Seán Burke had been teaching a beginner’s course in photography at a local school, and after a time was approached with the idea of forming a photography club.  Seán himself was a keen nature photographer with a special interest in Butterflies. A great experimenter in photography, he was one of the first people in the area to make cibachrome prints from slides.  He also dabbled in the art of putting prints onto dinner plates no less.

Seán and some other photographers, Denis Corrigan, Colm Corrigan, Declan Corrigan, Lorcan Farrell, George Hayes, Harry Coyle and Eddie Devere and began meeting in the local school hall, and as more people heard about it, the membership started to grow.   By 1974 the Tallaght Photographic Society was established.  Local priest, Fr. Len Perrim was instrumental in forming the club and also in the Society getting its first premises by the early 1980’s.

Throughout the years and as the club’s membership began to grow, the Society began to win major titles in national competitions and earned a reputation countrywide for producing excellent monochrome work.

Some Society members went on to become full time professionals and have credited the club as giving them the opportunity to develop their talent and skills.  Of the photographers who turned professional, Vincent O’Byrne went on to win international honours for his work.  He is one of only 13 European Photographers to have achieved the status of Master QEP, Qualified European Photographer.  Podge Kelly has also won international honours and hosted the television show “Digital Photography”.  Michael Finn has won numerous awardsincluding three Kodak Awards and numerous gold, silver and bronze awards from the Irish Professional Photographers Association.

Now Tallaght is the size of a small city and the evolution of digital cameras has made photography so much more accessible and popular that the Society has now in excess of 40 members and is still growing.

Over the years, Tallaght Photographic Society has been involved in many competitions and exhibitions in an effort to promote photography in the local area.  To this end, we have held exhibitions in public libraries and local council buildings.  The TPS is also proud to host the Tallaght Photographic Society International Salon of Photographic Art.  Now in its 24^th year, this photographic competition is open to photographers from all over the world and is the largest and most successful photographic competition of its kind in the country.  In 2013 this Salon received up to 7,000 entries from over 60 countries worldwide.

Unfortunately, as a result of vandalism, the Society’s premises was destroyed in a fire in 2009, but undeterred, the TPS now continue to meet each Tuesday at Firhouse Community and Leisure Centre (FCLC) in Firhouse (moved since January 2023, previously met in the Maldron Hotel, Tallaght).

The aim of the Tallaght Photographic Society is to promote photography, locally, nationally and internationally by developing the photographic skills of our members.  Through our weekly meetings and encouraging our members to participate in club and national competitions to make the Tallaght Photographic Society one of Ireland’s most progressive and creative camera clubs.

The Society meets each Tuesday from 8pm at the each week.  Activities include sharing members’ images and the photography of special guest speakers from other camera clubs. We hold monthly competitions, practical evenings on various types of photography and outings to places of photographic interest.  Everybody is very welcome and our members include beginners to photography and more experienced and advanced photographers.

If you share the same passion for photography come and join us for an evening to find out more.