My involvement with newspapers goes back to the early sixties and includes spells with the Tyrone Constitution, the Belfast Telegraph, the Newsletter and the Basildon Recorder in Essex. Returning to N Ireland for family reasons in the late sixties I founded Pacemaker Press and the business continues over forty years later under the title, Pacemaker Press International Limited.
My thanks to Trevor Hanna, then with the Daily Mirror, for suggesting the Pacemaker name.
My financial connection with Pacemaker ended on 30 September 1977 when I moved to County Donegal in the Rep of Ireland. For the record all images distributed under the name, Pacemaker Press, up to this date are my copyright and should be paid to me. All images distributed from 1 October 1977 onwards bearing the title, Pacemaker Press Ltd, belong to the present owners. The "International" in their name came later.
In Donegal I did a variety of Press, TV, and commercial photography whilst at the same time restoring a traditional stone-built house less than a mile from Donegal Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. A haven of peace after a less than peaceful Belfast.
It was during this time that I started to concentrate on library images covering political conferences, sporting events, clerical gatherings, academic functions, business gatherings, which generated an extensive library of personalities from N Ireland, the Rep of Ireland and Britain. I believe I was one of the first freelances to distribute library prints in colour. Most were "landscape" shots and are ideal for TV use.
After a move back to Belfast in 1984 I continued to concentrate on library images because of a demand for good quality portraits in colour as distinct from pull-ups from B&W news photographs.
A few years later I moved my Pacemaker archive for the period up to the end of September 1977 to the Linen Hall Library in Belfast. If you ever have difficulty contacting me regarding photographs from this period speak to Yvonne Murphy on +44 28 9032 1707. However many of the images from my Pacemaker period have now been digitised and along with more recent digital images travel with me on my laptop wherever I go. An email is probably the best way to contact me if I am not available by phone.
More recently I have added quite a large number of images taken in the USA, France, Spain and Italy. All digital and in colour so they are only a quick email away.
Victor Patterson