Hugh Doran (1926 – 2004) was an amateur photographer of rare talent. A native of Dublin and a printer by profession who spent his working life in Arthur Guinness & Co. He joined the Photographic Society of Ireland in 1949 and was from the mid-1950s a regular contributor to – and medal winner at – the Society’s exhibitions. His photographs were also included in exhibitions in Berlin, Bordeaux, Bermuda, San Sebastian and Vienna.

Hugh’s camera focused on a variety of subjects from portrait to landscape, but two themes stand out –architecture and his native city. Hugh’s interest in architecture was long-standing. He travelled extensively in Ireland and abroad. His eye for detail was precise and his composition outstanding. In 1959, Desmond Guinness asked Hugh to photograph Irish country houses – specifically those with curved wings – for an Irish Georgian Society exhibition. Over the succeeding decades He photographed many of the grandest of Ireland’s houses, charming owners to allow him to capture the stately exteriors and fully furnished interiors. These photographs have gone on to illustrate and enhance numerous publications on Irish country houses.

Hugh’s Dublin photographs are perhaps more personal. They capture a Dublin now vanished, a city free of cars and laced with shadow, an old city, faded certainly yet still as full of life as dereliction. Portrait and architectural photography combine in images which reveal as much of the personality of the city as its fabric.