Photographer Ruth Medjber: ‘I spent too much of my early career helping idiot men with theirs'
I would say, professionally, I'm very agreeable because when you're a freelancer and you have so many clients on the go at once, I just do what the clients want me to do. That said, in other aspects of my life, my friends and partner would probably say I'm quite determined and stubborn.
What is your middle name and what do you think of it?
I was named after my godmother, who is my mom's cousin, but they fell out when I was about eight years of age ... I don't use my middle name at all. I even took it off my passport.
Where is your favourite place in Ireland?
Dollymount Beach. You can walk for five kilometres and not meet anyone, especially on a bit of a horrible day. And then you see the Poolbeg chimneys, the sight of which is a real moment of personal focus every time I'm there. I'm like, there's the lads. I know I'm home and that I can finally relax and breathe.
Describe yourself in three words.
Persistent. Compassionate. Tired.
READ MORE
When did you last get angry?
In general, I'm not an angry person. I'm angry at injustice more than anything else, and I think we're all in a constant state of anger and disbelief that there isn't enough being done about the genocide that's happening in Gaza.
[
Ruth Medjber: 'I don't need a therapist, because I have a camera'
Opens in new window
]
What have you lost that you would like to have back?
I'm quite lucky in that I've never lost an awful lot in my life. I consider the greatest loss to be death, and when my dog died, that was the greatest loss for me. That and my campervan burning down a couple of months ago because of an electrical fault in the dashboard.
What's your strongest childhood memory?
My dad worked in a camera store and would give me these little plastic 35mm point-and-shoot cameras as Christmas present stocking fillers. I had a pink one when I was about three years of age, and it was my first form of expression, before I could even articulate through language. I still remember taking photographs. I did a series on toilet bowls, then light switches, shoes and other inanimate objects. Randomly enough, I was on eBay a couple of months ago and I found the same type of camera for sale. I have it here with me. I'm going to start trying it out to see if I can reclaim some of that three-year-old energy!
Where do you come in your family's birth order, and has this defined you?
I've one older brother, who is two years older than me. It's quite nice growing up when there's just the two of you. Our parents gave us a lot of freedom, respect and independence. Because of their trust, I became a very independent child and adult from quite a young age. That helped me build courage for myself as I tried new things and lived in new countries.
What do you expect to happen when you die?
Realistically, feck-all. If I were thinking fantastically, it'd be great if your spirit lived on, but what if you were trapped on Earth without a body? Or without a dog, a camper van, a beach? I mean, could you imagine never smelling sea air again?
[
In pictures: life backstage with Hozier, Arcade Fire, Elton John and more by some of Ireland's top music photographers
Opens in new window
]
When were you happiest?
One of the most recent happiest times took place in 2023. The sun was out, I was with my partner, and I was watching Yusef/Cat Stevens on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. He sang I Love My Dog, which is one of my favourite tunes, and in that moment, I don't think I could have been happier. I was bawling my eyes out. I looked over at my partner. He was just laughing at me, and I was, like, absolutely delighted.
Which actor would play you in a biopic about your life?
That's a hard one. You don't want to say some amazingly gorgeous celebrity because people will go, what, really?! I'll probably do a
Kneecap
and see if I can fulfil the role myself.
What's your biggest career/personal regret?
I spent too much of my early career helping idiot men with theirs. My life would have been different if I had been a little bit more selfish and if I had had better taste in human beings than I did when I was in my 20s.
Have you any psychological quirks?
If someone on the TV claps their hands, I do the same. If I hear a noise, I repeat it. When I'm home, all the presses and doors have to be closed before I can settle down.
