Paul Millard Photo Exhibition
A mother and son work in a field, building a haystack together; a group of men lean on their sticks while watching cattle pass by during Castletownbere Fair Day; a fluffy gannet chick perches on a cliffside on the Bull Rock; and local people watch horse-racing in a field, as part of the annual Allihies15th August sports day.
These are just some of the images taken since the 1970s by keen amateur photographer Paul Millard, and which are now on display in Lehanmore Community Centre, at the very tip of the Beara peninsula, almost at the Dursey Sound. Paul has been visiting the area since the early 1960s. He first came to Allihies with An Óige when they were contemplating buying the old Mine Captain’s house and turning it into a hostel. After it opened in 1965, he was a participant in many voluntary work parties, preparing the hostel for visitors and helping to maintain it down through the years. Even after the hostel closed in 2004, Paul continued to visit and has retained strong links with the locality and its inhabitants ever since.
“I bought my first 35mm camera down on the quay, in the south jetties in Cork, from a sailor on a Polish coal boat in the early 1970s,” explained Paul. “It was a Russian-made Zenith E, with an excellent lens. The sailors at the time were always anxious to trade, mostly items such as warm winter clothing, ships in bottles, or even radios, and so the camera was a real bargain.”
Paul worked in black and white mostly and carried out his own developing and printing. The subjects he chose to photograph were wide-ranging, and included landscapes, local characters, and glimpses of farming life and of fair days. Some were of the Bull Rock lighthouse. “The lighthouse was manned at the time, of course, and the keepers were always delighted to see visitors, and to get the latest news,” Paul remembered. He used to travel over to the island with a local fisherman, and was allowed to take photographs inside the building.
Over the decades, Paul kept all the negatives carefully, but was recently persuaded to digitise them – a task which took him several months – and to put a selection on show as part of the Garnish Family Festival, as the local townland, outside Allihies is called (no relation to Garnish Island near Glengariff).
Paul’s photographs will go on display in the Community Centre on 6th August at 7.30 pm. The exhibition will be opened by Carina McNally and will run during the festival and for a further 10 days during the Centre opening hours. To contact the Centre for opening times and arrange access, Tel : 027 73911. All the thirty-nine photos he has chosen are the same size – 10 x 8 inches – and are mounted and framed in whitewashed wooden frames. They will be on sale for €50, and extra copies can be ordered if needed. Paul has also mounted an ancillary collection of dozens of more photos in a book from which orders can be taken.
Paul feels that his work can be of value to both locals and visitors. “The photos are evocative of bygone days. They show Allihies and the region before it became built up, as well as a way of life that has largely disappeared,” he explained. Some visitors to the exhibition may recognise themselves or their own family members. Others may wish to buy photos for relatives or friends who have since left the region and who might enjoy seeing once again the Allihies they knew back in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. It’s maybe a little early to be thinking of such things, but many photos would make ideal Christmas presents!
Paul can be contacted at firkeel.pm@gmail.com.
