Catching Greystones In A Good Light

Greystones Harbour 2007

ven though he’s originally from Bray, beyond his wonderful photographs of old Greystones, there’s something instantly likeable about Eamon Flynn.

We first became aware of Eamon’s work whilst down having tea with Mrs Mooney. Taking out a folder of old postcards and prints of Greystones, Bridie began to wax lyrical about Eamon’s work.

“People just loved his photographs in the shop,” she explains. “We couldn’t keep enough of them in the place. Eamon just has a knack for finding the right light, the right moment, to capture a scene. We’re lucky to have him here in Greystones…”

A firm believer in 35mm film, Eamon spent his early years in photography working in black’n’white, using a Zeiss Ikon camera and developing his prints in his own little dark room. Which was basically his bedroom with the outside world firmly blocked out. As time went by, the camera went from a Zeiss Ikon to a Yashica, then a Nikon, and beyond.

“For me,” says Eamon, as we hang out in the garden of his rather fine Bellevue Road home, “the great thing about photography is just capturing the everyday, or those chance moments, as you take a walk around the town. I love the endless possibilities around Greystones for a great shot. There’s just so much beauty around us here, this town really is a photographer’s dream.”

Having worked in the mainstream media before, spending years in the engine room of The Irish Times, Eamon is well aware too of the simple rule that a picture can paint a thousand words.

“I love to walk around the seafront in Greystones,” he finishes. “The sea and the light are changing all the time, and there is always something new happening, from yachting to fishing, to diving, dogs splashing around. Even just gazing out to a calm sea has an incredible richness to it.

“I’m happy to spend the rest of my life walking along our seafront, my camera on my back, just chatting with the locals, and their dogs. Sometimes, of course, it’s the dogs that make the most sense, but then, that’s Greystones for you…”

Now, jump to Eamon’s second batch of archive beauties here.