A Case of Mistaken Identity

Niall Murphy and I go back a long way. We met in college, a lifetime ago. We have a shared love of photography. In fact, back when the internet was merely an addition to life rather than life itself, Niall and I figured we could make a website to sell our photography. So we did. Southbull.com. Niall still runs it today.

A couple of weeks ago, Niall had an exhibition of his work at the CHQ Building in Dublin: Edge Cases. I spent a couple of days helping out with the logistics and was also honoured to speak about Niall on the opening night. I think I even said some nice things about him.

In the course of the show, someone came up to me who recognised me as being Peter Cox, the photographer. That put a big grin on the face of my ego, I can tell you. He told me he was a fan of my work. A fan! I thanked him for his kind words. Then I had a terrible thought. What if my fan was under the impression this was my exhibition? I didn't want to take credit for Niall's excellent work. Not while was standing right there, anyway. I hastily explained that the work surrounding us belonged to Niall, all the while feeling some peculiar variant of imposter syndrome.

I might never get invited to an opening night again. Or if I do, Niall might make me wear a paper bag over my head.

Click on the image below to see Niall's Edge Cases photographs.