FREE Exhibition from LookWest.ie & Pix.ie Volvo Ocean Race Festival Photo Competition

FREE Exhibition from LookWest.ie & Pix.ie Volvo Ocean Race Festival Photo Competition

100 of the best photographs from the LookWest.ie & Pix.ie Volvo Ocean Race Festival Photo Competition will be exhibited for the weekend from Friday 21st August to Sunday 23rd August at Merchant’s Hall, 1 Merchant’s Road, Galway.  Admission is free and open to the public from 10.00am to 6.00pm each day.

The photo competition, sponsored by the Western Development Commission (WDC) and run in conjunction with photo sharing website Pix.ie, took place over the two weeks of the Volvo Ocean Race Festival and smashed the previous record of uploaded photos from an Irish event.  The photo exhibition is being staged by the WDC in collaboration with Let’s Do It Galway.

Joanne Grehan of the WDC said, “The competition was a fantastic success and we were absolutely thrilled with the response from the public.  It was different from the more traditional photographic competitions in that all of the photographs were uploaded onto the photo sharing website Pix.ie.  The previous upload record for an Irish event was 8,000 photos but we set a target of 10,000 to break that record and this really captured the imagination of the people of Galway and visitors to the city for the festival.  The end result was that more than 17,000 photos of Galway were uploaded, making it Ireland’s largest ever photo sharing project.

“Of course the huge number of entries made the job of drawing up the shortlist more difficult, but Marine Sports Photographer, David Branigan, whittled them down to select the best 100.  All the photographs capture the colour and excitement of the festival and will be on display from Friday to Sunday (21st to 23rd August) from 10.00am to 6.00pm.  The festival was an event that will be long remembered by all who attended so the exhibition is an opportunity to remember and revisit the wonderful two weeks of the festival.

All of the shortlisted pictures were selected to reflect the themes of the Volvo Ocean Race visit to Galway and how this unique event interacted with the city, its people and visitors.  The photographs capture the opening ceremony, the boats, the air show, the entertainment and the excitement and fun of the race village.

The organisers of the competition were also delighted with the promotional spin offs for the city; because it was an online competition it opened up Galway and the Western Region to a worldwide audience.

The photo competition was sponsored by The Western Development Commission (WDC) as part of its work to highlight the 'Creative West' as the Western Region rapidly becomes Ireland’s hub for the creative industries.

Ends

For further information please contact:
Joanne Grehan, WDC, 086 856 5802
Or
Angela Bane, Bane Mullarkey, 087 286 5217

Notes to editors on the Western Development Commission (WDC)
The WDC is the statutory body promoting economic and social development in counties Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo, Galway and Clare.
The WDC’s strategic goals are:
1. Contribute to balanced regional development by ensuring that the Western Region maximises its full potential for economic and social development.
2. Promote the benefits of living, working and doing business in the Western Region.
3. Support the sustainable economic and social development of the rural economy.
4. Provide risk capital to SMEs and social enterprises.
www.wdc.ie and www.lookwest.ie