Photographing Seamus

Photographing Seamus Bobbie Hanvey in 1972 I was living in Cassidy’s Flats at 124 Saul Street, Down-patrick, Co. Down, and still working as a psychiatric nurse in the Downshire Hospital. There was plenty of room in Cassidy’s Flats: a big living room, a bedroom, a kitchen, and another big room that I turned into a darkroom. I spent most of my time in there. A pot of fresh vegetable soup was simmering on the stove with the marrow from the bone stamping its authority on the bubbling brew. Snowflakes melted on the footpath outside, but nobody noticed. The kitchen door swung open, and the tall, mighty frame of my good friend, the filmmaker, broadcaster, and folk singer David Hammond wearing big shiny boots and a tweed cap stepped in. “Bobbie, meet Seamus Heaney,” he said. “Doctor Hanvey, I presume!” “Near enough, Seamus. You’re very welcome to Saul Street. Would yourself and David like a bowl of soup?” “Now you’re talking,” said Seamus. “That’s a big pot, I might take two,” laughed Hammond. And he did! As a flurry of white bread was being broken and quickly dipped in soup, Seamus told me that he and his wife Marie were moving to live near Ashford in County Wicklow where they had rented a house. He would need his car taxed in Northern Ireland, and since there was a tax office in Downpatrick, he asked if I would do the needful and tax it for him every year for the next three years. I said that wouldn’t be a problem and I would be delighted to do so. At that time, it was cheaper to tax your car in Northern Ireland than in the Irish Republic. After visiting the tax office and collecting the disc for Seamus’s first car—a second-hand, dark-blue Volkswagen Beetle, registration [End Page 249] number JI 5751—I hot-footed it to the local post office, and within an hour or so it was on its way to County Wicklow. In 1979 I photographed his wife Marie’s sister Helen’s wedding in Dublin, and in 1985 I wrote Seamus a note. Dear Seamus, I hope your car is going well. I’m sure you haven’t forgotten the times when I got it taxed when you hadn’t a penny! I was sorry to hear that your clutch packed in near Athy in County Kildare. Do you think a photo-session at a time of your choosing would be possible? Love to Marie. Yours sincerely, Bobbie I photographed Seamus many times down the years, and one of my favorite shots of him features on the cover of the book Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney by Dennis O’Driscoll. The others that I liked were those where he wore his father’s jacket, topcoat, hat, and Wellington boots and carried his walking stick (see figures 4, 5, and 6). These were taken in a peat bog near Bellaghy, Co. Derry, where he grew up. Ten years after the bog session I met up with Seamus at a family wedding. “Bobbie, do you remember the day when you photographed me wearing my father’s gear?” “Yes, I do. Soft oul’ rain on the sod that day.” “Well, what I want to say to you is, you would never get me to do that again.” “Fair enough, Seamus, but dressing up in your father’s clothes was your idea, not mine. You told me to hold on. You went into the house and came out wearing his clothes. And the good news is that I got you spot on the first time, and I would have no need to try and get you to do it all over again.” He gave a hearty laugh and bought me an orange juice at the bar. ________ Joe Diamond is a wonderful musician who fixes and rebuilds banjos. He’s also a more than believable storyteller. He lives in Maghera, [End Page 250] which is about six miles from Bellaghy and where Seamus’s brother Dan also lives. Around the year 2000 I traveled there to record Joe for my Downtown Radio...