John Minihan

John Minihan is an Irish photographer, born in Dublin in 1946 and raised in Athy, County Kildare. At the age of 12 he was brought to live in London, and went on to become an apprentice photographer with the Daily Mail. At the age of 15 he won the Evening Standard amateur photography competition. At 21 he became the youngest staff photographer for the Evening Standard. For thirty years he remained in London, returning every year to his hometown of Athy to record the people and their daily lives.

The work of Minihan in Athy makes up a large part of his cannon. Minihan began taking photos in Athy when he was 16. The photos are an attempt to document the lives of the ordinary people of the town in their day to day business and also in times of joy and sadness, notably during the wake of a woman called Katy Tyrrell.

In between documenting Athy on visits home, Minihan continued his career on Fleet Street, which included the iconic snap of the 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer in the garden of the nursery at which she worked, the morning sun to her back, her legs in silhouette through her skirt. Diana had just been announced as the Prince of Wales's love interest and photographers raced to take her photo, Minihan having the fortune to turn up first.

Over the years Minihan developed a close relationship with many writers and his photographs of Samuel Beckett show a particular affinity between the two men. Minihans photos of Beckett are some of his best known, one in particular is described as one of the greatest photos of the twentieth century. William Burroughs once referred to Minihan as "a painless photographer".

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'We were running a story but discovered there were only two very vague images of Beckett taken many years before. It was like he didn't exist - that was the moment I decided I wanted to meet this man and take his photograph.'

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