THE STRANGEST OF SYNERGIES

This post is a tad late. So apologies if you have been waiting around anticipating the third chapter in my three shots in a week post!!
I have to admit that right now I am awe struck at the pattern of events that have conspired to become this moment, when so many forces have pulled together to catapult my mind and my leaving Dublin project of into a higher dimension. Allow me to explain.

Aoife O Donnell is 'leaving Dublin', she is off to New York.A graduate of the D.I.T. photography school on Meeting house square,she shares with me a passion for photography and many happy memories of time spent on this square and in its environs.Aoife said "I am leaving Ireland primarily for personal adventure but also to further my career in photography. I plan to take up a

photography related internship in New York City for a minimum of 14 months with a view to extending my stay or to then travel the world. Having lived in Chicago for a period in 2008 I found considerably more opportunity to train and work in photography than in Ireland. As a recent graduate I now have the opportunity to obtain a working visa for The States so I plan to return there in January 2011.It has been an ambition of mine to live for an extended period in New York since I was 15 and this potentially could be my one and only chance to do so."

She spent 3of the last 4 years here in the D.I.T. building ,In talking with her last night I realised that I had been associated with the Photographic archive ( the building at her back)for the last 12 to 13 years.
It is a sad truth that the three of us (Aoife,the archive,and I),are all leaving our pasts behind us in this Square and Moving on!

The Square was set up as a result of enlightened policy to pull film, art, and photography institutions together in one place and to allow them to synergise for the benefit of all involved in these complementary disciplins.On the square was The ark,the Gallery of Photography,the Irish Film Institute and cinemas,The National Film Archive,The National Photographic Archive,The Gaiety School of Acting,and The D.I.T.photography School.Close by there was a music venue (now called the button factory),Film base,Temple bar Galleries and Studios,And the Project Arts centre.
As far as photography is concerned I think the synergies kicked in last year when recent graduates of the D.I.T school and others,united all the strands of involvement in Photography and set up the Photoireland festival.What a blast that was.It showed how Ireland was now ready to take its place and stand shoulder to shoulder with the rich photographic cultures that exist in Europe, the Americas,and the rest of the world.
Sadly the Photographic Archive for whatever reasons has chosen to retreat to its early nineties position and become once more The photographic collections of the National Library of Ireland.
This Quiet retreat is reflected in the libraries website were all traces of the previous National Photographic Archive have been removed to be replaced by this Introduction to the photographic collections.
I am deeply saddened personally,and see this as a backward step culturally for Ireland in a European and worldwide context.The exhibition space remains open for the moment but soon enough the square could start to fragment with its loss.
However I suppose it is the reduction in work volumes in the last few years that has me chasing personal projects, so for this I suppose I will be eternally grateful.
Back to the images above!The reason we are here.
Aoife as I said earlier is off to New York,and C.B.S.news was interested to make a story around my project.They saw it as a fresh way of showing the return of the age old Irish tradition of emigration,and they were also interested in talking to someone who was moving to the U.S.A.
So up to this point my project was free flowing governed only by its participants with no outside agencies timetabling shoots.
However once we had Arranged to hook up with C.B.S. a date was set for them to interview,Aoife,myself,and to record the goings on at a shoot.
The shoot was set up for friday dec 17th,and low and behold the polar express was being projected on the squares screens that night for an eager christmas audience.
It would have been cutting it to tight to wait till after the square was put back in order after the show so we decided to move the shoot to another part of temple bar(Essex street)
This proved to be crazy busy (as you may see when the video piece is aired later next week),
and as a result I was not totally satisfied with the result.
In consult with Aoife we decided to have a second go,but at the original site chosen by Aoife on meeting house square.
After looking at the final images I realised that the first shot is totally fine,and my dissatisfaction was actually caused by not making the shot at a site so sacred to me,And indeed to Aoife.
We both indeed have lived a lot of our life in this unique square,and now it is a part of my own portrait of a city left behind, and part of Aoife's past.

