Irish World Heritage Centre

There was a live recording for an RTE programme at the Irish Centre yesterday. It was a monthly magazine programme in which Paschal Mooney explores issues affecting The Irish Diaspora. It will be broadcast in Ireland on 18th December and available on the internet on the 19th. I took my parents to it as they are regulars at the Bolton Irish Centre and I thought they would appreciate the subject matter of the show. I was interviewed alongside Margot Power, the Culture and Education Development Officer at the IWHC which was a little unexpected but it will be publicity for my project at least! My parents were also interviewed, something which my mother will never forgive me for - she loved it really!!! I will record the show once it is available on the internet and hope I come across ok.

Irish World Heritage Centre photograhy

Spent the day at the Irish World Heritage Centre photographing the rooms and artefacts connected to the Irish community as part of my client brief. Having just spent a fortune on a new lighting set I wanted to try it out. I have a Bowens 500 Classic head and Gemini 200 head flash lighting kit (I can't afford any more lights at this stage - poor student that I am!) The 500 will be the main light source whilst the 200 can be the backup light source. Ideally, I would have 2 x 500 lights but cannot afford these and will have to wait until I receive my next grant after Christmas before I can remedy this. 

I used the lighting kit in the smaller rooms, HDR in the larger rooms and a combination of the flashgun and one of the Bowens lights for some of the artefacts mounted on the wall. I will continue to experiment with different lighting sources in order to see which is most suitable.

Darkroom practice

I have been spending as much time in the darkroom as I possibly can - every Wednesday in-between lectures. I have been printing photographs that I took as part of my preparation for the final project based on Irish identity. Having visited Ireland over the summer I used my Bronica ETRS at the Cashel Folk Village, photographing all the cultural memorabilia there. Here are some of the photographs that I took. 

Admittedly I lacked the enthusiasm for any form of photography over the holiday which is very unlike me. I think the course has been so intense that I need a break from it. Many others on the course felt the same but I'm sure that once we've all finished, we will look back and appreciate it all... I hope! 

 

I plan to keep up with the darkroom practice as I want to photograph my final project with the Bronica. I love that camera! Hopefully practice will make perfect. I am hoping that I will be able to spend more time in the darkroom next semester.

 

Digital Splash

Went to the photographic event, Digital Splash at the Leyland Hotel in Preston on 9^th October. Didn’t think I would be able to make it as I had so much work to do but decided to give it a go to see what the fuss was. There were many stalls, all offering up tempting photographic goods that were priced way out of my league but I continued to walk round, dreaming… Managed to blag my way onto a workshop sponsored by Lastolite Lighting in a live studio. The photographer, Keith Trainor, had set up a straight forward lighting kit and in an hour long session, ten of us were shown how to use a grey and black background and also using HiLites. The kit we used was the Lastolite Lumen8 Studio Flash. I took about 20 or so shots, some of which I have published below. It was an interesting workshop as the photographer explained how he worked events that could work with over 100 people at a time. He explained how the correct lighting setup was vital as there would be little or no time for post production as the photographs would have to be printed very quickly, if not on site. 

 

There is a video featured on the weblink below which explains how the setup is achieved.

http://www.lastoliteschoolofphotography.com/using-the-hilite-for-event-photography

www.PhotoTraining4U.com

Irish World Heritage Centre

I visited the Irish World Heritage Centre today and had a chat with Margo Power, who is in charge of Irish cultural affairs. I explained my ideas for the final project and thesis and suggested to her that I was open to any contributions or suggestions and received very positive and helpful feedback. I feel that the Centre will be of enormous benefit to me when researching this project. The IWHC holds a variety of workshops, hosts regular social events and guest speakers on a variety of subjects concerning Irish history, culture and diaspora. I have left my details and will receive news of any forthcoming events and in the meantime, intend to visit some of the social gatherings so that I may acquaint myself with regular members and staff.

Social Documentary

Though I wanted to take a break from photography over the summer, (something I seem to have in common with many fellow students!) I did not want to become rusty so took my Pentax MZ5 to a mini festival that took place locally. As my main interest is social documentary and that is the focus of my final project, I decided to work on those skills in order to ensure that I am confident in that aspect of photography. I prefer black and white photography when photographing people and particularly with ‘street photography’. The camera that I use is also relatively unobtrusive so I feel more comfortable using it in such circumstances. Here are some of the photos that I took on that day. 

Irish Heritage Centre

I have been in touch with Margo Power at the Irish Heritage Centre in Cheetham Hill. I want to meet up with her in order to work on ideas for my final project. I do have an idea of what I want to do, both with the thesis and with the photographic project but want to see if I can gain insight into some of the functions at the Centre so that I can get a better understanding of global Irishness. Having witnessed first hand some of the functions at the Bolton Irish Centre: senior citizens lunches including bingo, music and dance; St Patrick’s Day celebrations as well as regular evening performances from Irish musicians, I am curious to see what is on offer at other establishments. Margo might also be able to introduce me to other members of the centre so that I might be able to work on a variety of ideas. 

I also want to meet up with Alan Keegan who I am sure will be an invaluable source of information concerning my project. The author of two books on the Irish immigration in Manchester, he works closely with the Irish community and also has links with local football teams, particularly Manchester United.

The idea is to make as many connections as possible in preparation for next semester but also use this time to get to know people and potential subjects for my project. Hopefully when I meet up with both Alan and Margo next week then I will have a better idea of where I am going with this project.

