War photographer to give Athlone talk this evening

An international freelance photographer whose work has taken him to some of the most war-ravaged regions of the world, including Syria and Iraq, is giving a talk in Athlone this evening (Thursday, January 17). 

Jim Campbell's talk, entitled 'Journey into the Unknown', will take place in The Prince of Wales Hotel at 8pm. 

Discussing his work, he said: “I have witnessed things that nobody should ever see.”

Jim has been in Athlone for the past three months helping his brother, Peter, who bought Rob's Ranch House in Irishtown.

He is very passionate about his photography, and is also passionate about telling the story of what he has witnessed on his travels across the Middle East. 

Seeing the world through a camera lens doesn't make the horrors he has witnessed any less real, and he has developed an empathy for the plight of the ordinary citizens who are caught up in the ethnic conflicts raging across the troubled region.

“If you want to hear the real story you have to get to talk to the ordinary people,” says the Wexford-born photographer. 

"The Army and all the various factions operating in a war zone will only tell you what they want you to know, the real stories are with the real people who are often the forgotten victims in the middle of a conflict zone.”

* For more, see Geraldine Grennan's profile interview with Jim Campbell in this week's edition of the Westmeath Independent