Today sees the launch of the Belfast Photo Festival, which will run from the 7^th to the 30^th of June. Featuring exhibitions, events, and a one-day Capture Conference at which Northern Ireland Screen’s own head of production, Andrew Reid, will be speaking, the Belfast hills will surely be alive with the sound of shutters snapping for the rest of the month! In celebrating Northern Ireland’s photographic present, we’re pausing to look back on our lesser-known photographic past.

 The footage below is of Corfields Camera Factory, which relocated to Ballymoney in 1959. Manufacturing Periflex cameras and Lumex lenses, in the early 1960s Corfields forged a partnership with an Irish manufacturer whose name might be more familiar – Guinness. As well as cameras, they began to manufacture metal components for Guinness kegs. Thanks lads!

Despite these diversification efforts, the influx of new camera technology ultimately proved too much for Corfields and in 1971 they closed their doors. Fortunately, Guinness survived, so when posing for a pic with a pint of plain during the festival, you can feel glad for that at least!