Photographer Alan O'Connor is a true example of enterprise rewarded. While watching a TV documentary, a shot of a desolate famine site caught his artistic eye and as the credits rolled he noted the participation of the Famine Commemoration Committee. One phonecall and a bit of red-tape later and Alan started on a huge project recording images of Famine sites around the country. The resulting exhibition of evocative black and white prints, entitled Reminders, was opened in the Guinness Hop Store by Bob Geldof on Tuesday evening.
Alan hadn't met Sir Bob until the night itself but had sent him a selection of prints before the exhibition opened: Geldof assured him they were already on his wall. The former Boomtown Rats singer, who was accompanied by his girlfriend, actress Jeanne Marine, sister Lynn Geldof and father Robert Geldof, had just got back from playing a gig in the flooded parts of Germany. He summed it up in a very Geldofian fashion as "Terrible - all the punters were up to their knees in water, man."
Geldof indulged in a pint with his family and friends before disappearing back to Britain with another framed O'Connor print in his arms. "He said he was going to hang it in his toilet," Alan grinned.