BACK IN SYNC!

 with this post I hope to catch up  as I draw closer to the end of the first series of leaving Dublin images. 84 will be the final total(83 published here to date) after three years and three months of shooting.

As with any large body of work there are anomalies when following a stringent M.O.and these two images fell out of sync with the blog because of other pressing issues with the work.

Exhibition preparation for example may have got in the way or a lack of fulfilment re release papers.

All is good now and I offer my apologies to all concerned.

                                             

Juan Miguel Gonzalez was photographed outside his apartment in Malahide before leaving after years working as an economist in a business in the town.He had been there for several years but now with his parents getting older,and the economy getting tighter, he felt it was time  to trip back to home.The beautiful city of Valladolid, Spain.

BELL BLUES,SWEET MUSIC!

Today marks the final day of Irelands E.U. Presidency  and the flow of people from this place has not subsided.Hundreds of thousands have left to date since the financial down turn.
Putting ones political head in the sand has always been the order of the day.
If we don't talk about it it will go away.
Lets tell a different story!!the good news!

That seems to be the approach.
The motto for our Irish governments term was the following Jobs,Stability and Growth.
If you take a very optimistic view the only area we seem to have made an impact would be on the stability front as we are still in the same sorry position as we were  at the start of the year when the presidency commenced!
Todays other news sees us slipping into recession after 6 months of negative growth.(That probably negates my previously over-optimistic stability point)Also after the appearance of the anglo tapes those who see the real architects of this realignment want to put duped, moneydrunk,gombeen Irish financial ex-wizards and retired alchemists,all into a big sack and beat them senseless. fantastic!!

A DOUBLE KNOCK!

About a month and a half ago I got  a call from Claudi Nir.
She was wondering if I was still looking for subjects for my project Leaving Dublin.
I told her although I was nearing the end of the first phase of the project(the parting shots), I was still shooting.
Of course I assumed that there was a friend of hers or a fellow graduate about to leave and she was making the inquiry on their behalf.
As the conversation continued on it turned out that the person leaving was Claudi. After 13 years she was about to go!

IN THE SPIRIT OF OUR TIME!

Claire Weir and I first met online she was living in Perth. After finishing college in Dublin  she pretty quickly figured out there was no work for her here,so she moved(move 1).
She had seen my leaving Dublin work and liked it and  so we started a conversation.
Some months Later Claire was home in Ireland preparing to follow work to London which she did.(move 2 (this is when i photographed her for the project))
Whilst there Claire met her partner  Brian Maxwell and so they started to plan as a couple,thinking of the future and wanting a life together which involved full time work,love and happiness.Working towards this aim they moved back to Ireland.(move 3)
this now is a three year old story and last week I caught up with Brian and Claire and took a trip to the Pheonix Park tea rooms.We talked about her picture which is hanging in the Immigration Museum in Melbourne as I type.
Claire and Brian there explained to me the route they where taking and I was not surprised to hear that Brian had just got a visa to travel for work to Australia(Claire has Australian papers after spending some years there as a child),and they were about to take off again perhaps around the summer to Perth in search of their dreams(move 4)
Claire is strong.She is not going to stop and let the  reality of life in Ireland repress her.All she wants is to get out there work and make a life for herself and now with Brian there is a new dimension to it all.
In our conversation on friday last we resolved to make another parting shot before they leave for Perth.
She will be the first  of my sitters to make it onto the case twice,but this time she will not be alone.
She knows where she is going,and she is going there in love.Fantastic!
Claire,Brian,and those like her are the people who can make hope from a desperate situation and find a way forward.Claire has an irrepressible spirit the type we desperately need to rebuild this ailing country. Lets hope Brian and her make it back here again to give all they can when our misguided government  realize who they are, the embodiment of the  spirit of our time.

STAR MIX!!

Serendipitous,the only word I can use to describe the free treat passed out at the opening of the ALTERNATE VOICES exhibition yesterday evening.   "STARMIX"a mighty metaphor for the work hanging on the freshly painted walls of Moxie Studios exhibition space.
Again I am blown away by the level of diversity,execution,finish and presentation of the work.
Moxie studios is a very large space to start of with and to fill it you need a lot of work,to do it effectively the work needs to be engaging!
Again as with last years show this is a  flawless project from start to finish which also adds a perfect web package to the mix. The space is full of the energy given off by the work which was shot specifically for this show,an exercise in preparing an exhibition.Again the show way exceeds this brief and provides viewers with some real entertaining,engaging and well crafted works.
On strolling through  the space one was treated to a diverse array of shooting styles and presentation methods,hung together in a way that leads to a very enjoyable experience some of the works framed some glassless, some pinned or clipped,some large,some small,but nothing that jarred and upset the flow and again  that is a real achievement.
Another great Group of photographers  are close to launch themselves on the world and I would really like to warmly congratulate them not only on the work,but how they also managed to fill the brief and provide another flawless example of how to present and exhibition both on the walls and as social media and website presentation.Kudos to to the tutors who framed the project and oversaw the project but the true stars of this mix are,Helen,Julia,Hannah,Leanne,Stephen,Paul,Clare,Kelsey,Elizabeth,Sarah,Paudie,Laura,Kevin,Svetlana,
Keith,Laura-jean,Niall,Laoise,Hue,Vera,Fergal,Hannah and Eliot,My hats off to you all.
As a group please dont loose the spirit of this fantastic endeavour it will power you throught the rest of your journey together!
 For those around Dublin the show is on till May 2nd  so please make an effort to see it,it will reward!!

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.