Profound sadness at passing of a master craftsman as Clonmel mourns the loss of Donal Wylde

The death has occurred of Donal Wylde, Clonmel who was a former staff photographer with the Nationalist Newspaper and a senior lighting cameraman with RTÉ News.
A gift of a Kodak Box Brownie from his father as a child was the beginning of Donal’s dedication to a life behind the lens.
In his hometown of Ennis, and under the tutelage of his mentor and cousin photographer and musician Denis Wylde, Donal set up a darkroom in the garden shed of his parent’s grocery shop at 49 O’Connell Street, Ennis.
It was there that his love of the photographic image was encouraged and developed. Describing his childhood hobby Donal said, ‘Photography grew into a passion and gradually, an obsession capturing scenes, events and images which have now vanished forever’.
Working in his parent’s shop, where some of the colourful characters in 1950’s Ennis included escapees from far flung corners of war ravaged Europe, Donal cultivated his love of human interest stories.
He had many newsworthy adventures in his hometown – following the screech of the fire brigade siren to the site of an emergency, cycling to Shannon to snap the sparkling new transatlantic aircraft, and tragedies such as the Carmody Hotel disaster in 1958.
All of these and so many more episodes reflect his tenacity in disseminating news from an early age.
And in the era of technicolour, he was an avid cinemagoer - his family home was advantageously positioned between the two picture houses at the top and bottom of O’Connell Street. Here the budding photojournalist was exposed to Pathé newsreels and closer to home, Nuacht Scannán Gael Linn, whilst also absorbing the techniques of pioneering cinematographers who would shape his approach to his own craft in later years.
Donal began his career with The Nationalist newspaper in 1961, replacing staff photographer Justin Nelson after his departure to RTÉ.
As staff photographer with The Nationalist, Donal documented the social history of Clonmel and the surrounding towns from the early ‘60s to the mid ‘70s, describing it as both ‘a pleasure and a privilege to record Clonmel’s daily incidents and events’.
Donal photographed everything from the ordinary to the extraordinary – from dancehalls and local industry, to the infamous Donoghmore kidnapping and JFK’s visit to Wexford in 1963.
The socio historic significance of this vast body of work became apparent later with the overwhelming response to Donal’s retirement projects - his two pictorial essay books, The Light of Other Days and The Times and the Joys.
These collections were celebrated in photographic exhibitions at the South Tipperary Museum, commissioned by curator Marie McMahon.
Donal also worked as a freelance photographer for the national press and for RTÉ, before joining the organisation full time in 1976. Senior lighting cameraman for the south east region until his retirement in 2008, he documented many of the leading news stories of the late 20th century - the Tiede Herma kidnapping, the Air India crash, the manhunt for Dessie O’Hare.
He was part of the press corps for an official state visit to Washington in 1976 with Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave, but in contrast he also spent 2 weeks in 1989 driving around LA in pink Cadillac with Zig & Zag!
Some of his most memorable assignments were with the Radharc documentary feature team in Kenya, Uganda, France, Italy and Newfoundland, working with Fr. Dermod McCarthy to bring the lives of the Irish in these places to audiences at home.
Donal was also part of the original production team for RTÉ’s Nationwide in the 1990’s. These are but a mere drop in the ocean of stories that Donal witnessed and recorded throughout his lifetime.
A diligent student of his craft, Donal was a passionate educator and guest lectured at TUD, TRBDI and the RTÉ newsroom in later years.
One of his great mantras was ‘edit in the camera’ to speed up the editing process later – often the package was practically in the can in the first few shots because of his ability to discern and sequence the most important images to convey the narrative.
In the days since Donal’s death, his wife Jean and daughters Sinéad, Niamh and Aideen have noted how many people have come forward with stories about how he influenced their own careers, directly or indirectly.

A master craftsman, fearless on the trail of truth, and a devoted husband and father, each job was approached with the same level of precision and artistry, no matter how big or small. On hearing the news of his death, a colleague remarked, ‘...any workday with Donal was a day to look forward to…a day after which you would feel genuinely enriched. Donal Wylde was one of kind.’