CLOSE TO THE EDGE!

I met Ronan McHugh for the first time  about 15 years ago when I was a student of photography.
His mother Louise was in my class and we have remained friends ever since.Ronan himself graduated from uni a few years ago just in time to experience the slow down of a nation and our huge financial crash.His Girlfriend Grethe Chhristensen has found it difficult to find work here in Dublin and so as new parents to their young son Aiden they are off to Denmark,the homeplace of Grethe,to forge a life together.
Lets hope all goes smoothly and as the colder winter of Denmark subsides they are warmed in the light of their new home close to good friends and Family.

Back home there have been mixed messages coming from the media in Dublin,as to where we are right now.Mr Mody claims that reliance on austerity only to correct our woes, was a mistake.Who is mr Mody I here you say,see the link above for insight into the mind of an I.M.F. negotiator.
So should we continue down this route,well yes!!(say our blinkered government)
We will still continue on down this route rewarding talent with the exit door to success in another country. Ronan and his family have made it outside the hampered Eurozone and lucky for them they are only a couple of hours away if there is the need of a trip home.
Yes! the talent that is going to save our country is elsewhere now and we stand no chance of growing our way out of this hole with our vigor residing somewhere else whilst all the signs on the Euro front pointing towards a flat lining economy for some years to come.
We have nothing special,we have lost our edge,they are still leaving.
It spares our Government in the very short term, but in the long term its going to be a hard climb, without the ceasing of austerity, to build our selves up again with all our talent doing it elsewhere!

On the night of the shoot it was bitter with a biting wind on Howth Harbour ,co Dublin. We had to stay in close by the wall to give little Aiden any level of comfort.Lets hope as the temperature here and in Denmark rises,and the days grow longer Aiden and all of us in fact, can take down our hoods and enjoy the heat, the fresh air,and  the light This should give us the strength  to bight our lip and wait for the time to come to remove our current government,Heaven knows we have a couple of years to make up our minds as to the best way forward lets hope when the time comes there is some alternative and lots of innovative thinking (by the opposition) in the meantime(God knows we need it!)
On the night Artur and Ronans mother Louise Roden helped to make it all work out.
 Comments appreciated

THE LAST TIME I MET DAVID

Sarah Griffin writes from San Francisco after a meeting with me  in town on a trip home!

The last time I met David Monahan was three nights before I emigrated: here, we sat in the Metro Cafe off Grafton Street, nine months later. I was at home for two weeks to have Christmas with my family: breaking the first year away down the middle with the familiarity of Dublin in winter. He called to see if I was around for a catch-up. In the myriad of pints and family gatherings, I knew I had to talk to him again - I remembered how I had almost gone and poured all my anxieties about leaving home out to him in his car after the photoshoot, on my way to my going away party. Here is my story, I am terrified because I am not terrified, I am ready to go, I think, I think, I hope – I'm pretty sure that was how it went, all the way from the Bayside graveyard to Hartcourt Street. He'd met so many people on the same path as I was: sort of like the ferryman folks met on their way down the River Styx, you meet David before you emigrate. Thing is, he doesn't take the pennies from your eyes, but instead snaps your image on film: with that exchange, you are one of the people who slipped away to see the world, leaving Ireland on the other side.

IT'S NOT ALWAYS A WALK IN THE PARK!

Life in modern Ireland certainly is tough,no doubt about.
And it gets harder!
The next round of cuts to pay are all lined up,add a dose of propery tax,a liberal amout of watercharges,remove a couple of Billion from next 3 years budget and there you have it things getting tougher for a few years to come.
Truth is things have not bottomed out just yet.Our  downward spiral continues!!

AND STILL THEY LEAVE!!

All the euphoria and happy happy slappy,snappy communications coming out of Leinster house last week was a little to late for loads of restless spirits who find it a little bit of a grind to keep pushing,pushing,pushing against the relentless pressure to try something different.
So the tide of Emigration has not turned and people continue to leave apace.
It was finally and euphorically displayed as a victory last week that the Irish taxpayer will  bear the full extent of the losses at Anglo Irish Bank and Nationwide Building Society,No write down will occur and all of private investors will be paid in full after they should have lost their shirts!!

GOING,GOING,GONE!

This is Jose Carlos Lorenzo it was a pleasure to sit and pause  a while with him before he set off on an adventure. I first met Jose about 2 years ago when I did some prints for a college project he was doing. Now he has graduated with a degree he has decided to change it all around again and he is off to the Caribean.

REGARDING THE SPIRIT OF THE TIME!!

Sitting across a table from Marie Carroll in Paddington, Brisbane it all seemed so different from the last time we met on the south wall walk, just beside the Half moon swimming club in Dublin.
Both of us had in more ways than one travelled a long distance since that moonlit night.
Life in Dublin became unviable for Marie after the financial crash. She worked in I.T. recruitment and that business just shrank and disappeared right in front of her eyes. So she had to travel to work

CATCH UP 2

Its been a while, so before I launch myself into a new phase of posting I have something to put right.
Due to some confusion re release forms I was unable to publish this shot as it happened.
It was made last march outside the central bank of Ireland (a few weeks after the dis-assembly of the occupy Dame street protest)