James Moreland FRPS  19.. - 2014

My interests in photography started in the early 60’s when my girlfriend Mary, now my wife bought me a Kodak Colour swap 35mm camera.  This interest increased when I joined my local camera club “Christian Brothers Past Pupils Union” (CBPPU).  I attended a darkroom session and was amazed to see on a sheet of paper, as if by magic an image appeared, to me this was when my interest became my passion.

Within a few days my mother brought me out a basic enlarger, dishes and the chemicals on hire purchase at the local Co-Op store…. My darkroom journey had begun.

Jim Moreland FRPS,
May 2013

 Jim Moreland, from the Gransha area of Belfast, was a professional photographer for forty years.

In 2011 he was awarded a fellowship of the RPS in 1999, and was made regional organiser of the society for Northern Ireland.

Jim was awarded one the most prestigious awards in the photographic industry.

The Royal Photographic Society awarded him the Fenton Medal for his outstanding contribution to the educational charity. The mission of the RPS is to “promote the art and science of photography”, something that Jim Moreland did exceptionally well.

“The Fenton Medal is for services to the Society, but he is an excellent photographer as well.”

In 2002 he won the gold award in the International Photographic Awards run by the British Institute of Professional Photography. He was chosen as category winner for the industrial/architectural section in a competition that attracted more than 750 entries.

Jim also offered photography courses to anybody interested in improving their photography skills.

The sectarian pogroms in August 1969 in Belfast triggered one of the biggest forced mass movement of people since the 2nd World War. 

Jim Moreland was witness to the immediate aftermath of these events. 

The photographs taken in Ardoyne graphically capture the devastation and trauma of that hard time in our history.

For those who watched the news reports of the events as they unfolded on their television screens, or especially those who lived in the areas affected, these photos will spark very painful memories. 

For those too young to remember, Jim's pictures give a real sense of the chaos, confusion and shock that the community endured that terrible summer.

August 1969 was a turning point. 

Hundreds of homes were destroyed, tens of thousands became refugees and the social geography of Belfast changed forever with new emerging ghettoes and separation walls. 

There is other television and photographic images of this defining period but Jim Moreland's pictures reveal, in a very graphic way, the devastation of families who have lost their homes and whose few belongings litter the footpaths and roads in front of gutted houses.

This collection of photographs is an extraordinary record of an extraordinary time in our history.

Jim Moreland has done an enormous public service by taking these photographs.

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