ONE RAINY NIGHT

Well it's been a busy week or two.
Ever since the CBS network in the USA covered the work of the Lilliputian myself, Artur, Brian, Hugh, Gemma and Mel have been busy shooting one thing or another for the last five days.

All the organisation has been tricky with ten times the amount of emails to answer and send compared to normal times.
Its all been very exciting, a little tiring but the feeling I am getting is one of realisation that the "Leaving Dublin" project is starting to reach its objective of being representational of all of the various groups of people fleeing our shores this time around.
After local coverage on The National News, emails lined up a number of people from different age groups, professions and some family groups, so excitment is high for the nights ahead.
On Sunday last we braved the rains to go to Blackrock , Co Dublin, to meet Sarah Cowhey.

Sarah lived nearby for several years before leaving Ireland for New Zealand four years ago.
There Sarah completed studies in wildlife documentary making and has worked since on the production side of things.
Against advice she returned to Dublin five months ago and had no luck securing a job and she feels in the current climate her expertise is surplus to requirements. She returned to her familial home town of Limerick and spent some time with her family. Whilst there she had a Christmas seasonal job in the local Dunnes Stores, but no other employment.
So, she has made the decision to leave and return to New Zealand and seek work once more in her area of expertise. May we all join in wishing Sarah the best for her next spell away from home!
Luckily just before Sarah arrived on location the rain died away to a little trickle ensuring that our gear could cope without exploding!!
Big thanks to Artur and Hugh who's spirits never dampened on that very wet evening.

And also a big welcome to Eve Irvine from France 24 TV station who may be joining us on a shoot next week!!
Please use the follow button on the top right if you would like to keep up with this now speeding project.
And please comment, it makes it all seem worth while!!

A VIEW FROM THE HILLS

Its clear at this point that momentum is gathering around the Leaving Dublin project.
Over the last two weeks there has been a lot of publicity,heightened by a CBS news story and several online news stories and print media stories.
here are a list of some of these pieces
broad sheet.ie had a piece called The Exodus
the journal.ie had a piece highlighting the CBS piece
And diaspora.ie also had its own take on this project with a link to a youtube piece from my last post
photographers.ie also had a short piece about the CBS story
Later in the week I had a call from a Sunday Tribune photographer and talked to a very nice journalist John Downes he interviewed me and did a very good piece last Sunday.
Next Up is the Six One news(its here now 18.25 into the bulletin) with big thanks to their video journalist Philip Bromwell
and a few seconds in a piece by Saskia Dekkers re the new wave of Irish emigration on Dutch public television.
Considering this work is still in progress, and therefor has no P.R. machine behind it, one can only be amazed at the level of media coverage to date.
There is no doubt that the subject matter is very current, but even still I was aghast to be half way up a mountain on a shoot with two national T.V. cameras pointing at me.
Also we were ten people, a little more than usual for a shoot that usually needs about five.
Our sitter this time was the very patient and graceful Claire Ryan.we met at the foot of the hills at the Yellow house in Rathfarnham she was there with a friend Arni Haraldsson who joined us as we drove in convoy up Stocking lane towards the car park in Killakee.

PROOF THAT THE SMALL WORLD EXISTS!!!

Hello world!!Its a fantastic day for the Lilliputian just over a year after its inception the blog has caused a stir in the small world
From coast to coast in the U.S.A. and all over Europe a piece was broadcast by CBS.news which uses my photographic documentation as a vehicle to describe the latest wave of Irish emigration.
I am so delighted and stuck for words at this moment that I had to let it out.
you can see the piece here
I would again like to say Big thanks to all who helped push this along ,Ben,Agnes, and Liz at CBS London. It was a pleasure!
I hope during the work done so far I have paid,and will continue to pay tribute to the people of this city, and indeed to the city they have chosen,or indeed in some cases, have been forced to leave behind!!
Big thanks also to the crew,Artur,Brian,Gemma,Hugh,James,Louise,Don.
who have always been at the end of the phone to throw light over a sometimes very dark and cold city

as always your comments are treasured!!

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IN PRAISE OF PRODUCTION

On Assignment this week I was asked to make a photograph for an Irish Arts publication
The proposal was to go to Cast Bronze Foundry and Photograph the artist and foundry man
Leo Higgins pouring Bronze.

So heres how it went. I met Mel O Reilly down at the foundry at half ten friday morning.
We went in and met Leo who gave us a demo as he poured a small bronze with one of his skilled team Henry.
The pouring of metal in this way is such a ritual and has been done for thousands of years
I felt humbled to do work in front of two men who performed flawlessly time after time to carry out the poetic movements which ultimately give birth to a work of art.
We then had an hour to get set up while the next crucible of hot metal became molten.
We settled on an exposure of 1/8th of a second @f4(wide open)
Needless to say our biggest problem was focus in such low light but we held it across the critical part of the shot.It took two takes with some more melting of metals in between but we left satisfied that we had all that we needed in the bag.

