The death has occurred of Joe Hanley of St. Brendan’s Close, St. Brendan’s Park and formerly Kerins’ Park, Tralee, Co. Kerry. Joe died peacefully on April 29th 2022.
Sadly missed by his loving family, his brother Anthony, sister Pauline, the Goodall and Quirke families, relatives, his beloved dog Snapper and many friends.
Army Man and Photographer
Working with The Kingdom Newspaper in Killarney in the 1980s and through the 1990s we became aware of a former army man with a keen interest in photography. On this man we couldn’t put a face to the name as we’d never met him.
But he began to submit the odd social, out and about type of photograph to the paper from the Tralee area. For a publication wishing to expand its area of coverage, his arrival on the scene was very welcome.
I don’t think anyone of us was prepared for the mini-tornado we met when one day he ventured to Killarney and called to the offices in ‘The Concrete’ and, once met always remembered, he made a lasting impression.
The Mention of His Name
The late Joe Hanley’s name is one of those which makes people smile on a mention and more than one person said that you’d hear him long before you’d see him. You’d know that Joe was in the building.
We worked together in a detached kind of way. In that the life of the newspaper photographer is a mainly solitary one and dictated by deadlines with miles of road and increasing traffic congestion between assignments.
There were times when jobs that one or other of us couldn’t get to and we covered for each other in such cases with modern and improving technology aiding and abetting.
A Pleasure to Deal With
Joe was always a pleasure to deal with and that went for the people who found themselves in front of his frequently changed cameras and lenses.
He always had a story about a piece of photographic equipment which would be on its way in the post.
If his cameras were well dressed with the latest gear, he mirrored them in how he turned himself out.
Film Cameras and Darkrooms
An obliging, well known and respected freelancer in the area of press photography throughout the county, Joe would have covered communions, confirmations, weddings, first days at school and sports events in Castleisland for the various papers he worked for over all those years.
And he learned his trade in the days of manual, film cameras and long nights in darkrooms.
He Knew His Photography
It was always when we sat or stood on the end-lines of sports pitches or community halls and when play was at the other side of the field or hall that Joe would unveil his latest purchase from the bag and provide a detailed rundown on it.
He knew his photography inside out. He was deeply interested in it as an art form and as a way of making a living. He loved it for the people he met and the places it took him to.
May God be good to him.
Joe’s Funeral Arrangements
Reposing at the Gleasure Funeral Home, Tralee, on Sunday, May 1st. from 3pm to 5pm.
Funeral arriving to St. John’s Church, Tralee on Monday morning at 9.30 am where the Requiem Mass for Joe will be celebrated at 10am.
The Mass will be live-streamed on: www.stjohns.ie
Interment afterwards in New Rath Cemetery, Tralee. Rest in Peace.
Donations in lieu of flowers, if desired, to Kerry Hospice Foundation care of the Gleasure Funeral Home, Tralee.
Date Published: Friday 29th April 2022. Date of Death: Friday 29th April 2022.
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