HEALY Racing Photographers was well established by the time I came along; my father Liam had developed the business and both he and my mother Joan ran it from our family home in Listowel.

My siblings Pat, Liam and Lisa were still quite young but all helped out in the office. I always consider myself fortunate to have been born into it; it was a way of life for us kids, all we ever knew.

The two lads Pat and Liam continue to run the business right up to the present day, while I have worked as office manager for close on 20 years.

A third generation of the family have joined the team in recent years, so it’s satisfying to know the business is in safe hands going forward.

As a child I would help my mam and siblings in the office; stamping photos, indexing the negatives and filing them in order of horse, meeting and date.

That system remains in use to the present day, although with the advent of digital technology they are now filed online rather than in paper format. My mam was the boss in the office and looked after everything when I was a child. Sadly, she passed away when us kids were still quiet young, so Dad had to take on both roles.

I loved the days when he took me racing with him. As I was very young, I only ever went as far as Tralee, Killarney, Cork or Limerick, as the journey to those tracks situated farther away would have been too long.

In our teens, we all took on more responsibility in the business. In those days everything was run out of a room in our family home, whereas now we have a purpose-built office which is on site.

My grandmother, Biddy, always told me that there were two certainties in life: people had to eat and had to die.

Following on with that logic she believed that if you wanted a stable job, you should either become a chef or an undertaker!

As the latter profession held little interest for me, after school I went on to study Food Science at DIT. Upon graduating I came home to Listowel and worked for Kerry Group for a few years, before joining the lads in the family business.

It was almost 20 years ago now, at a time when everything was just changing over to digital format. With much to learn in order to keep up with modern technology, the lads decided that this was a job for Cathy!

Cathy Healy, accepting Liam Healy's award for contribution to the industry from by Ger Flynn, of the Irish Stablestaff Association Committee in 2006

Technology

The advances that have been made in terms of technology over the years are startling to say the least. In the early days, Dad or the lads would take photos at the races, drive home and take them to McAuliffe’s Spectra here in Listowel to get them developed.

It would take upwards of 12 hours before we had the photos back in the office to process. They could only take 36 shots in a roll of film. Nowadays, a photographer can take a 100 shots in quick succession, just to find that one he or she is looking for.

The lads can upload them on the spot and have them emailed to me in the office within minutes. A client can view photos online, the day after his/her horse runs.

They can order online or ring the office requesting particular photos and pay by card. In theory, they can have the photos in their hands within 48 hours. In Dad’s time, clients would write to us requesting proofs, which would then be send out to view, before being marked and returned with a cheque.

The whole process could take up to two weeks, from start to finish. How times have changed!

Client requests

I am in the office at 8.30am every morning; starting by dealing with client requests. It is always interesting as no two days are ever the same.

I could get a call from someone who had a few rides 20 or 30 years ago, asking if we have any photos of them on file. Or a son/daughter looking for a montage of photos of their father’s horse to present to him for a significant birthday.

Or a random magazine in Australia or America looking for specific racing photos for a piece they are doing. Like I said, it never gets boring in this job.

After dealing with those requests, I then send out the previous days racing photos to owners and media outlets and forward photos to our professional framers.

Sometimes I will receive specific requests for the lads to photograph a particular horse at the races; a jockey might be having his very first ride or a syndicate their first runner.

In that instance, I will forward the information to Pat or Liam and they will photograph the horse in the parade ring, on the way to post, in the race itself.

Being so busy in the office, Listowel is the only meeting I get to attend most years. The Listowel Supporters Club have renamed the Lartigue Hurdle in honour of our late father, so I attend that particular day every September.

It’s still a working day for us but I manage to close on a half-day in order to go racing.

Having been brought up around the Listowel Races and having the family so heavily involved in the race committee, it’s nice to be able to enjoy the social aspect of the occasion.

The business started by my father Liam and mother Joan, has been carried on by Liam, Pat and myself and is now also the workplace of a third generation – Kevin, Seán, Jack and Ruth.

We are very blessed to be such a close-knit family, working and living together. My Dad was a revolutionary for his time; he saw what he wanted to do and went for it, with the full support of my mother.

Liam and Pat absorbed so much from him; he was a great teacher, an amazing father and talented photographer, sure it was only natural that would filter down to Pat and Liam, and in turn filter down to the next generation.

Most important

My Dad made you feel like you were the most important person in the world because to him you were. He loved people, he loved meeting people, having the chats and the bit of banter.

He always said – people don’t have to come to you with their business, they chose to come to you and that is a great honour.

I like to think that I have inherited that ability to deal with people and look after their needs as Dad would have wanted.

Cathy Healy was in conversation with John O’Riordan