DOWN BY THE FURRY GLEN

The Pheonix Park in Dublin is a pretty big place and no doubt about that.
Having said that I managed to find a place which meant something to our latest sitter Neasa O'Shea Brady
A place where she and her family have often walked and played in the many years they have been living near the park.
The Furry Glen is a little ecosystem within the park a small treelined valley with a pond and all the associated flora and fauna that goes with it. It is indeed a beautiful place and we found ourselves on the edge of it amongst trees Which according to an inscribed memorial stone were planted in 1878. Beeches and scotts pine formed our backround all which have become heavily inscribed over the years be lovers of life and grifitti.I wondered had Neasa an artist about to take flight for New York, ever made her mark .But, I was afraid to ask.Anyhow when that crossed my mind I had I had other things on my mind.

It was pitch dark and very difficult to set up the shot using only a couple of flashlights.But thanks to Artur,hugh and Mel O' Reilly(a new member of our troupe), and a lot of moving around by Neasa we got there eventually.
Neasa and four other friends are off to New york and mostly for the same reasons there is no work for them here in their chosen fields.I have photographed two of the group already Aoife O Donnell and Fiona O Keefe and all of them are off to New york and hope to get internships in the Arts.
They are a very motivated group and I wish them the best and I hope they get all they deserve in their new home,New York.
Things come and things go that's for sure, our country is in a state of disarray It looks like the two Brians, Batty,and the whole bunch of Mary's might be moving sooner than they think.
But one thing is sure that when the dust settles on this troubled era the Furry Glen will be as beautiful a place as it has always been,and the joy of the stroll through the woods is something I hope Neasa and her friends will see again,soon.


This is the last post from my current shooting list current and so I am appealling for new leavers once more
if you know of anybody about to emigrate from Dublin please send them this way.
there is a little video piece on youtube that will get the message across also my viewbook page
has all of the work without the text.
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SOMETHING TO BE PROUD OF!!

Irish identity as seen from a different perspctive is an interesting thing.
I wait with baited breath to see how C.B.S.portray the people I have shot and how that all relates to America and how it sees us in their world.
Two months ago my brother Ken sent me an email link to a very interesting B.B.C. article which he said related to my project!
Now it really does!
Let me explain the article was about the new wave of irish immigration into the U.K. and it was a very good, deep and reasonably historically accurate. It points out the differences of previous Irish waves and draws the conclusion that this wave will be the most rewarded(because of a change in sentiment towards the Irish).It talked to a couple of new Immigrants.
one of these was a person called Claire Weir.
Claire has been around the world since leaving Dublin last year,she spent some time in Australia where she saw my project and corresponded with me via email. Thinking she was still there you can imagine my surprise to see her name in the B.B.C. article.Later that month she mailed me to say she was home for christmas and she would like to be part of my project.See the interesting article here
She chose her old neighborhood of Portabello for the shot and we where both drawn to the clean and heavily loaded graphic by her old local pub.
I have followed Claires progress over the last year I can say she is a hard working Irish photographer looking to do what she does best and the opportunity to do this in ireland is not forthcoming.
So it was with great pleasure that Claire and I closed the circle last week when we at last met to take this glorious parting shot as she prepared return to London to take up a job doing stills for a t.v. production.
It is an interesting point of B.B.C. article that the Irish in this new wave carry themselves well ,and Claire is indeed one of these.
Artur Sikora and Hugh Mc Cabe dodged the traffic to light up the neighborhood and we got it all finished before the rain came down.
Remember to read the the article over at the B.BC.page,It makes me feel good to be documenting history as its being written, and to leave my mark in the records,no shame ,no regret!!!

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David

SCENE FROM THE COAST

Christmas in Dublin this year was great!!and horray it was a white one!!
probably the only white christmas I have ever seen(at least as I remember)
After the november snows when everything really ground to a halt the Christmas fall was perfectly timed for those living in Dublin.(added several shots to my tree portraits at this time due to magical winter light after snow)
the Snow actually gave us the means to slow down to the holiday.
Afterwards it all melted away beautifully by the 27 and that left the roads clear (and the temperature amiable) to make another glorious parting shot.
This time our Hero was Brendan Rowan.
A recent Science graduate of Trinity College Dublin Brendan moved to Cardiff in Wales to do a P.H.D.in his chosen field.
here is what he had to say" I wasnt forced to leave Ireland ,but the funding for P.H.D.'S isn't there any more meaning there is larger compettion for places.

In the U.K. we are more highly valued and find it easier to get studentships.

As well, it's a chance to live in a new country and get away from the vortex of gloom that is currently overtaking Ireland.
The shot happened on december 28th at about 10 at night at Seapoint just down the road from Monkstown
The temperature had risen to 4 degrees making it a very comfortable shoot after the three previous sub zero sessions.
Artur Sikora accompanied me and looked after all lighting needs for the night.
Big thanks to Brendan,and to Jeannie Wenham for putting him in touch with me.
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David