A story of unpredictable life and a few portraits,
A story of unpredictable life and a few portraits,
I had the privilege of knowing Fran Thornton for a while and working with him and his amazing band, Fuzz Gigolo.
We haven’t been in contact for some time, so I wasn’t aware that he was diagnosed with MND (Motor Neurone Disease) and got hit by some strange and malicious virus recently.
And suddenly, a few weeks ago, on my FB popped out Fran’s video. He and his daughter were at the table talking and laughing, mainly making crazy jokes about Fran’s disease.
When I looked at the video, and watched it a few times, I thought straight away, “That’s the face I want to portray!”.
Remembering Frans’ amazing stage energy, expression, and presence made me even more keen to capture him. Along with it, I visualised these headshots. I hoped for something that would cope with his personality, optimism, and vibe.
When I contacted Fran and presented him with my idea, he was like, “Yeah! Let’s do it!”
The fact that one of these photographs will be featured in the Drogheda Independent paper was completely unknown yet to us.
That hour spent with the camera in Fran’s place was one of the most lighting-up, inspirational, and life-wise educational for me. We spent it talking about everyday life, music, and how the illness affects his way of writing and performing music—his second love after the family. All along with plenty of laughter. Thanks to Fran, these photos exceeded my expectations.
But let Fran speak for himself and, please, read his interview for Alison Comyn DI in the Drogheda Independent. You’ll learn how he deals with this fatal disease, how incalculable life is, and what becomes most important at a time like this.
And Fran, as I expected, proved to be a natural-born model! I had way too many good portraits to select afterwards.
