Glass Plate were a great medium to capture quality images but it required a skilled photographer and a lot of care in the steps following the shoot to reproduce the image in the required media real professional from the 1950s Lensmen Photographers went on a job with 4 plates and came back with the image required they were more like marks men than the machine gun methods used today, we shoot hundreds of shots and get lucky with a couple!

Thanks to these professionals and there great work we are privilege to have access to a collection of top quality images that would match or beat what is been produced today with very high tech equipment and lighting. We can scan the images and make them available in every corner of the world at a click. This is a concept that the photographer in the 50s and 60s would have loved to have access to.

 

Lensmen, Ireland's premier photographers, was established in 1952 by Andrew Farren and Padraig MacBrian Lensmen continues on well into the new millennium thanks to Susan Kennedy who purchased the business in 1996 and has weathered the storm of change and recession to evolve the business into a complete service including video and time laps

irishphotoarchive.ie  are saving this great collection in digital format so it can be viewed on line all sales proceeds are reinvested in this project. 

Under the covers with JFK

We’ve told you about how our first digital book, President John F. Kennedy Visits Ireland in 1963, was launched yesterday. We would love if you purchased a copy, but we thought you might like a look inside first.

The second day - meeting the cousins

Each day Kennedy spent in Ireland is provided with a separate chapter. The images taken by the Lensmen photographers are the focus, of course, but we have tried to provide extra information on the other people featured in the shots. Most people know about how Kennedy visited his cousins and addressed the Dáil, but perhaps aren’t as familiar with the rest of the details of the trip, like for instance, the death threats issued against him or the riots that took place at the dinner party.

The major benefit of digital books is that the material can be updated without delay. There is no more need to wait for the next edition, or for the first print run to be exhausted. And anybody that bought a copy will have their digital book updated automatically each time the material is updated or added to.

All the images in the book are available from the Irish Photo Archive as fine art prints. There is a gallery at the end of the book featuring all images we have discovered of the visit so far. Each image has a link from the book directly to our website. Or you can of course access them directly from www.irishphotoarchive.ie.

Check inside and see if you find it interesting

You can also access a sample of the President John F. Kennedy Visits Ireland in 1963 on the iTunes Store. Each digital book has the option of downloading a sample 15 pages, like the ‘See Inside’ option on Amazon. This will be a section from one chapter, and you can purchase the full copy directly from it if you so choose.

We hope you enjoy the book, and that you find the photos as interesting as we do. If you have any further information about the people involved, or recognize anybody from the photos, we would love to hear from you on irishphotoarchive@gmail.com.