Last Night – Des O’Neill’s Books

Local photographer/ photograpy lover Des O’Neill brought in a fresh blast of inspiration last night – several dozen books about photography, carefully chosen from his even-larger collection. Charting his development in the art through the cameras he’s used and the through the books he’s bought, Des gave us a glimpse of multiple worlds of possibility, far removed from what we might think of as ‘club photography’.

More than a talk, Des gave us time with his books, to browse, perchance to dream. Above, Sandie, Sabrina and Lizzie marvel at Kirsty Mitchell’s lavish ‘Wonderland’.

We saw Vivian Maier, Martin Parr, Don McCullin, Sebastiao Salgado, Ciarán Og Arnold, Julia Margaret Cameron (and heard the story of the two copies, thanks to the tea cup and the intervening bat!), and so many more. We had time to compare notes, and get a little lost in our own thoughts too. If we had our own premises we might have a small lending library. Anyone got thoughts on setting up something up anyway?

Below, Jimmy, Roben, Bob and Ian find themselves captivated.