So many strands coming together at one time have left me a little phased,but on we go propelled by synergy!!
Thank you If you have managed to stay with this post from the start,its a long one!
Please let me know which image works best for you,via the comments box!
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Brian Daly,Artur Sikora,and James Lillis,covered the Essex street shoot.
Whilst Artur Sikora,and Hugh Mc Cabe,handled the rather slow,(due to a crappy mac issue), meeting house square shoot.Big thanks again to them!! And to Dan And Tanya at the Gallery of photography for enabling me to light up!!
david

NEW YORK! THAT SOUNDS GOOD TO ME!

Having finished our shoot at the Guiness plant,myself,Artur,Gemma,and Agnes (CBS Wonderproducer)
All jumped into my car,and we headed to our next assignment.
East wall was our next destination and we were off to meet a friend of Gemmas who was Emigrating to New York.
Fiona O Keefe is a fine art graduate heading to the U.S. She is disillusioned with the lack of jobs available to her in Ireland within her field of study,and she is hoping to work in Gallery administration in New York.
She is a great talker and she chatted with me,Agnes ,and Gemma as we prepared to shoot.
She was talking to Gemma about this project and my heart just soared to hear one positive comment after another.
Had I mentioned in the last post that it was a cold night! aahemm! o.k.
Well the effect of the cold on my laptop had left me without an essential part of the kit.
In fact the battery charge had dropped off from fifty% to zero in minutes leaving me shooting direct to camera with only the nasty little preview on the back to check focus.
I have said here before that the quality of the files from the hasselblad h series camera are tops.
But its Auto focus system leaves a lot to be desired,so I like my full screen preview and a 100% magnification to check focus.This was denied to me and I had to feel my way around this one in a different way!!
East wall has been home to Fiona for some years and She liked the way the the old and the new fell together in this composition. Artur and Gemma were great here as always and we only drew the attention of one passer by who strangely wanted to know had somebody been shot!!
Well in fact somebody had,but in the nicest possible way!!
Big thanks for all the positive comments for the last post please keep them coming,it helps keep the ship straight.
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Thanks to all for sharing this content with there friends,and if you know of any one preparing to fly,please direct them to my work.
thanks again
david

FIVE YEARS ON!!

Wow Its still bitterly cold in Dublin and Iv'e been out working in it a couple of times this week.
The project gets stronger and stronger as more types of people come forward for inclusion.I met Anna Vareil at a class I give at the gallery of photography and when she told me she was leaving Dublin
I showed her my project and she was more than impressed . Quickly we found a location and we got on with it.I was anxious to shoot a lot this week as my project was singled out byCBS news as a story worth covering.From their perspective emigration stories where old news but infused with the magic of beautiful photographic imagery those same stories become little nuggets of light lighting up the night sky of a very very cold,but interesting nation.
They wanted to film me shooting a shot so I arranged three shots over 2 nights just incase anything went amiss.More about this in our next few posts!!
We shot on Rainsfort street dublin(thats the Guiness hop store in the background),Aplace chosen by Anna Vareil
as deeply significant in her stay in Dublin.Anna spent over 5 years in dublin and worked as a credit controller with Deloitte and Touche is returning home to Bordeaux for christmas before moving to Africa to work with medecins sans frontieres
here is what she had to say
"Am I sad to leave Ireland? I would say yes, I will miss the irish people, their laugh, sense of humor and the way they know how to enjoy life. They have something authentic and true, the nicest people I have ever met!
I think that once you have been in Ireland for several years, ireland gets into u and I know that I feel now a bit Irish. I will always carry a bit of Ireland with me wherever I go! I have fantastic memories here in Dublin, I have met great personalities, and I will definitely miss my friends and the evenings at the pub!!! .

for this shot Artur Sikora and Gemma Geraghty looked after lighting quite fantastically

and Agnes Reau caught it all on video for CBS

thankyou for all the positive feedback to date.

