LEAVING DUBLIN LAUNCHES TO A WALLSPACE IN A GRAND STYLE

wrapped

1/20 scale editing

AFTER TIME OUT THINGS HAVE CHANGED!

I have to admit typing this post from a different machine in a different country has phased me a little.
There is no doubt about it that familiarity makes us all feel very comfortable and we become very cosy when we operate from inside our comfort zone.It makes the act of composition a very straightforward one.
But faced with this awkward feeling of typing in a different location really stresses to me the hugeness of all the people who have sat with me over the last year and a half
All of these people without exception have found themselves in situations which placed them far from  the comfort of their homes and families. One such person is   Glaucia Torres Quintanilha who spent 3 years in Dublin working as a child minder.Now she is returning home to that comfort zone knowing that things there will have changed somewhat whilst she was away. here is what she had to say

FINGERS CROSSED

Last monday myself,Artur,Ray,Mel,and Emma,were joined at Dun Laoighre Marina by Melanie Croxon a young Glenageary teacher preparing to take up a new teaching post in the Middle East.
We were also joined by Mels good friend and mine Jeannie Wenham a person who has put me in touch with many a leaver!
Jeannie and Mel have put out from this Marina on several racenights and over many summers and have enjoyed crewing boats as often as they could.
This is the place that means so much to Mel and she is very sad to leave it,but being a young out of work teacher is not in her plan so she is all packed and waiting for the word to go.

LAST TRIP TO THE TURKS HEAD

It was a beautiful spring night at the end of march. All was good as we prepared to enter April  for a second time in the life of the leaving dublin project.
The project is again gathering pace and I have once more made a compilation video to try and attract new participants to join us in  this historical  documentation process.See it here and please share it with anyone you feel may be interested in this project and indeed with those who you know are on the move!!

ELECTION SPECIAL!!

We wake up this morning to the possibility of change. That in itself is an enriching experience!
For too long I and others listened to the arrogant ones talk pure horse shite and at all times there was never anything we could do but suffer their over inflated egos and their empty words and hold firm until this day came.
When I go to the poll today it will be as a reactionary. I will not be voting for the person or persons I wish to see govern this country.(quite frankly we are stuffed for a few years yet)
I will be voting to remove the current regime(and its likes) full stop.
Hopefully over the next few years the events that conspired to mess up Irish life will be unpicked
and we can move forward unchained.
These feelings are shared by our latest sitters Linda dePaor and Philip Duggan
as they leave this country for pastures new with their young son Luca.

They are disillusioned about the way this place has been run and Linda (a solicitor),and Philip( a librarian)
see no great career prospects for themselves in the current climate. However they do have hopes of returning some time in the future to find all changed with prosperity and effective government in place.
Once again I applaud the actions of people like Linda and Philip as they move on into the unknown
with nothing but their ambition for a better life for themselves and Luca.
We shot this image just two nights ago in the dolly mount end of St Annes park A place dear to this family and only ten minutes from their now previous home.The exotic trees and strange root structures form a very powerful backdrop for this historic parting shot,and I thank the Guiness family for the fantastic planting that was their back garden back in the day!!
The set was very close to the road but it was very tricky as someone had driven a tractor through our exact tripod location that day.What a mess!!
We were joined on the shoot by Eve Irvine and Valerie Labonne from France 24 a French T.V.channel.
The shoot will form part of a report to be aired next Monday night as a report on Ireland around the time of its election, another very exciting turn for the Leaving Dublin Project.
Hopefully this picture will also feature in a printed piece in a Belgian newspaper De Standaart (next Saturday) again to focus on the election story.
I really wish Philip, Linda and Luca the very best in their new home Australia and I hope the time they spend there is full of good experiences.
And indeed I hope our own little election story has a happy ending ,or at least a twist that was not predicted by those pollster types!!

Artur, Hugh and Mel were on hand once more to throw a light on this very dark place, so big thanks there.
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big thanks to all
david

TIME FOR CHANGE

There is no doubt in my mind that there are several levels of need within our society at present.
But more and more I am coming across people who's need to subside far outweigh's their need to reside (here). This for me is very sad! but, I suppose we must take heart in the strength of the people leaving these shores, as they take with them a desire to succeed which will carry them through onto new levels of achievement.
Last week I met with Graham Ford, after much internet banter about locating his shot we finally agreed that, if open on the night Belgrave square Rathmines would be the place to shoot. Happily the gate I had used previously was still unlocked so we were in.


