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Body art: 16 brilliant portraits of people at Dublin's Tattoo Convention

‘Surely there had to be some very interesting characters attending,’ I thought. I was not disappointed.”

MORE THAN 60 artists from around the world gathered in the Red Cow Hotel on Hallowe’en weekend this year to celebrate Dublin’s 13th annual tattoo convention.

Hundreds of people came to the venue for the body art, bands and other entertainment.

Photographer Donal Moloney had other ideas though. He was after interesting subjects for his own personal project.

“Sometimes I search for interesting events around the country but occasionally I’ll find one just down the road,” he said.

“After a few emails and some arm twisting, I managed to secure a tiny corner of the room where I could set up a makeshift studio. ‘Surely there had to be some very interesting characters attending,’ I thought. I was not disappointed.”

Here are 16 of brilliant, resulting portraits:

Pete, Dublin

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Rostislav, Russia

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Joe, USA

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Umberto, Italy

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Titch, Ireland

 

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Tony, Ireland

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Helena, Finland

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Paddy, Ireland

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Justin, England

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Jenny, aka The Pink Lady, Ireland

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Friday, USA

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Anonymous

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Ray, Ireland

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Jo, Northern Ireland

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Daniella, Italy

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Ross, England

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All photos by Donal Moloney. See more of his work on his website and his Facebook page

PICTURES: The animals, business and craic of the Ballinasloe horse fair

Portraits of beautiful people: A weekend in Marrakech

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    Mute jason bourne
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    Feb 12th 2017, 9:22 AM

    Wow.. fair play

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    Paul
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    Mute Paul
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    Feb 12th 2017, 9:26 AM

    What a brilliant out of the box idea – where they whole world is turning extreme right it’s refreshing to see the possibilities to be had while providing a service to African countries. We get bashed from pillar to post by politicians and inquiry after inquiry and sometimes lose track of what makes Irish people great.

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    Mute Mike
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    Feb 12th 2017, 9:43 AM

    @Paul: So a good news story about an African country gets dragged down by someone virtue signalling their hatred of all things right wing. IMO it’s a great story as it shows what people can do for themselves if given the help and resources to get started, One needs seed capital to participate in capitalism, these credit unions appear to be doing the right thing in getting economic activity going. Like many in the West they too wanted and have opted for change in government, here’s hoping the new guy can govern well and support these business people.

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    Mute Stiofán Mac Stáin
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    Feb 12th 2017, 10:05 AM

    @Paul: Capitalism at its best, private individuals and organisations taking matters into their own hands instead of waiting for the government to do something about it.

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    Mute Taylor
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    Feb 12th 2017, 9:54 AM

    Well said Paul! It’s nice to see something refreshing on the journal instead of negativity

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    Mute Debi Nikita
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    Feb 12th 2017, 11:08 AM

    Great news..

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    Mute Gerard Creedon
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    Feb 12th 2017, 12:13 PM

    Fair play !

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    Mute Ita Connolly
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    Feb 12th 2017, 9:59 PM

    My Dad worked with the Irish League of Credit Unions in the Gambia to help train local people and set up Credit Unions in 1998 and again in 2000. I’ve sent him this link. It’ll make his day.

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    Mute Gerry Fallon
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    Feb 12th 2017, 3:16 PM

    Rush credit union have a branch in Gambia,wow! Fair play to them.

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    Mute Anthony Byrne
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    Feb 13th 2017, 7:58 AM

    Should the headline not read “Gambians use’Gambian’ credit union system to …. Etc”

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