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Comments are always answered and greatly appreciated so keep doing it !

thanks

david

THIS CITY REALLY SUITED ME

Its been a very strange week or two.Ice and snow covered dublin and our great dictator continued dictating as if his tenure was assured no matter who he alienated.

On Tuesday we had a budget and I was delighted to be busy for the day.

The other Brian was on his feet at 3.45, I was finishing preparations for a class I was to give at 6 o clock.

All went well and afterward I drove direct to grand canal dock ,waited in the cold and was joined first by Artur,then Brian Daly.Gemma then arrived with Martina a friend and the subject of the nights shoot.

When Hugh Arrived we set off across the canal and got on with our business of the day.

Celebrating the greatness of another leaving this city.

I Missed it all,Lost in the glory of photography for hours!!

Here is what Martina had to say

"I'm returning back home, to the north-east of Italy, and I've lived in Dublin for the last 6 months. I worked in an art gallery and I fell in love with Dublin again.

I first came here in 1999 for a holiday and I always wanted to return and live here for a while. After such a long time (more than 10 years) I made it happened and it's been the realisation of a dream.
I could say that my favourite thing here are the people.
Irish people are unbelievably warm when you have the opportunity to know them.
I had a great time here and I feel grown as a person and ready for new experiences like this one. Believe me or not, I'm really going to miss this city and the last 6 months spent trying to be a dubliner...this city really suited me."

The one thing that sustains me through this very difficult fabrication in which we now live is the work that I do for my love of people and their spirit.The vast majority of people here in ireland are trapped in a shrinking world whilst those who choose to leave slip into a bigger space filled with hope and expectation for a good life ahead.

I wish them all success and thank them all for pausing a while with me,someone who wishes to celebrate their brilliance as they move on to greater things.

Now lets commit this entire cabinet to history.

Comments appreciated!!

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thanks to all

David

A SECOND CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS!

There is a larger version of the video available on my public folder just click here and hit the file and download buttons to receive, put it on your iphones, ipads or email it to friends you know who may be leaving. The soundtrack is by Charlotte Gainsbourg and although my participants my not be journeying to the centre of the light suggested by her lyric, there are some interesting travelling images and suggestion of launching off into the unknown.

I have to say I am absolutely delighted to have got this far with the leaving dublin project, but there is still a long way to go to capture the true breadth of the change in the dynamic of our population caused by this shift to being a net exporter of people. So far I have met with a fantastic group of people covering a very broad section of our society with different hopes, needs and aspirations. Some making a necessitous change others following their hearts desire for adventure and new experiences.
During the course of making this piece I have experienced nothing but good vibes from all around especially the general public who's space we have always occupied whilst making this work. There was the helpful and cheery roadie at the rear of Whelans on Liberty Lane, the free coffees and use of space at the Bistro on Casltle Market, to the curious security guard in the G.P.O. and of course the curious Garda detectives at St Michaels Estate, to name but a few!! Indeed we have been from pillar to post location wise as we have moved from deep city to suburbia to the coast and back again. The project is indeed becoming a portrait of a city and those that the city has chosen to do without.

But looking at the faces of all of the participants they carry their confidence to new cities with a steadiness of spirit which has impressed me greatly. It has been a pleasure for me with the aid of Artur, Brian, Hugh and Gemma to provide these participants and the nation they leave behind with a visual record of their greatness as they prepare to meet new challenges up ahead. I suppose one could say to an extent they are lucky to escape this place especially considering the sad state of affairs we are experiencing at present. And indeed it even looks like the legacy Bertie Ahern had written for himself (peace process hero) is about to be denied him by the Irish peoples final realisation that our Government through these 13 years has become totally deluded and incapable of leading.  Any good achieved through this time is about to evaporate as we give up our sovereignty to the E.C.B. and I.M.F. liquidity fund!! To those in Ireland,  I say write to your FF T.D. and ask them to resign!!! help them see they are not wanted anymore.Tell them to go away! Be done with them!!!!

