Our Master Roaster and the face of Java Republic: Paul Mooney.
This emotive photograph was taken by Paul McCarthy. Paul McCarthy works in Ireland and the UK, basing most of his work around portraits. However, he does enjoy taking photography of food and still-life photography when the opportunity arises.
Paul has found his most interesting assignment was capturing the roasting process.
'It all revolves around split second timing, if the beans aren't taken out of the roasting drum the moment they've reached the right smell and colour then they'll burn. Since there is a few hundred euros worth of precious arabica coffee beans in each roasting cycle, a lot rests on the judgement and keen sense of smell of the master roasters! To get the right angle for the shot, I had to get right in next to the machine, but by concentrating on the face of the roaster as he was just about to pull the lever I think I got a pretty good expression of the defining "coffee" moment'. Paul McCarthy
