Inspiring Exhibition by members of SatSun Photography Group

SATSUN, the photography group in Ballyfermot, had the official launch of their exhibition in Ballyfermot library last Saturday, reports Stephen Farrell.

Nineteen members of the group have four photographs each in the exhibition which was launched by the vice President of Ballyfermot and Inchicore Credit Union, John Martin.

“We have also entered the Shield, the national competition ran by the Irish Photographic Federation and those entries are also on display in the library,” said Carmel Grahame, Secretary of the club.

The exhibition is inspired by the club turning 20 years old last year. The club was founded by a group of 20 people who attended a photographic course in the Civic centre, which was an URBAN initiative, ran by professional photographer Tim Durham in 2003. Half of the group attended the course on Saturdays, and the other half on Sundays, but they also wanted to keep using the skills they learned on the course. So both groups came together and the name Satsun was chosen for the combined group.

“We have had exhibitions many times over the years, but this one really marks a milestone and marks the fact that the that the club has managed to be successful and active for 20 years running,” said Ms Grahame.

The club has gone from strength to strength and over the years has hosted the Irish Photographic Federation’s National Shield Competition three times.  “We also do a lot of voluntary projects with Dublin City Council covering events in the area,” added Ms. Grahame.

The launch on Saturday, which continues until the end of the month, was very successful.

“It went really good,” said Ms. Grahame. “There was a good crowd there, it was nice,” she added.

Ballyfermot library organises a lot of events and each Saturday there are also traditional sessions there, said Ms. Grahame. “So the people at the trad session, and members of the public, the members of the photography club and their family members came in to the exhibition,” added Ms. Grahame.

Mr Durham has been very helpful to the club over the years and has run small courses and given lectures to the group and has also shown his own photographs to them.