Galway In Days Gone By

Capturing the West

The newly formed West of Ireland Tourist Development Association is offering a prize of five guineas for the best series of six scenic photographs suitable for reproduction in the official publicity matter of the organisation.

The competition is open to all comers from the ubiquitous amateur with the pocket camera and miles of film to spoil, to the lynx-eyed professional with his grandiose gestures, his trundling equipment, and not a single plate to waste.

It is also open to the clever pen-and-ink man. Wonderful as modern photography is, in this land whose changing and difficult lights afford its chief charm, the clever artist with the sketch block has considerable advantage, for he can place receding hills in their true perspective and get every detail in a varied panorama.

Mr. Tighe’s sketch of Galway Bay admirably conveyed the idea that one is standing on the heather-clad slopes of Lough Inch gazing sou’-westward. The existing scenic photographs of the West lack animation, do not catch the spirt of the place.

From Kilkee to Achill, there is a glorious hunting ground for the photographer and artist. Let us see what this competition which closes with Mr. John M. Leech, the secretary of the associating, on June 1, will bring forward.

Pictured: The late Pat Bracken performing with one of his puppets some years ago at Quay Street.