Royal Court Theatre

Originally built as an iron foundry, it was opened as a Variety Theatre in 1892 by Mr John Walters. It later became a picture palace and then a bingo hall before reopening as The Empire Theatre. The Orchestral Stalls were designed to house 60 musicians with further seating for an audience of 1000. There was also an upper circle and a gallery as well as seating in the lower tier. There was also a temperance bar and smoking saloon. In 1948 the upper tier was removed leaving seating for an audience of approximately 500.

I decided to ask if there was any chance that I could photograph the theatre as many local theatres have been modernised and having a particular penchant for older architecture, I wanted to try to capture the essence of the place. I also want to practise different lighting skills as I feel this is an area that I might improve on. The challenge of photographing the interior is very appealing as I would be using their lighting for the project. I also talked to a new tutor at the university, John Murray, who specialises in lighting and when I told him of the potential project he suggested that I look up a photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto and also suggested several options available to me including one when I set the camera up on a tripod and using a very long exposure, run round the theatre using different lighting sources in different areas to create a wonderful effect.
 

© Hiroshi Sugimoto

I will endeavour to find as much information on this method of lighting and weigh up if it will in fact be possible given time restrictions and workload. If I don’t manage to use it on this visit, it might be something that I would consider for the future. 

Scout Moor Quarry

I had previously visited the working quarry back in February? with the intention of photographing it from a documentary perspective. As my workload at that time had been pretty intensive, I didn’t have time to arrange a photo shoot. I revisited the place last week however and reacquainted myself with the boss and my intended project. He is more than happy to accommodate me as long as I ‘donate’ copies of the photos.
 

The photographer that immediately springs to mind when considering this project is Sebastiao Salgado. His images from the Workers Project 1986-92 of the Brazilian mines are mind blowing. His preferred format of black and white, give the photographs an aspect of timelessness. It is sometimes difficult to place the period from which the photographs originate. They could have been taken at any point in the twentieth century. I would hope to replicate his images, but health and safety regulations would no longer allow so many workers together at one time. I am also aware that my photographic skills are not on par with his, but I will attempt to use my acquired knowledge and create the best possible photographs that my abilities allow!

© Sebastian Salgado

County Limerick

Visited a Museum in Cashel, Co Tipperary called Cashel Folk Village, http://www.cashelfolkvillage.ie and it was a very interesting experience. A small museum, based in an old pub, it was reminiscent of the interior of a private dwelling; the contents of someone’s cluttered back room. There was a wealth of information on Ireland’s turbulent history portrayed through written, photographic and AV material. There was a vast array of memorabilia on Irish culture, particularly the famine and the Civil War, two factors that have had an immense influence on the nation’s cultural identity.

I have left an email address with the proprietor so that I might be able to purchase some of the AV material shown at the museum. I also hope to maintain some form of contact over time, as he seems a very interesting and knowledgeable man on local history and may prove an invaluable source for my intended project.

Research Material

I had previously been researching in the library for books on Irish Identity and picked up a few to browse through. One in particular was entitled: Of Irish Descent by Catherine Nash and was interesting in that it talked about how Irish history, in particular The Famine, religious divide and the Civil War, influenced their culture and the way that the Irish people and their descendants are perceived and indeed perceive themselves on a global level. I think that it will be an invaluable reference book as a lot of the material is directly relevant to both the thesis and the final project.

I recently read a book entitled Gypsy Girl by Rosie McKinley. It was a very interesting insight into Irish traveller culture and tradition and how strongly it is valued. Similar to the Irish community in that religion played a very important part in their lives, the author narrated her experiences of growing up in a traveller family and how changing times affected the values and ideals of the travelling community. The author highlighted the bigotry and ostracism that the travelling community encountered on a regular basis, a prejudice quite similar to that faced by Irish immigrants throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly the first half. There were signs on the doors of some public establishments stating “no blacks, no dogs, no Irish” as late as the 1960’s!

The book inspired me to look up traveller photography and I came across the news of the High Court appeal regarding the eviction of travellers from the country’s largest illegal site, Dale Farm, Basildon. I also came across a webpage entitled The Advocacy Project by Susan Craig-Greene who spent two years, from 2009 to 2011 with the travelling community at Dale Farm. The result of this collaboration was a photographic project featuring residents of Dale Farm. By erecting a simple white background on site and gaining the support and trust of the community, she was able to create a photographic collection some of which are reminiscent of the work of Richard Avedon. I think that the photos really capture the community spirit and the strong family values of the subjects.

  © Susan Greene 

I have enclosed a link to the project.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/advocacy_project/sets/72157623770759967/show/

 

Third Year Project

In my first year at university, I worked on a project centred on the “regulars” at a local Irish centre. It was a photographic study on Irish immigrants from the 1950s and their personal memories from their homeland and consequent ‘new life’ in England. I particularly enjoyed this project and was encouraged to work on it at the latter stages of the degree, hence the content of this blog!


I am still not 100% sure of the format I intend to take though I am pretty sure it will run along the lines of second generation Irish paralleled with the original Irish immigrants: ie mother/father – son/daughter. I will have a better idea of the final project once I have talked to my tutors. If this does ultimately become the format that I use, I think I would prefer to work with people that I know as I feel that I will get more out of them. I also intend to concentrate on possibly five families maximum and spend more time with them. I had previously worked with more people and I think that I need to condense the quantity in order to achieve a higher quality for my finals.