Ahemmm!!

All that to one side I have a little project to get on with here and the reason for this post is to present you with the work done so far and look for a pat on the back, but a slightly different pat on the back.
What I want you to do is to become active for me in spreading this post via your own contacts,(social netwoking,fb and twitter etc,)  Indeed by seeking out the most important element in this project
INHABITANTS OF DUBLIN WHO ARE LEAVING. It is my wish to take the number of shots up to 70 or there about and that will take a good bit of research. But this process can be greatly aided by you working on my behalf and I do promise full recognition of all help received. So please point those you know as people on the move to my blog and viewbook page, encourage them to email me if they like what they see and they too can become part of this historical documentation process!!
A clear picture by picture overview of the project is available at my viewbook page right here.
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thank you
David Monahan

CLOSE AND EASY TRANSITION

Storms were forecast on Saturday last as I made final preparations for another leaving dublin shot. I had taken calls from Gemma, one of the crew and from my subject Catherine Flynn who were both wondering if it was safe to proceed if rain was to disrupt the evening.
For some reason I was filled with optimism about the weather and felt all would be ok. Thats just how it turned out!
Not so the case with our little Nation as the two Brian's (helped by a whole load of Mary's) feel hellbent on returning this little country of ours to the peripheral position it once held on the edge of europe. It looks like our faith in the European project to deliver us freedom from hard times is about to be dashed, and Ireland not long free is at danger of being classified once more a colony, but with a new master!!
Its no wonder so many are leaving, and I feel the best chances lie with those who are tripping outside the Eurozone. Such a person is Catherine Flynn, she has just left for London (home of sterling) and I wish her well.
We had a great shoot on Baggott Street Bridge, just after eight on Saturday night.
Here is what she had to say
"I’m originally from Co. Meath, living in Dublin since college (about 13 years

I’m probably in a lucky position as I didn’t ‘have’ to leave Dublin. I’m mainly leaving for career reasons and for a chance to experience living in a completely new city. After ten years working and living in Dublin, I felt I wanted to shake things up and challenge myself more – the industry I work in is small and while I’ve gained some great experience, I want to keep developing and learn from the best in the business internationally, not just locally. I’d been thinking about making the move abroad since earlier this year but it all happened kind of quickly in the end – during the summer I applied for a job with an agency in the UK that I had admired for a long time and was lucky enough to get it – so the move over the water then had to be made!

My new job is Account Director at We Are Social who are a ‘conversation agency’ specializing in social media communication, which has long been a huge interest of mine.

I was with the advertising agency Rothco in Dublin for 6 years. I started off as an Account Manager, spent a few years as an Account Director on some big advertising accounts such as AIB, and then was head of their digital team for about a year and a half till I left last month.My office for the past 2 years was based just off Baggot St and one of the things I'll miss is my daily hops over Baggot St bridge for my morning coffee from Coffee 2 Go, which still hasn't been beaten by any of Soho's many coffee shops.

I have mixed feelings about leaving Dublin and in many ways I’m a little in denial about the fact that I’m ‘emigrating’ or have left at all (even though I now officially live and work in London!). I loved living in Dublin – I had a great life and circle of friends there, so London versus more far flung places was preferable for me so that I would relatively easily be able to visit friends and family at weekends. I also met my boyfriend not long before the London opportunity came up for me, so it made what would otherwise have been a really easy decision a little bit more difficult. Thankfully he’s been great about it so there will be pretty frequent trips home for me – and also someone to explore a new city with when he comes to visit me here. Overall, I’m really excited about London and really enjoying life here so far (a whole 2 weeks in)… I guess I have the best of both places now. So long may that continue."
So there we are, a story we have heard before here at the Lilliputian the Irish seeking adventure and challenges abroad. I wish Catherine good fortune in all that she does in London, and thank her for getting in touch after seeing this blog 2 weeks ago.
Big thanks to Gemma Geraghty, Artur Sikora and Hugh Mc Cabe who were on hand to make it all happen.
If you are on your way out of town please drop me a line via email.
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STILL PRINTING

