National Geographic Ireland Summer of 69

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Old photographs show on RTE today.
Details collected for all Irish photographers.
Amazing cover shot for National Geographic. September 1969
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The young girl in the cover shot is Judith Woodworth, a Irish schoolgirl who was studying Irish on Inis Oirr at the time of the National Geographic photographers visit. Judith is now the Director of National Concert Hall.
Programme Title SUMMER OF 69
Transmission Date Monday 28 December 2009 6.25pm
Week 52 (26 Dec 09-01 Jan 10)
Article Title
RTE FACTUAL Acclaimed National Geographic photographer Jim Sugar returns to Ireland to explore what changes have occurred for the people and places he visited and captured for the magazine forty years ago.

National Geographic is one of the most respected magazines in the world and in September 1969 it ran a cover story on Ireland.

Jim Sugar, the photographer who illustrated the story, was on only his second assignment, he was just 22-years-old. He spent nearly three months in Ireland travelling the length and breath of the country in a blue Austen sedan, and in that time he shot some 300 rolls of film, each one containing 36 exposures. That's some 10,800 individual photographs.

The two dozen or so images used in the magazine are startling and capture a lost Ireland; there are women wearing traditional shawls on Inishmaan, there's a cattle mart on the streets of Sligo town and an almost unrecognisable O'Connell Street.

But for nearly four decades, thousands of unpublished photographs from this trip have been stored in Sugar's attic. They are still there in the yellow boxes that came from the Kodak lab.

Now 40 years on, Jim Sugar has returned to Ireland to find out what happened to the people and the places he photographed. and to see how Ireland has changed since The Summer of '69.

Since 1969 Jim Sugar has travelled the world, he's had numerous other National Geographic cover stories, but he never returned to Ireland. So four decades on what will the National Geographic photographer make of the changes that have swept the country? And what can his photographs tell us about who we were and who we've become.

Summer of 69
In September 1969 National Geographic ran a cover story featuring Ireland in all its glory, a beautiful pictorial boasting the breath-taking landscapes and eclectic mix of people. The images where shot by a young Jim Sugar, only 22 years old at the time and relatively inexperienced working on his second photography assignment. Sugar spent three months driving across the country in an iconic blue Austen sedan and documenting everything he saw, completing a massive 300 rolls of film, containing over 10,000 images.

When published, the result was indescribable. The pictures told the story of an Ireland with rich culture and heritage. Now, forty years after this event, Jim Sugar returns to Ireland for the first time, to rediscover the region and explore how things have changed since the last time he was in the country. A moving depiction of progression and diversity, well worth tuning in for.

In 1968 Jim Sugar spent three months in Ireland capturing the people and places of Ireland for a National Geographic feature article published in 1969. Thirty-four of those images appeared in the final article but over 10,400 images were actually taken. The Jack Lynch photograph and others were unearthed in the course of making a television documentary called Summer of 69 about the original National Geographic article produced by RTÉ Cork. Summer of 69 will be broadcast on RTÉ One on Monday 28th December 2009 at 6.25pm.

Sugar still sweet on Ireland after iconic shots
Friday December 18 2009
RENOWNED photo journalist Jim Sugar still marvels at the beauty of Ireland's geography and people 40 years after he took these iconic shots of our country for 'National Geographic' magazine.

The California native returned to these shores earlier this week to present Taoiseach Brian Cowen with a previously unpublished photo of former Taoiseach Jack Lynch.

He had also hoped to take the Taoiseach's portrait but due to time constraints wasn't able to do so.

It was his second visit in a decade after he first came here as a 22-year-old freelance photographer who captured these stunning portraits and landscapes first published in a special 'National Geographic' cover story on Ireland in 1969.

They include a cityscape of a bustling O'Connell Street and an iconic image of a funeral procession with mourners carrying a coffin.

The photo essay featured 34 images that were among more than 10,000 shots he took over the course of three months in 1968.

And while the landscape has changed, Ireland hasn't, he said.

"I thought the sweetness of the people and the marvellousness of Ireland is still the same," he told the Irish Independent last night.

"My sense is the real-estate developers went berserk but the country is still Ireland and there are things that are fabulous," he said.

His work will be featured in an documentary on RTE One on December 28 called 'Summer of 69.'

- Allison Bray

Irish Independent
independent.ie/national-news/sugar-still-sweet-on-ireland-after-iconic-shots-1980651.html

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National Geographic Ireland Summer of 69