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