“With photography, I like to create fiction out of reality. I try and do this by taking society’s natural prejudice and giving this a twist.”
Martin Parr
One of the biggest selling issues in the history of Magnum photography magazine featured a photo essay on the west of Ireland entitled A Fair Day. The piece was by the now famous English photographer and photojournalist Martin Parr. His piece in Magnum was a series of shots he took here between 1980 and 1983. Some of the photographs which featured most prominently were from a dance at the Mayflower Ballroom, Drumshanbo, in 1983. He also showed images of a phenomenon of the time called bungalow bliss and general rural life. Many of his strangely prescient images of abandoned houses and rural decay could have been taken today. This article alone is said to have brought hundreds of new-comers to Co. Leitrim during the 1980’s. You can view more of his published images over two pages at this link. (Stephen Rennicks)
A Guide to Here Nor There 