During our trip to Ethiopia last year with Orbis Ireland we were accompanied for part of the journey by journalist Deirdre Donnelly. Below are a couple of the images I took after the run in Addis Ababa which are from the front page and a double page spread in the Irish language pullout 'Seachtain' in todays Irish Independent around the piece Deirdre has written. Unfortunately my Irish is not great so maybe someone can do a bit of a translation but no matter any coverage is great to increase the awareness. 

I feel very privileged to be the photographer for ORBIS Ireland and this year's trip to Ethiopia for the Great Ethiopian Run was an amazing experience. After a last minute change of plan we were unable to take part with the other 35,000 people who ran the Great Ethiopian Run in Addis Ababa so we headed south on landing and spent four full days having a look at the project's that ORBIS Ireland have set up. 

ORBIS Ireland is a charity working to eliminate preventable blindness and restore sight to rural villagers in the poorest regions of southern Ethiopia by 2015.  Over a third of children in Ethiopia are affected by trachoma, a blinding, yet completely preventable eye disease.  If left untreated this slowly progressive and painful disease robs its victims of their sight, their childhoods and ultimately their lives. 

It never ceases to amaze me how happy everyone is given how little they seem to have and it is a timely reality check in the lead up to Christmas. A run was organised on very short notice in Arba Minch and the ORBIS participants ran with around 200 locals for a great personal experience. I hope the images below give you a little insight into Ethiopia and the amazing and beautiful people that live there. If you would like to see all the images from the trip please follow this link Ethiopia 2013 

Following the success of the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Pull for Sight, ORBIS Ireland teamed up with GECAS and Shannon Aerospace to host the ORBIS Plane Pull for Sight event on Saturday 20 July 2013. The ORBIS Pull for Sight saw teams of 25 pull an aircraft over 12 feet at Shannon Airport. The aircraft - weighing a massive 85 tonnes - is the equivalent of 21 elephants or 42 family cars! A great day out in Shannon and raised a great amount in sponsorship, congrats to everyone involved!

Last November I went to Ethiopia with ORBIS Ireland as their official photographer to cover the Great Ethiopian Run. ORBIS are currently displaying a collection of images I took from the trip at the Lighthouse Cinema in Dublin. The images capture the amazing spectacle that is the Great Ethiopian Run, the simplicity of life in Ethiopia and the life enhancing work of ORBIS. The exhibition will run from today Friday 3 May until Thursday 9 May. If you don't get a chance to drop in to the exhibition here are some of the images which are on display.