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PHOTOIRELAND:The art of photography will be celebrated at more than 30 venues in Dublin next month, with exhibitions of old and new work. AIDAN DUNNEpreviews the varied collection with its brave curator, FRANK MILLERsuggests how to get the most out of your camera and DAVIN O'DWYERinterviews a trio of photographers

IN ONE OF HIS short stories, Jorge Luis Borges imagines an empire that is so carefully mapped by a team of cartographers that in the end the map corresponds to the empire, inch for inch. Of course, this makes it pretty useless as a map and, amazing as it is, people soon lose interest in it. In our contemporary world, photography has taken on a role akin to that played by Borges’s imaginary map-makers. Photographs shadow every stage and aspect of our lives, personal and public. They permeate our world, providing a parallel, alternative version of reality.