The Snapper - Pat Healy

In an industry struggling to reinvent itself, the freelance photographer gets squeezed more than most. All the more so, when it’s a sports-specific effort, like Healy Racing in Listowel. As the local September festival kicks off this weekend, Pat Healy reflects on the trade, characters, and moments he’ll remember — and the ones he can’t forget.

Were he not the nation’s pre-eminent horse racing photographer, Pat Healy might turn a trick or two telling stories rather than depicting them.

“Listowel were playing in a North Kerry league final in Ballylongford back in the 80s and I had a stormer from wing-back,” he is explaining, modestly.