Here is what Graham had to say
" I worked in Dublin as a mortgage administrator, then as a legal assistant before finally being asked to work as assistant accountant, all at sub prime mortgage company in Clonskeagh. Every weekend my girlfriend and I would travel west to work the family farm, and get back to Ranelagh late on the Sunday night, before returning to work on Monday morning. Following the passing of my girlfriend's father, I was able to take voluntary redundancy and we moved to the west, where we ran the family farm for 2 years. With no pay however it was imperative that one of us found a job. My partner found work in Galway, but I had to look too, but there was nothing in the west. So I applied for a job in the UK, and got the position in horse racing, so I am moving from Ireland.

We are due to be married at the end of May this year, so it was a rush to finish all the organisation prior to the move as I'm unlikely to get back to Ireland now until the wedding.

It's a great shame to have to leave Ireland, especially when we should be living together and planning the future, but I have to go where the work is. It will put a huge strain on our relationship, but there is absolutely no chance of a decent job in Ireland at the moment.

The park in the picture is literally just across the road from where we lived in Charleston Road, and we would come over with chairs and food, to read or doze in the summer days and evenings after work. It's a special place to me and reminds me of a very happy time in my life.."

Artur and Mel were on hand to shunt us over the fence if needed,  but they settled on lighting this one up with their usual efficiency!

Big thanks to Graham who by now has taken up his post as Clerk of the scales with the British Racing Industry. Another job title to add to his already colourful career which includes Train Driver, Mortgage Administrator, Legal Assistant and Farmer.

Two days to the election here. Lets vote for change and try to resist being corralled by the pollsters!

Its time we all had a change! not just Graham!!

Today had a chat with FRANCE 24, for a piece on irish emigration from an election perspective airs next Monday.It was great to meet Eve Irvine (correspodent) and Valerie Labonne( producer/camera)

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THIRD TIME AT THE BERNARD SHAW

Before I start this post I must take the chance to wish Dar Crook the very best in Australia and I hope its all going well for him there. Due to a slight tricky edit I've decided to finish his parting shot off when I am feeling a little more in control (maybe by the week-end).
So it would appear to me that The Bernard Shaw is a very special place in Dublin, so far I have photographed 3 of my shots in and around its location in Portabello in the heart of the Village quarter.
I photographed a very excited Gráinne O'Sullivan in the alley beside the pub. This laneway runs right around the pub and is filled with an ever changing feast of street art.

The reason for Gráinne's excitement was that the following day she was away to London for a new life.
She was inside in the Bernard Shaw having farewell drinks with some friends while myself Artur, Brian and Mel got set up outside.
Grainne got in touch with me after she had seen a piece on RTE news about the project.
She has been out of the country a couple of times and of late has been finding it hard to get work in her field. She is a very special person and took on the establishment when she co-produced the site count me out.ie with Cormac Flynn & Paul Dunbar, a guide to help people opt out of the Catholic Church, which was recently covered in the NewYorkTimes. So now she is off to London and appart from friends and family, I dont think she is going to miss Dublin life too much.
We have a lot of hard times ahead here and if she ever needs reminding of this its only a short one hours flight time away!!
Things are pretty awful approaching our elections as the media try very hard to push voters into one camp or another. My hopes for our election is that there is an overwhelming rejection of the establishment and the Irish voters push a lot of independent voices into the Dail (Parliament). Then, we can prove that we count and are pissed off with how we have been misrepresented, and we did not then, and don't now accept the lines we were and are now still being fed day after day after day.
Dutch T.V. just pushed out this piece and guess what it focuses on - the single biggest issue. Emigration.

Lets make our politicians pay at the ballot box for this and lets hope we can slow it down!!
Big thanks as always to Artur, Brian and Mel who lit up the art in style.
And indeed to Saskia and Peter for giving us a voice in Europe.
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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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