Latest Stuff.

At the moment I've been active over at uber.

You can catch up on the latest blogs there.

But I will return here someday.

I'm sending happiness.

Another Dublin randomer that I met recently.
I went to explore some new areas on the North side that I have not taken any photographs at yet. It was more of a quick reconnaissance mission, but it's always when you least expect it that something happens.

He spotted me taking this frame of the I'm sending happiness poster, and the sales & repairs sign. Yes I know spot the irony kids, it's all very Walker Evans.
He approached me to know what the story was.
I said I'm just taking pictures.
What for.
For myself.
He then pointed out that the beat up old Nikon I use looks like something I found in a skip. Funny bloke. But he's right believe it or not the camera I use for 90% of my personal work (until my Leica) was actually found in a bin. It was being thrown out of on old darkroom lab. So for all those people who are starting out in photography and just bought shiny new auto everything DSLR's thinking that it will make them take better photo's hahahahahah suckers. Start using crap equipment first before you jump into buying something serious. Baby steps as they say.

I talked to him for about fifteen minutes before I asked him could I take his photo, although I don't like that term "take".
He said I look like Zidane, not the first person to say that. He then proceeded to discuss football. I'm surprised how up to date on the premiership he was, for someone who lives without TV ? Or is it wrong of me to presume that. He use to work for Guinness in shipping and the merchant marines. Those are good paying jobs with pensions, but I didn't ask how he ended up in his current homeless situation.

Mind you he seemed happy enough.

Sir Leica Lot

This bad ass motherfucker just arrived today.

I can't wait to try this out. See what all the fuss is about. All I can say is I see great prospects with it.

For now all I got is an old Summitar lens from the forties as far as I know. I'll just have to get some Summicron magic. I was thinking a Summicron 35mm. Then a bessa 50 and 28mm.
I paid a few hundred euro's for a rangefinder and another couple of hundred for a red dot that says Leica.

Despite some of the most famous photo's of the 20th century taken with one of these, also some of the worst photos ever made have been taken with them as well.

I nearly hate the red dot snob brigade as much as I hate the DSLR 200m lens street shooter gang. There is a certain pub in Dublin where every Tuesday night various retired bankers , doctors etc, meet up and dicuss street shooting all the fancy Leica glass they own. None of them could take a picture to save their lives.

I could have got a Bessa r4m for half the price, but a poor mans Lieca is a poor mans Leica no matter what way you look at it.

I sold some valuables to get this, but I stand by my choice.

I sold my Rolleiflex for booze.

Sometimes it takes six hours for something to happen on the street, others an hour. The longest amount I've had to wait to capture an event of note, is eight hours. But it take ten minutes as well, as in this situation.
I had finished work and I was making my way into town. This man was chasing two eastern European girls in miniskirts (I assume they were Polish) outside a shop. I went to raise my camera, he immediately spotted me and straight away engaged in conversation. Luckily for those girls, they were forgotten instantly.

Ah jaysus I see you have a real camera there, not one of those shite plastic jobs. I reply back I'm too old to play with plastic toys. He then said him and his brother used to do a lot of photography. Generally when I have a conversation with one of those keen amateurs about photography, I find out pretty quickly they don't know shit.
But his case he did know some shit. He kept telling me through his drunken slur, that him and his brother had a Rolleiflex 6x6, and were on a personal project to document old (sorry ould) Dublin before it disapears. But his brother emigrated, and then it was left up to him to finish the project, but drink took over his life. And the Rolleiflex was sold for booze.

He then began to tell me about this great book he's reading, "The great number tens" I generally have no interest in rugby, so I asked for a photo. He said on condition he take mine as well.
The negs look pretty good, delta 100 dev in xtol. I only wish I had taken a close up of his face with the colour camera, as each eye was a different colour. Brown and Blue.

The two Polish girls passed by again, and he started to chase them. I ran after them as well asking them to pose for a picture with him. They started screaming noooooo, and tried to run even faster in high heels and miniskirt's. I took colour photos of that with the f90x, but I'm not going to be able to develop the negs for a while. I think I got anything anyway.

Later on Moore street I passed by this graffiti, and thought about what he said to me. That old Dublin is disappearing. More than just our buildings. But is our history and culture as well. Does the new economically wealthy Dublin give a shit about 1916. Or anything that happened pre Celtic tiger. The whole city is a construction site. We knock down more monuments then any other country in Europe. I then thought maybe not all he said was the ramblings of a drunken madman.

