NOT QUITE HOW I EXPECTED THINGS TO WORK OUT!!

Meet Kenneth D'arcy a Man who had to finish a course in building services engineering after the crash.
A man who's lifestyle choice came down to working in Domino pizza in swords or emigrating to Australia to work as a building services engineer! Yes it is all about choices!But you know there are factors which turn you one way or the other in this case Kenny was looking for a little fulfillment,self-esteem,and a firm future without the threat of the rug being pulled from under him! So he is gone like so many others to Australia.On the night he presented himself in good humor but I could feel the sense of resentment towards the establishment here in Ireland. Here is what he had to say" I feel like I don't have a choice anymore.If I want a career in engineering I have to leave. I KNOW I HAVE NO FUTURE IN IRELAND!!!
I really hope some day Kenny can come back and contribute to the next phase of the Irish success story.But my instinct tell me he will be in Melbourne for some years!!

OFF WE GO AGAIN!

I have to say the experience of shooting the leaving Dublin project has been for me a huge process.

On one hand you have the technical,the logistical,the weather,the locations,The Timing,the edits,the posts.

On the other hand you have the emotions,the people,the kinship,understanding,camaraderie,the empathy.

BLESSED BY THE MOON

Some weeks ago myself,Ray Hegarty,and Ian Monahan met with Elaine Bannon,A youth worker on her way to Australia.
on Elaines request we had made a plan to shoot at Kilmainham Gaol ,scene of many a killing and hotbed of English suppression of Irish rebels during the heady days of the Irish colony.
On arrival at the proposed site we found that an illegally parked car had scuppered our original plan to make a shot featuring the large wooden door at the end of the prison building(just like several other great Irish plans, fate fiddled it all up,we all should pay more attention to the laws of probability!).
But as good forward planning always counts for something,We had a contingency plan,to shoot a long shot along the long wall, that went all the way to Kilmainham courthouse.
Well,on we went,we welcomed Elaine onto the pitch and set about getting set up! She chatted with Ian and Ray about all that was going through her head and how as her departure date got closer ,she was feeling the sense of fear rising in her,fear of the unknown,fear of what the future held for her,fear for what her life had to become in the future.But all in a good way!

ON THE SUBJECT OF THE LIFESTYLE CHOICE!

Well its been a while. But here I go!
The last government of Ireland had numbed me, so much so that I became immune to their rantings, their obvious detachment, the silly unfounded statements and ridicuolus actions.
So when the new crew came along in a way I felt sorry for them and the mess they had taken on.
But the beast in me has been reawakened by our now minister for finance Michael Noonan and his leader Enda Kenny.
I suppose you could say I have had an epiphany on the road to the Malahide estuary to photograph another of our kind.  A hard working, loving, vibrant, reality, being forced to turn away and seek  feelings of worth in a mine in Perth Australia.
Oh now I realise what an empty system Irish democracy has evolved into.

GRADUATE GHOSTOWN

Meet Naoise Mc Gee, a recent college graduate in Film and Russian. Naoise is on her way to the busiest city in the world so it's a good job that she worked at Mao Restaurant where things are always full of hustle and bustle. Naoise lived until now on Killiney Hill and the view from her window included the Pigeon House Station. Like Marie Carroll, she decided that close to these tubes would be a good landmark for her to sit  for her glorious parting shot. Pensive is the word she actually used as she glanced at my mac screen after the shoot. She had to say that she loves Dublin, but with so many of her friends gone it seems like a ghost town (70,000 left in the last 12 months alone).

NEW YEAR TRAFFIC!

Welcome to the second post of 2012. This one has been a while coming as things have been fairly hectic around my studio since the New Year kicked off. I have been very active over the last 5 or six weeks trying to arrange projections of a new video piece in some locations around the world.
So far four have been arranged and hopefully there will be news of more as the weeks pass by to the screening dates in March next. So far we have commitments from Melbourne Australia, Edinburgh Scotland, Alabama, U.S.A. and  Minas Gerais Brazil.  I am standing by for news from London, Bristol, New York and Chicago.

OH FOR A NEW YORK PROJECTION!

Welcome to my first post of 2012,well over the two year threshold and 96 posts behind me,almost 45000 page views,with 30,000 of them in the last year.Thanks to all of you who keep coming back!
Keep spreading the word, after all the Lilliputians world is the small one!!
As mentioned in my last post I have arranged 3 projections of my Leaving Dublin video piece
"on leaving" for march next.I noticed whilst looking for a suitable New York venue that the Irish arts centre had recently (dec 7th last)  made a 2 hour projection of a piece by Andrew Duggan  onto the side of a building on 51st street.As they have gone through this process I really would like to talk to someone there. So if anyone could get me contact details of the person who orgainised this show I would greatly appreciate it!


My next sitter now finds herself working in New York and was delighted to meet with me whilst spending some time at home in Dublin for the Christmas holiday.Aoife Mooney has been living there for almost a year now but I missed her on her original departure and we have been in touch via fb a few times  to organise a shoot when she made it home for a visit. Here is what she had to say.