Capture The Time

What is a photograph? It's a way of capturing a moment in the present to share or a chance to catch a moment from the past to remember.

Early photos (late 1800s) were taken in the very formal setting of a photographer's studio, the subjects put into a formal pose often with 'props' to emphasise the serious nature of the event - a picture for posterity.

Many collections of photographs were used as educational tools and for entertainment purposes.

The design of cameras improved rapidly. As photography grew more popular as a hobby, so did it become cheaper and more accessible to ordinary families.

From the 1940s to the 1960s the street photographer became a familiar sight. He worked on the streets of towns and cities and often on the seaside promenade taking informal but good quality portraits of those walking along.

In the 1950s photographs were still fairly formal - mostly black and white depicting one or two people or a carefully arranged group facing the camera, unlike the fun selfie of today.

This exhibition seeks, through personal snapshots, to capture the time when families came out onto the streets of Cobh to walk, to shop or to play or maybe just to sit and enjoy life almost 70 years ago.