In conversation with Tony Clayton-Lea
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
17 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Carl Mullan on being a Rose of Tralee escort: ‘I swear to god it was the hardest work I have ever done'
Kicking off at 8pm this evening on RTÉ 1, 32 Roses and escorts will take the stage at MTU's Sports Academy in Kerry for this year's Rose of Tralee . The variety show/beauty pageant/lovely girl competition's first selection night will see 18 roses performing, followed by another 17 taking to the stage tomorrow night. Both the winning rose and the winning escort will be announced at the end of tomorrow night's broadcast. [ Rose of Tralee judge Dr Clare Kambamettu: A 'tiny but loud minority' drives racism in Ireland Opens in new window ] Radio and social media star Carl Mullan, who will perform the role of Master of Ceremonies at the 2025 Rose of Tralee Festival, says being an escort in the 2016 iteration was 'the hardest work I have ever done'. READ MORE 'I remember you'd get to bed at 2 o'clock in the morning having just been fulfilling your escort duties and then you would be up at 7 o'clock in the morning', the 2fm host says. 'Everyone thinks you are off having the craic in town – but I remember thinking: 'Where is the time for this? There is none!'" Mullan acted as an escort for both the 2016 Donegal Rose and the Scotland Rose, as that year the organisers hosted 65 roses from each Rose Centre rather than the customary 32 which rotate among Rose Centres. 'I used to work on the Nikki and Jenny show on 2fm as a reporter and we did a segment called Crash Test Dummy. 'I used to do all kinds of everything. I ate the world's hottest chicken wings, I did a downhill ice-skating event, I did a downhill mountain-biking race. I would throw my hat into anything and as a joke one year it came up in conversation: 'You should try and apply to be a Rose escort and see how far you get.' 'I went as an escort/reporter in 2016, but listen, I was a fully fledged escort. Let me tell you everyone thinks that those lads are down here for a jolly and that they are doing nothing. I did it once, never again. It was way too much work than I was able for. I was exhausted after dealing with it.' [ 'I had cancer but was sent home with paracetamol': The 2025 Roses on their health histories Opens in new window ] However, in spite of his hard work, the presenter looks back on his time as an escort fondly: 'It was lovely getting to know all the people and seeing the inner workings of the Rose of Tralee. I only knew it as a TV show but actually coming down and realising it is a festival and that there is such a community element to it; the parades and seeing the joy that it brings to people, was amazing.' 'I think we should always make space for something like that' Mullan says. Like the Sistine Chapel Hailing from San Francisco, Leo McFadden is thoroughly enjoying his experience as an escort. 'It's incredibly hard to describe [being an escort] without experiencing it. It's like going to a major historical site like the Sistine Chapel: you walk in to the room. You can't really describe the feeling but when you go in there it is incredible. 'It is something that hits you in a way that you can't experience without doing it. 'That's the best way I can describe it honestly,' says the security contractor. Leo McFadden the 2025 escort of the Queensland Rose Mr McFadden was inspired by his sister who was the 2023 San Francisco Rose, saying 'seeing it from a third-person view was absolutely incredible'. In terms of how he views the role of escort, Mr McFadden says: 'If the roses are the flowers, I think we [the escorts] are the stem. 'We do what we can to support them so they can flourish, and each rose is unique. Each escort has to have a unique approach to do that, but it's an absolutely once-in-a-lifetime experience. I wouldn't trade it for the world.' Also from California is Seamus Ruiz-Earle, a venture capitalist and the escort to the 2025 Luxembourg Rose. Mr Ruiz-Earle says he stumbled on the festival 'out of the blue' while visiting family in Kildare in August last year. He looked up what was happening in Ireland during that month and came across the Rose of Tralee. 'The more I did research, the more I wanted to be involved and being an escort seems like the best possible way to do that,' the CEO says. Seamus Ruiz Earle, escort of the 2025 Luxembourg Rose In terms of trying to describe the festival to American friends, Mr Ruiz-Earle says: 'No one understands. From an American perspective, there isn't anything like it.' However, the appeal of being an escort for Forbes 30 under 30 tech alum is in making connections with Irish people his own age, rather than just family members. 'I come back two or three times a year to visit family but I've never had friends in the country.' 'The opportunity to call each of the 32 lads, and now the 32 Roses friends, is really something that I look forward to.' He says he is also excited to be 'able to shoot a message into a group chat and go out and have a great time when I'm back in the country and make even more memories'. With so many young men keen to apply to be escorts, would there ever be an argument for a gender-flipped Rose of Tralee? Mullan says that such a competition would 'probably a lot less inspiring'. 'But listen maybe they should give it a go. I can guarantee I would not be applying to take part in that myself.'
