Dennis Dinneen

Dennis Dinneen (1927–1985) worked as a publican, taxi driver, and most notably, a photographer in his home town of Macroom, County Cork. Dinneen’s photographs, taken during the 1950s-70s, depict local people in a typical rural town in Ireland. His kind and humorous perspective allowed his sitters to appear at ease as they posed within the informal studio in a room adjacent to the bar of the main street pub.¹

The late Dennis Dinneen was from Macroom, County Cork, a Publican and Photographer during the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s.² Many of his pictures were originally printed on a modest scale and cropped to isolate faces for use on official documents, to be kept as mementos in wallets and purses, or to send to loved ones living overseas. The contemporary enlargement and detailed printing from the original negatives reveals many traces of a relatively recent but unreachable past. Emigration and the strong influence of the Church loomed large over the lives of many people, and the modernisation of the country’s infrastructure brought an awareness of the possibilities outside of small town life. Evidence of these pressures and opportunities are an underlying refrain throughout many of Dinneen’s individual portraits, while the boisterous group shots resonate strongly with community spirit. ³