SEARCHLIGHT-SPOTLIGHT

When I first started my blog The Lilliputian I knew who I was.
A little guy talking to the big world.
This truth holds,but now it would seem the word has got out.
The world was and is listening.This has made the world for me smaller,my sized!!
It is eager for visuals and stories it wants to share in emotions,emotions displayed by all of the sitters
in my Leaving Dublin project for example.

ALTERED STATES!

A couple of weeks ago I had an email from fellow photographer Ciara O'Halloran. She said she was leaving, and she would like to sit for me!
Of the  hundred plus people I have worked with on this project Ciara was my tenth photographer!
It is for me a resounding call of validation for my work when another of my number pays me the compliment of sitting with me before they leave  home for a new land.

Crackin' up!

It was great to meet last week with Paul Moloney a Dublin bar manager who was striking out to take on the world and do his level best to make a life for himself in Perth Australia.

Paul has secured sponsorship in Australia and so he is away to manage a bar and by now he is well into  his second week at work there.

I met Paul on Harry Street Dublin outside the famous Bruxelles pub and club where he fancied posing with one of Ireland's rock legends and larger than life personalities Philip Lynott.

Its hard to believe that Phil passed away over 25 years ago during the middle of our last big wave of emigration, around about the time that I lost all of my siblings to London.

Paul, a very happy and vibrant man told me after the shoot of his family and their connections to Australia through family members who had moved down through the years.

He was optimistic for his future and delighted for the opportunities which lay ahead but he did add,

"I have much love for this country, this city and my own home town. It's a place I would love to be able to excel in and ply my trade at a level I want to, with success....But......sadly.... IT AIN'T POSSIBLE."

We wish Paul the best and remember one of Phil's insightful lyrics of memory and loss

Iv'e been spending my time in the old town,

I sure miss you honey since your not around,

since your not around this old town.

I really look forward to catching up with Paul when I visit Perth in early November, by then hopefully he will be feeling at home!!

Both Ray and Artur were at hand to look after the technical stuff and as always all went smoothly with their guidance.

Post 115!

Well here we are two months off a three year stint here on blogger,approaching 60,000 pageviews,a successful show behind me in Dublin,and a major solo show in Melbourne,Australia fast approaching.
I thought I would take this opportunity to alert you all to the above and to show further developments from the follow up process which I have embarked upon.

I FOLLOW ON!

It was with great delight that I traveled by car across the rolling French countryside to Quimper in Brittany to meet Tady Walsh,his wife Milena,and their new beautiful baby Helena.
Staying across the other side of the region I messaged Tady on spec to see if he was around.
He told me that they had just had a child some hours previous and he was very excited at the prospect of all that was to come.I said I would call him again towards the end of the week.I did and arrived to his house to meet him and Helena who was by then a little short of 2 weeks old.(Milena was resting at this time)

Tady still works for the same company he was with in Ireland,all of his work is carried out online so for him the the move to France was merely to try something different,to be located centrally between Ireland and Montenegro(Milina's homeland)and perhaps there was a small need to escape the crushing negativity that exudes our capital at the moment.

Whatever the case Tady and Milena have started to write a new chapter of their life with Helena

I wish them all the best and look forward to dropping in on them again to see how things are going.

this Is the second visit I have made to a sitter in their new location(the first being Conor Mc Mahon), and I am so far happy with the choices I have made regarding the capture of this work.When I go to Australia next month I hope to make several calls to the many sitters I have photographed and to make work on a similar style.It would be beneficial at this point to know what you the viewer think of this mode of work (medium format,120 monochrome film,wide angle lens,no flash)

When it comes to preparing a book I feel that these closer square images will offer a good counterpoint to the other work already shot in colour.

Please let me know what you think in the comments box!!

DM1.

ON WE GO! FULL STEAM AHEAD!!

This next post brings together a lot of strands of the leaving dublin project.
Here we pause to take stock of all that has happened to date.
Make some new work.
And set out the plans for the way forward.
Lots has happened since my proposal back in february 2010 in my own life and indeed in the lives of my sitters.
Watching as they weave there new route through life I have come to accept that this is the natural order of things.
In Ireland we are at the mercy of all sorts of external influences and as the international markets agitate against the Euro we are in a very sad state,but no worse than before and Ireland and the Irish will abide. We must deride those who sold us the false dreams of 1973,and Indeed Lisbon 2 in 2009 just before the real slide started.We are now strapped fully to the E.U.mast and must take whatever come its way with no real say anymore. C'est la vie.
Julie Mitchel married last weekend,Tady Walshes wife Milena just gave birth in Quimper ,France, Gareth Doolin just posted a happy picture of himself and his daughter Macey on Facebook,Linda dePaor settled in New Zealand and has given birth to a beautiful baby boy since!!
So goes it and as the months and years pass by the lives of my sitters tell to me the story of the new Irish, rising,moving and overcoming adversity.Their stories into the future  are for me what is important so it is my plan now to follow and document further the lives of my sitters and to follow them to the four corners of the world to see how they are getting on.
Some initial manoeuvres have been carried out back home and I am glad to report that Jacinta Sheerin,Ryan Cronin Neilan,and Conor mc Mahon are all doing well.
I have just made my first European visit yesterday I visited Tady Walsh, Milena and their baby hopefully this is the forerunner to  a serious session to follow in october in Australia and Possibly New Zealand!!
On my return to Ireland at the end of the month I will endeavor to document the early morning emptiness of all of the sites used to date for the leaving dublin project,hopefully the weather will be on my side!!
The Shot above is of Louise Haslett ,her daughter Ella,and her son Ewan.
Louise and co have by now departed for Brisbane Australia,her husband left ahead of them to set things in order while Ella was completing her Junior cert.
I talked at length with Louise about her departure and she told me that Although things were tough in her profession right now(she is an architect) finance was not he primary motivator for her move.But,the current sentiment in our country has made it easier for people like Louise to think of life further afield and to consider all sorts of different scenarios as an improvement of their lot.
The work was made in their back garden in Swords.Ewan skates on a Rich Gilligan inspired home skateboard ramp!!
I hope too to catch up with Louise and to meet with her family and her husband George once I arrive in Australia in october.
On the night of the shoot we were being filmed for a documentary by film maker Donald Taylor Black.
With a working title of 'Stuffing The Tiger' Donald is mapping a picture of the crash by making observations on several artists reactions/work  across several disciplines.
During the course of his filming he has focused on four photographic projects and I pride myself on being in the good company of Mark Curran,Anthony Haughey,Sean Hillen.
Donald and his crew Paddy and Carl joined my self and Carole for dinner after an interview and before the shoot.It was a very enjoyable meal for all and the night continued in a happy tone right up to Louise's house were we found herself and Ewan and Ella ready and in great form,expectant for a bright future in Australia.
Ray and my own brother Ian looked after lighting on the night and Ian actually made a good connection with Donald  and hopefully some of his original music will be used in Donalds upcoming documentary.
So after a fantastic show in Dublin this July and with more to come in Australia in october and around Ireland next year now is no time to be resting on the laurels so On we go. Full Steam Ahead!!

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A SHOW TO BE PROUD OF!!

Now that its come down I have to say that being involved in the photoireland festival (edition 3)
has been for me a very big experience. Having one of the main exhibitions with my now good friend, Maurice Gunning, in what has over the 3 short years has been one of the key venues, has been a fantastic experience.
Very early on we decided to make it a very sophisticated and polished show, with very high standards of presentation applied and no expense spared in the production.
For my part I must thank all who supported the fundit campaign and indeed the Immigration Museum Melbourne, both helped my component to the max!