Love, Life and Death: John Minihan in His Own Words

This book discusses the life and inspirations of Irish photographer John Minihan, told in his own words through a series of interviews. It contains 71 photographs of and relating to Minihan's work, and details some of the most renowned moments of his career, including his friendship with Samuel Beckett and his photography of Katy Tyrell’s wake. From his beginnings in the town of Athy, County Kildare, John Minihan rose to become one of the most perceptive photographers of the twentieth century, rubbing shoulders with film stars, rock stars and royalty along the way. Drawing on extensive interviews and the photographs that made Minihan's reputation, this book tells the story of an Irish artist, his methodology and his creative obsessions in his own words. Beginning with his initiation into the alchemy of photography in Ireland and London, Love, Life and Death looks at Minihan as a photojournalist, an expert in the mysteries of the darkroom and as a deeply spiritual artist. Through everything, Minihan's words unspool a thread that links his photographs of the wake of Katy Tyrell and of Nobel Prize winner Samuel Beckett—his unwavering belief in the centrality of love, life and death as photographic subjects.