My portrait of Rose Reilly, pioneer in women’s football, has gone on show at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland, after being acquired recently.
The photographic portrait of Rose Reilly was originally shot on assignment for an editorial client. A lovely assignment, again as I’ve said before, one of those assignments where you feel it is a privilege to be a photographer. We gain access into situations and lives, we get to meet people, go places you wouldn’t normally be able to go, all through an ability to use a camera. It really is an honour sometimes, and this photo shoot with Rose, hearing her tell her story and chatting with her was one such job.
From the website of the National Galleries of Scotland: “This photograph shows former footballer Rose Reilly at her home in Stewarton in Ayrshire. Reilly played for Scotland in the first official women’s international match between Scotland and England at Ravenscraig Park in Greenock in 1972. Not having the option to play professionally in Scotland, at 17 she signed for Reims in France and then AC Milan in Italy. Pursuing a career as a professional resulted in her being banned by the Scottish Football Association from playing football in and for Scotland. She continued her international career with Italy and scored in their victory against West Germany in the final of the 1984 Mundialito Femminile (the forerunner of the FIFA Women’s World Cup). Later that year she was voted the best female footballer in the world. Reilly continued to play until the mid-1990s and was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2007.”
See further examples of my editorial portraits from Scotland and abroad here on my website. Further editorial portraits from assignment photographer, Scotland.