There is something wonderfully special about the Christmas stamps from An Post and this year, one of the three Irish stamps will hold even more significance for people in Mitchelstown, as the image was captured by well known photographer Bill Power.

While Bill has been sitting on the news for a number of months, he only announced it officially late last week to tie in with the official launch by An Post in Dublin.

The stamp features an image of a Harry Clarke stained glass window from the Catholic Parish Church in Millstreet and Bill has been overwhelmed by the positive feedback from people since he broke the news.

This has been somewhat of a roller coaster year for Bill in terms of international photography awards and while his images have been viewed all over the world, they will now be travelling all over the globe with festive greetings from all over Ireland.

Bill himself used to collect stamps, so the significance of being approached for this by An Post is even more precious.

It is also a picture that he took because of his own interest in the work of Harry Clarke, rather than as a 'competition' image.

"Having one of my photographs on an Irish postage stamp is a real honour. It's something I never thought would happen, especially because it wasn't something I went after. They asked me for the photograph after coming across it online," Bill told The Avondhu.

"It's pretty cool to think that one of my photographs, albeit a tiny version of one, will go through almost every letter box in the country over the coming weeks. It's also going to travel to most countries in the world and will be collected by stamp collectors everywhere. That means that everyone who buys one of those stamps this Christmas is buying one of my photographs, how cool is that?", he added.

Having known about the stamp for several months, but keeping it under wraps until it was officially signed off on, Bill said that he had almost forgotten the significance of what it would mean, until he told people. When he first heard from An Post, before the summer, he was thrilled and stunned and now it is an honour, which he will treasure.

"The reaction has been amazing. I've had hundreds of texts, messages and phone calls, not to mention the number of people who have stopped me on the street to congratulate me.

"This marks a nice ending to what has been a fantastic year for me in terms of my photography. It's the icing on the cake to the international awards that I've won this year," Bill concluded.

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