CameraClub         bbermingham@corkcity.ie    www.bbermingham.com

Chairman –Dan Geary

Ladies & gentlemen

I am delighted to represent the City of Cork as Deputy Lord Mayor at this your 11^th Annual exhibition of the Cork Camera Club.

As early as the fourth century BC (circa 336-323 BC), Aristotle described a method for viewing a solar eclipse without damaging the eye.

If a metal plate punched with small holes was held up to the sun, he said, then a corresponding image of the sun could be projected through it and onto the ground.

The method was not novel to Aristotle, and likely was well established before he wrote about it.

This simple optical principle is the foundation of photography

We owe the name "Photography" to Sir John Herschel , who first used the term in 1839, the year the photographic process became public. (*1) 

The word is derived from the Greek words for “light and writing”

There are two distinct scientific processes that combine to make photography possible

The first of these processes was optical.

The Camera Obscura (dark room) had been in existence for at least 400 years. There is a drawing, dated 1519, of a Camera Obscura by Leonardo da Vinci; about this same period, its use as an aid to drawing was being advocated.

The second process was chemical.

For hundreds of years before photography was invented, people had been aware, for example, that some colours are bleached in the sun, but they made little distinction between heat, air and light.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century 1800

Thomas Wedgwood had successfully captured images, but his silhouettes could not survive, as there was no known method of making the image permanent.

June/July 1827 the first successful picture was produced by using material that hardened on exposure to light. This picture required an exposure of eight hours.

1830’s Daguerre discovered a way of developing photographic plates, a process which greatly reduced the exposure time from eight hours down to half an hour. He also discovered that an image could be made permanent by immersing it in salt.

In July 1839 the French government bought the rights to it in.

Details of the process were made public on 19 August 1839.

However, not all people welcomed this exciting invention; some viewed it in quite sinister terms. The Leipzig City Advertiser stated:

"The wish to capture [evanescent] reflections is not only impossible...but the mere desire alone, the will to do so, is blasphemy.

God created man in His own image, and no man-made machine may fix the image of God.

“Is” it possible that God should have abandoned, His eternal principles, and allowed a Frenchman... to give to the world an invention of the Devil?"

At that time some artists saw in photography a threat to their livelihood (see Artists and Photography ), and some even prophesied that painting would cease to exist.

The announcement that photography "requires no knowledge of drawing”…and that "anyone may succeed”…and perform as well as the author of the invention" was greeted with enormous interest, and "photography " became a craze overnight.

The mushrooming of photographic establishments reflects photography's growing popularity; from a mere handful in the mid 1840s the number had grown to 66 in 1855, and to 147 two years later.

In London, a favourite venue, was Regent Street where, in the peak in the mid 18'sixties there were no less than forty-two photographic establishments!

In America the growth was just as dramatic:

In 1850 there were 77 photographic galleries in New York alone.

How many Photographic Galleries do we have in Cork in 2001?

Photography, the Art of Photography and the development of the camera has undergone rapid and significant changes as we entered the era of APS and Digital camcorder and movie.

On visiting the very many web sites on camera and photography one can be highly impressed and learn of these major developments in detail.

Around the globe in the numerous camera clubs – so easy now-a-days to make contacts and links. Your busy schedule of activities is reflected Competitions, workshops, guest speakers, exhibitions and day trips to various locations throughout the city and the ancient province of Munster.

 All of which keeps you very busy indeed, and the source of inspiration and creativity enhancing your skill in photography.

Your briefing notes are very impressive for as a camera club you 

1.  Won the amateur camera clubs competition

2.  One of your founding members, Joe Forde was awarded the all Ireland gold medal for best colour print

3.  Your members have received prestigious distinctions from the Irish photographic Society.

4.  And many other awards by many of your members.

Photography

It is great to acknowledge your presence on the Landscape of Leisure activity in the City of Cork.

You are facilitating the people of Cork, with an Interest in Photography

Ø  To meet fellow enthusiasts

Ø  To discuss learn and compete

Ø  To increase their own personal and skill base. 

And to record for posterity the Images that are worth thousands of words, such as

Ø  That moment to treasure as at last year’s Munster final clash, between Cork and Tipperary in all its colourful glory.

Ø  Or the transforming of Munster’s rural landscape with its increasingly delightful pretty towns and villages.

Ø  Or the many new roadways linking our urban settlements.

Ø  Or capturing the increasing fragile ecosystem, endangered species, and sources of pollution, dead fish in polluted rivers or indeed the 40 shades of green in “ our own lovely lee” which hopefully after the completion of the main drainage scheme we will once again be able to sing with conviction.

Ø  Or the dynamic changes in the quality of the public realm at the core of Cork’s historic centre such as the Marsh or Blackpool.

Our “beautiful City, charming and pretty” is changing fast ----Patrick Street is soon to undergo transformation.

So please rush out and capture Patrick Street as was and is before it’s too late.

Exhibition

People will come to this exhibition with great expectations and anticipation in discovering not only stimulating images in a variety of settings but also new techniques in the art of photography.

 Ideas will pour into their minds to further enhance their own creativity.

Ø  Maybe we should have a competition / exhibition, on “the changing Cork” bringing as many photos of yester-year and to-day, together before Cork is changed forever.

Ø  Maybe in time you might consider inviting our Twinned Cities to participate with photos of their Cities as well, giving a European and International flavour and networking within your chosen leisure activity.

Ø  Maybe it time for Cork Corporation to open up City Hall’s foyer, halls, landings and stairways as a location and rolling display, for all forms of Art, Craft &Design & including your own work.

Cork then, is in for a treat with this exhibition and these excellent photos, encouraging many people into photography with a growing awareness of our environment, -- built, human, and natural.

I hope that this exhibition becomes an extremely important event in the calendar of photographic activities in the Region and nation.

May I thank the exhibitors, and all who organised it?

May I then formally, open your

11^th Annual Cork Camera Club Exhibition,

With its theme of  “Images of Munster”, and wish your club every success into the future

http://homepage.eircom.net/~bbermingham/