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Literary prize cancels annual award following backlash over inclusion of Irish author John Boyne
The Polari Prize, the annual literary prize for LGBTQ+ literature, has announced that it will 'pause' the prize this year following a controversy around the nomination of a book by Irish author John Boyne , who has previously expressed gender-critical views. After the longlist for this year's Book of the Year prize was published earlier this month and included Earth by John Boyne, more than half of this year's nominated authors (all of whom are born or work in the UK and Ireland) withdrew their books from the longlist and two of the prize's judges resigned . A petition calling on Polari to remove Boyne's book from its longlist was organised by authors Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin and Emma van Straaten and signed by over 800 writers and publishing industry workers. Boyne, who lives in Dublin, is best known for his best-selling 2006 novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which was turned into a film in 2008. The controversy that led to the cancellation of this year's prize stems largely from a birthday tribute Boyne wrote for JK Rowling in the Irish Independent in late July. In it, he referred to himself as a 'fellow Terf'. He called 'grown women' who support the rights of children to access gender-affirming healthcare and of transpeople to use single-sex spaces 'astonishingly complicit in their own erasure'. Terf is an acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. READ MORE The Polari Prize released a statement today announcing its decision to 'pause' this year's prize. It was doing this, it added, while the prize 'increase[s] representation of trans and gender non-conforming judges on the panel for all awards and undertake[s] a governance and management review to include our aims and values and work to better support everyone within our LGBTQ+ Polari community'. I came very close to the edge this week because of the endless harassment at the hands of both strangers and fellow writers — John Boyne The organisation also extended its 'heartfelt apologies to everyone affected this year, for the disappointment and despair this has caused'. It stated that 'Polari is not and has never been a trans exclusionary organisation. These are not our values and we condemn all forms of transphobia'. The Polari Prize was founded in 2011 by journalist Paul Burston and the Polari Salon, which is a multi-award winning literary LGBTQ+ literary salon. Last Thursday, Boyne posted a statement to his Bluesky and X social media accounts where he said: 'I came very close to the edge this week because of the endless harassment at the hands of both strangers and fellow writers. I remained silent throughout but there's been a few moments where I thought it would be easier not to go on. There's really only so much abuse one person can take. However, I'm still here. Because I have too many books in me that I still want to write.' On August 7th, the Polari Prize released a statement where it defended its decision to include Boyne on its longlist for Book of the Year. It said: 'It is inevitable given the challenges we face and the diversity of the lived experience we now represent under the LGBTQ+ Polari umbrella, that even within our community, we can at times hold radically different positions on substantive issues. This is one of those times.' Today's statement on social media said the award 'was supposed to be a celebration of exceptional LGBTQ+ literature [but] has been overshadowed by hurt and anger, which has been painful and distressing for all concerned and we apologise to everyone who has been affected'. Polari added it would now 'explore discussions about the tensions between the claims of freedom of expression and the need to create inclusive and supportive spaces in a world hostile to our trans community members and our community at large'.
Irish Times
4 hours ago
- Irish Times
Netflix hit Wednesday gets millions in Irish tax credits
The Irish-based co-production firm behind Season 2 of the Netflix hit show Wednesday has received corporation tax credits here between €20 million and €60 million this year. That is according to new figures published by the Revenue Commissioners which show that in the second quarter of this year, Metropolitan Films International Ltd received corporation tax credits of €10 million to €30 million for 'Nero Season 2B (Wednesday)'. This followed Metropolitan Films International Ltd receiving tax credits of €10 million to €30 million for Nero Season 2 in the first quarter of 2025. The producers have named the production 'Nero' in a nod to the name of Wednesday's pet scorpion, Nero. READ MORE Based on the Addams Family character created by cartoonist Charles Addams in 1938, Netflix's supernatural mystery comedy focuses on the teen years of Wednesday Addams, played by Jenna Ortega. The first part of Season 2 of Wednesday was released on August 6th and set the record for being an English language title ranked #1 in the most countries at 91 in its first week. The second part of Wednesday will be released on September 3rd and Seasons 1 – first broadcast in 2022 – and 2 are the two most popular shows on Netflix currently. The first season of Wednesday was shot in Romania and production transferred to Ireland in 2024 for Season 2. The latest season of the gothic mystery show was shot at various locations around counties Wicklow, Dublin and Offaly. Executive producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have called the filming locations 'truly magical' – and the settings included Powerscourt Demesne in Enniskerry, Charleville Castle in County Offaly and Dublin's atmospheric Deansgrange Cemetery. Accounts for the Metropolitan Films International firm behind Season 2, Willow Hill S2 Production DAC show that the production spend by the company in the six months to the end of April 2024 totalled €29.59 million. The number of people employed by the firm totalled 183 with staff costs amounting to €8.8 million. Tourism Ireland have made 'behind the scenes' firms on Wednesday to use as marketing tools aimed at promoting the locations to tourists overseas. The Revenue figures also show that Wild Atlantic Pictures Ltd has received tax credits of between €5 million and €10 million for its Rainmaker TV series. The figures also show that Metropolitan Films International received tax credits of €5 million to €10 million for its comedy thriller, 'How to get to Heaven from Belfast'. Due to be broadcast on Netflix, the 'showrunner' for the production is Lisa McGee, who was the creator of the multi-award winning Derry Girls.
