Bringing out the characters

A dapper middle aged man sits side on, casually gazing through a window that's out of shot. A worn, stylish hat is perched on his head. A folded hankerchief adds the kind of detail to his breast pocket that few can carry off without looking just plain daft. A fat vein as prominent as the Zambezi river meanders around the temple of his raised brow and his cheekbone is washed with sunlight. However it's the faint smile, suggested by his lips, but amplified through creases emerging from his smig-beard which really draws the viewer in. God knows what he's contemplating, but it's impossible not to guess. "People of Mozambique, they are quite good looking and their features are quite well defined, and he has quite a bit of character in his face," says Hu O'Reilly explaining why this portrait of Antonio Macanige is his favorite from his exhibition, which opened at his Ballyjamesduff studio at the weekend. "Also the style of clothes he is wearing - he looks like a bit of character that way as well. "He's in the house and it's really bright outside so the lighting accentuates his features. I also like the background; it looks like it could be a canvas background, but it's actually the walls inside his house." Many of the 18 portraits that make up Hu's exhibition were taken when travelling as part of a media team with NGOs to Africa, the Middle East and Asia. This shot of Antonio was taken during a trip to highlight the work of Trocaire in supporting community groups in Mozambique to help those living in vulnerable locations. "Along the coastline on Mozambique a lot of people live at sea level, and because of climate change nowadays cyclones are a lot more frequent than they used to be. So it is quite regular that people's houses get flooded and people lose all their land and their livestock, and a lot of people die also. So one of the things Trocaire do there is build cyclone-resistant houses. "They try to move people up to higher ground, or at least have houses on higher ground where people can go to in the event of a cyclone. Antonio was one of the people who got a new cyclone-resistant house that was built by an organisation which is supported by Trocaire. "We were doing an interview with himself and his wife in his house and I did notice the light was coming in from both sides because it was quite a small house and had a door on each side. So after the interview I got him to look to the side and that's how I took that photograph." It was while on an assignment in Nepal under the Simon Cumbers Media Fund - a grant scheme run by the Department of Foreign Affairs to highlight how Irish Aid's funds are used - that he took a portrait of teenager, Sumon Kumar, titled 'Child Bride'. "That's another one of my favourites," Hu says. "It's a real classic style of a portrait, nice soft lighting. The fact that she is a child bride makes it more poignant. In Nepal daughters are often not seen as important as sons, so a lot of the girls would be married off when they are 14 or 15. "In some parts of Nepal over fifty per cent of 15-year-olds are married, mostly to people they've never met before. So this is a girl we met who was with her friends. "A 14-year-old girl, in most countries you would imagine she should be off having fun playing with her friends, but she knew that in the next year or two she would have to go off and live with her new husband." Although the photos of Antonio and Sumon are all the more intriguing having heard the stories behind them, Hu believes that a successul portrait should convey something of its subject without an explanation. "It's nice to have a story behind them, but even if you don't, I think the important thing is if they can look at a photograph and in some way relate to the person in it. Often you do that by having eye contact or have their character in some way come through - I suppose in a way you don't have to have the story behind it." Not all of Hu's photos were taken overseas. One of the most eye-catching is a playful black and white portrait of one of his footballing buddies. "He's actually the son of Michael D Higgins, John Higgins," says Hu. "I used to play football with the lads so I did a series of portraits with them, and I got them to pose like that. I shot from a low angle - it's a kind of hero angle and I used a Photoshop technique called the Dragan effect to increase the contrast and make it more dramatic as well." What did John make of it? "He likes that one alright - he had it as his profile pic for a while." So have all his travels relieved the itch in Hu's feet? "No, I'd love to do more, although I don't have any in the pipeline at the moment. I'd like to go to Gaza city. I've been to the West Bank before and it's something that is quite close to my heart. The Palestinians have a tough life. I'd like to go and see more about what is happening over there." • Hu O'Reilly's exhibition of portraits runs at his studio on Market Street, Ballyjamesduff, Cavan until Saturday, April 20.