MILWAUKEE — This weekend is Irish Fest at Summerfest grounds. The festival will show off Irish food, music, and culture.
One of the many vendors at the festival traveled all the way from Ireland to sell his photography at the festival.
James O'Donnell's passion is capturing life. He knows just how valuable life is. After a long battle with depression, he survived a suicide attempt. It moved him to look at life through a different lens.
"It took something very serious like that to jolt me into action, I decided I needed a pup," O'Donnell said.
That pup was a Border Collie named Iggy.
"Iggy's been a life changer and a life saver as well," O'Donnell said.
Taking care of another life helped him change his own and it brought him to his next love which was photography.
After documenting his journey with Iggy and his second dog for over a decade, they've racked up a following of over 13,000 on Instagram.
That, in part, led James from Falcarrah in Ireland to sell his photography at Irish Fest this weekend in Milwaukee three years in a row.
"You do it very well," O'Donnell said about his experience at Irish Fest. "The friendliness, the openness, the help, you weren't wanting for anything."
It's more than just seeing his Irish Culture outside his home country, for James, it's an opportunity to share his story.
Watch: Irish photographer makes the trip to Irish Fest annually to share his story
"It's also to highlight what our dogs do for a lot of us. Our canine companions, they can help us through a lot of dark moments," O'Donnell said.
His story inspired one local writer, Malcolm McDowell Woods to write a novel titled "What the Tide Leaved Behind: A Novel of Donegal" based in Ireland, about a man and his dog.
Every moment of companionship is captured on camera.
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