In All Their Glória!

The glorious Glória gang turn up to a studio in Harold’s Cross on a hot Sunday in June, all dressed in their whitest whites, ready for their close-ups. There’s no doubting their enthusiasm, or the people wrangling skills of Derek McBrien, but one question remains, with 25 members here to become cover stars – will they all fit?

Everyone gathers inside. The sun is beaming and the windows of the fourth floor studio are immediately thrown wide. While Hana Tuhami chats to the appropriately named Sarah Ní Choirbín, lights are set up and plans are made on just how to launch all this confetti (more on that later). The musical troupe mill around the space, their bright shirts popping against the painted black walls, the lively personalities of Emmet Jordan O’Reilly and Martin Rochford popping even more so.

‘We Are Family’ is the theme of this year’s Dublin Pride Festival and some of the gang explain to us why that resonates especially with this group. “Everyone’s always so supportive,” says Ailish Byrne who has been with the choir a year and a half, “So for me I think I’ve two families – my own family and my Glória family.”

The set is ready and Mark Tierney looks equally ready to get his posing on. The voices of Dublin’s Lesbian and Gay Choir have been known to fill many a room, but staying inside the frame of a magazine cover will be a little trickier. Gathered together against the white backdrop, it’s sinking in the scale of the group. How best to give everyone an equal share of the spotlight?

“ Everyone’s always so supportive, so for me I think I’ve two families – my own family and my Glória family.

Leave it to photographer extraordinaire Hazel Coonagh to work her magic, making sure it’s more wall of sound than wall of people. At first, the gang naturally drifts into choir formation, tenors with tenors, sopranos with sopranos, before Hazel recommends some necessary defecting. Singers are shifted around, making sure Laura Murphy is in full view and bringing James Durkan up to the front. Rule of thumb, people, if you’ve got a clear view of the camera, the camera has a clear view of you!

The group doesn’t need any warm-up before Hazel gets snapping, it’s warm enough already. A huge fan is sourced, doubling as a wind machine for a few quick music video impressions. He may be a fine singer, but Damien Byrne’s skills as ‘fan pointer and controller’ are appreciated much more on this particular Sunday.

It’s coming up to the moment of truth – how are we going to make this confetti shower work? Katie Donohoe of Team GCN stands on a bench to the left of the group with a home-made giant paper cone, ready to swing it like a bat, showering the gang in multi-coloured circles. This is bound to work, right? Three.. two… one… smile everyone! Katie’s cone has a technical glitch. The floor around the bench is more colourful than the air around Lorna Rouse.

Rosy Masterson leaps into action, commandeering a broom and making sure not a single dot of confetti escapes. Anthony McNamara will prove to be no slouch either – this won’t be the last confetti catastrophe. Yours truly proves to be a disaster with the homemade paper cannon also, before we realise the answer is staring the gang right in the face, tousling the finely coiffed hair of Anne Hennessy – the wind machine.

Take two. Or five. The wind machine plays a blinder and so do the gang. Sarah Barry and Karin Jonsson look like they’ve done this before, one could hazard a guess their selfie game is strong. Ten minutes in, there’s already an album of photos to choose from. Time to try something different and replace the wind machine with people power. Rosy takes charge again and soon there’s a huge bag of confetti ready to pass around. The big handfuls taken by Richard Deane and Colm O’Boyle suggest they might be good in a snowball fight.

And action! The gang hurls the confetti into the air. Fiona Ward gets great height on her throw, it has to be said. Smiles all round, breaking into genuine laughter as the room, and the hair of Anne Golden, is soon showered with colour.

And with that, the cover shot is done. Everyone chats, in no hurry to leave, enjoying the afternoon. Hazel grabs her camera and snatches some behind the scenes images of Caroline Keane and Clare Balfe.

In another room, some of the group record videos to be shared on GCN’s social media in the days leading up to the issue launch. Brendan Feeney bites the bullet and goes first. He’s very professional altogether. Brendan sets a high bar, but all the others seem to be naturals, delivering their speeches with aplomb. Have they been practicing? Staying with the theme, Shelly Merne pays beautiful tribute to the unconditional support of her mother. Shelly’s is the perfect clip to finish on, and that’s a wrap on a truly glorious day.

Back into the main space and the gang are heading out to enjoy the rest of a sunny Sunday that’s already gotten off to a great start. There’s just enough time for a quick chat about DNA ancestry with Rachel Mathews McKay – turns out Rachel has ancestors from Jamaica, Ireland, England and Canada amongst others, Hazel is a Viking, while Katie’s clan made the slightly smaller trip from Leitrim to Dublin – before it’s time for the GCN team to get back to sweeping up all the confetti.

Where’s Rosy when you need her?

Glória were the highest contributors to GCN’s Fundit campaign to fund our exhibition celebrating 30 years of Gay Community News at the Gallery of Photography from June 21 to July 1. We thank them and everyone who generously contributed!