I've been shooting production and promo stills for Glor Tire for 6 seasons now. It's hard work, long days, and loads of fun. It's a real hurry up and wait job, and often you've 30 secs to get a shot that will be used all year for the show.. and you've waited 30 minutes to get that 30 secs. Because the show is filmed in a live setting, you're heavily dependent on the lighting to get the shots.For those not familiar with Glor Tire, it's the Irish Language version of X-Factor but with live bands. It's also Country music. There's a house band for 6 of the episodes, but the other 9 are popular touring acts in both the Republic and the North of Ireland. There are 9 contestants, and they perform with one of the bands, doing a duet with the band's regular singer, and a solo number. The rest of the bands shows are a regular set from the band.Back to getting the shots! One of the shots that's a key shot is the promo shot for the contestants. It started as a press shot in the hotel where they stayed hears ago. It moved on to a TV set shot, and then I started making more environmental portraits with speed lights, but this year I made the suggestion that we move to a studio setup instead. And here's the results, showing the 9 contestants that will begin the battle to be crowned Glor Tire champion 2014.

Mary Dunphy Barry Devlin Farrah Bogle Patricia Maguire Michelle Cotter Andrew Kenny Niamh McGlinchey Angela Reid Michael Collins