Looking Back: The Changing Faces of Ireland

Forty years of photographing Ireland.

Irish life, urban and rural, and its evolution over four momentous decades, in a stunning collection of photographs by acclaimed press photographer Eric Luke. Irish people, places and pursuits, celebrity and everyday.

Here are poitín makers, currach racers and wren boys. A travelling tinsmith, a saddler and a stunt motorcyclist.
Presidents, film stars, rock stars and sports stars. Steam rallies, boat rallies and political rallies, country fairs and stadium rock gigs.

For over four decades, Eric Luke has been creating some of Irelands best-loved press photography. In his spare time, he has also produced a huge collection of his own personal photographs, of things that have caught his eye.

A witty and revealing text gives an inside picture of the life of an acclaimed press photographer.

Eric Luke has captured the essence of Irish life over the past forty years, with stunning and thought-provoking images of the people of Ireland for the Irish Press and Irish Times. Whether the subject is a film star or a gaelic football player, a fisherman or an elicit poteen distiller, Luke's talent is in showing a person as they really are.

This collection offers a fascinating insight into day-to-day lifestyle, as well as the cultural and political events, of these years in a country undergoing rapid change. A celebration of the people of Ireland: rural and urban, young and old, famous and unknown.