world being late for someone’s wedding. 

I had a lot of success taking photos from an early age and I felt that I had a talent for taking pictures and reassured by those around me. So I was quite optimistic that I could do well as a Photographer.

Mike OToole is a Photographer, Film maker and Creative Teacher. Lürzers Archive recognised him twice as being among the 200 Best Advertising Photographers Worldwide, and he has won awards for his work from The Association of Photographers (Uk) and  Communications arts (USA) and The New York Food Film Festival. His work in the field of Commercial Photography has been featured in publications ranging from Conde Nast Traveller , The Wall St Journal, and The Washington Post .