August is a wicked month for photographers and for the news business generally.
For photojournalists the summer months are a mixed blessing but mostly positive. The longer days are hugely welcome, the shooting day is longer, and the flashgun can be put away other than as a fill-in for harsh sunlight. The warmer weather makes working outdoors a pleasure, everyone is in a better mood and photography is generally easier. Summer activities and festivals present good picture potential, especially at weekends. The only real photographic downside is the hard midday light. The vicious shadows it creates sends photographers scuttling for shade, especially for portraits of any kind.
For the photojournalist, the main problem with the summer months is a dearth of real news. Summer is sometimes referred to in the news business as the silly season; it’s a time of lightweight stories, some of which can go viral. A favourite this summer has to be the killer seagulls, a story which continues to run and run.
In summer the courts are closed, the Dail goes on holidays, and since the streamlining of school holidays, many institutions are ticking over, running on skeleton staff. The upside is that with less hard news there can be more space in the paper to display photography well and more scope for “stand-alone” images, pictures which are just great pictures, not linked to stories. So here is a selection of some favourite images by our staff and regular freelance photographers taken over the months of summer.