You may remember in a previous post I alluded to the fact that I was a very capable printer of all photographic and high end artistic projects. Recently I have been involved in 2 projects which have and will be the subject of much media coverage. So, I just wanted to get this off my chest and state it for the record that I did all of the printing for the current show in the National Photographic Archive in Meeting House Square Dublin and about 40 prints for the 20th anniversary show in IMMA also in Dublin

The show in the National Photo Archive is called Power and Privilege and documents the central position held by the big house in irish society from the early days of photography right up to the withdrawal of the British state from the 26 counties that now form the Republic of Ireland(1858-1922).
It is a fascinating collection of images and its power is greatly helped by the presentation.
During the preparation of the exhibition I worked very closely with the curatorial team in making key decisions about sizing, paper type and the means of production. Most of the work came straight from glass negatives and was processed by photographing the plate on a lightbox with the Amazing Hasselblad h3d 50 and the totally sharp Hasselblad H Series HC Macro 120mm f/4. The work was then optimised by pulling it through phocus (hasselblads capture software) then into photoshop for batch inversion from negative to positive, then into lightroom for fine tuning and on into silver fx pro for final adjustments and toning.

This all sounds fairly straight forward but there is one extra ingredient in the mix that some misguided individuals don't value too much these days! And that is the human touch of deep experience.You can't come to photo processing from a standing start and get it right just because you have the right gear, and the tools are only of real value to those who know and understand their true depth. I have worked with glass plates for some 14 years and I know what I am looking at and this has been a major contribution to the look and success of this show (but it is actually invisible and this is how it should be). If you want to see good reproductions from glass plates and small original prints this show is a must.

The Moderns is a huge undertaking by the Staff and Friends of IMMA at Kilmainham and draws from the core collections of IMMA but includes works from other collections like the National Museum, National Library and the Hugh Lane Gallery. Again I was delighted to be asked to shoot and print the works from the National Photographic Archive and some works from the archives of Dublin's various architectural practices. If you are considering hiring me to do your printing, the works in IMMA that I have printed are the following: Six photographs shot by Elinor Wiltshire, four by Fergus Bourke and five prints from the Roger Casement collection. Also in the design section I made some 25 prints from various architects back catalogue these include shots of RTE, Busaras, Ard Na Crusha. etc.


Bye the bye if you are into original vintage photographic prints there is a real treat for you in the Gallery of photography also on meeting house square.
The collectors Eye is an amazing exhibition which give great insight into one mans quest for the greatest
photographs of Irish interest and beyond.Sean Sexton(the collector in question) is a man with great passion for all the emotions a photograph can convey,I met him one night in the gallery a few nights before the opening,and I was blown away by his huge aura and enthusiasm for all things photographic.
It should be up for 3 more weeks or so,so don't miss it.

So to finish this post and get to the point,I am still trying to pull together a type 55 exhibition for next summer.See some of my here
I had a good response to an appeal for contributors but I am still waiting for work from all but one of those who showed an interest.
The Idea is to marry my skill in scanning and printing to put together a memorable show of the finest photographs in this medium,representing Ireland ,Europe and the U.S.A.All in homage to this fine and now,never to be revived films.Probably one of the best tools for expression in black and white photography
I am hoping this post will jog some memories or indeed catch some users of this film's attention and send them my way.
There is no structure or theme to this show save that of the beauty that exists within the frame of a sheet of type 55. If you feel you have some good examples of this please contact me at dmon@me.com
I really want to get this post to a maximum amount of Artists using this medium so PLEASE,PLEASE
use the SHARE BUTTONS below to share on facebook and to Tweet this post.
Thank you!
David