Free Hugs

What the hell is with all these teenagers going around town holding free hugs signs, these days.
Four times now I've come across groups of people (all late teens, all a little emo)walking around giving away free hugs.
One time it was two men in bear suits.
And on two of those occasions I had a camera with me.

Hugs are too precious a commodity in our modern age, to be given away for free.

I've since then done a little research and this whole phenomenon started in Australia, and then was spread by the internet by forums such as myspace, bebo and youtube.
That would explain the young age of all the people doing it, i.e. too much free time.

As opposed to having too much free time for walking around with a camera photographing random shit that takes place. On a time consuming analogue format, to end up with pictures of no commercial value.

The first of this series and by far the best. I love how the Garda is reaching behind to grab his handcuffs, you'd swear he's about to arrest them.

They were yelling at the police, free hugs for free drugs. I'm reilly suprised they the didn't search them.This woman either doesn't want to be hugged or just doesn't want to be photographed.

I anticipated this moment wrong, I saw the sign ahead over the shop saying envy. I thought it would make a good juxtaposition, of the signs with opposing meanings. Unfortunately I was too low, and his head is blocking the V on the sign. If I had of taken the shot standing I would have got the full sign in frame. But alas it's too late for "if's".

That reminds me back in February I shot two men in Bear suits doing the same thing. I just digged out the negatives.

This is actually from the first roll of film I ever shot with my Nikon f3.

Which has since died on me this week.

The shop in the background is appropriately named Korky's. A real teddy bear name.

Ahhhhhhh so wuvable.

I had just missed it but someone had punched this bear in the face.

Some people don't care for free hugs much.

While others do.

Awwwww makes me feel all fuzzy and warm inside.

Everyone needs hugs once in a while.

A day of discipline.

The other day by accident I bought a 12 shot roll of film. I then set myself a goal of trying to sqeeze as many decent shots as possable onto the roll. It took four hours and about a mile and half walk, but I think I did my best in the end. Although as usual I still think I could have done better.
The first on the roll, ah yes Meat Par Excellence.

The second shot, a little skewed, but "cough" thats for artistic purposes.

Shooting colour over B&W, really has it's advantages.
Not often you see a panama hat in Dublin.
What the hell are these guys riding on.
This is not really a headless man but a hunchback.
The only dodgy shot on the roll, it's out of focus.
This kid looks twelve and smoking, little bastard caught me taking his picture as well.
If he was standing it would be a good picture as the light bulb would be on his head.
O'Connell Street.
Irish aid advert at the top of O'Connell street.
Well done to who ever took that original billboard picture it's fantastic.
The final photo of twelve.

So now back to the concept of unlimited use Flash cards, versus limited shots of film.

In this modern age the concept of of shooting 36 shots in groups at a time, is more and more becoming an alien concept. The idea now is shoot fucking hundreds and hundreds of shots till you get a "few" that are good.

What a pile of horse shit, any fucking pleb can pick up a digi cam, with auto focus, auto exposure, auto fucking everything, shoot hundreds of shots, and is bound by the sheer law of averages to hit something good. Unless they're very unlucky or very stupid (probably the latter).

I always use a metaphor that my Father says.
Shooting a digi cam with a zoom lens, loaded with a CF card that holds hundreds of shots, is like hunting deer in the woods with a machine gun. Sure it'll be easy to get a hit, you just spray everything in sight with bullets till eventually your bound to hit something. But whether or not any of your kills are clean or decisive ones is a different story.

While shooting a manual wind film camera, with a prime lens (preferably wide angle), is like hunting deer with a 45.cal bolt action rifle.
You have a very small magazine of bullets, and each time you need to take a shot you have to manually load each single shot. You have to stalk your prey with stealth, take into consideration every detail, and aim each shot ever so carefully. You have to focus and expose everything correctly.
And when you do hit something, it will be a clean and decisive kill.

Anyone can run around the woods machine gunning everything in sight, but they will never attain discipline or learn anything about the craft.
Thats the word I emphasize DISCIPLINE.

The idea for this little project came from when I was nerding it up at a camera repair place, talking to some some random guy. He spotted my rusted old F3 Nikon. He then comments so you haven't gone digital yet, I tell him I value my personal work too much to cheapen it by shooting fake ass digital.
He then proceeds to lecture me on the waste that film produces, especially in street shooting. He then informs me it takes hundreds of photos to get a good street shot with his D70.
Really hundreds of photos to get a decent photo, by the gods he really must be shit.
When you think about it there are guys who shoot 400 shots a day out there, that's over 10 rolls of film, I could not even imagine shooting 10 rolls and hardly not get anything.
If that's modern photography I want nothing to do with it.

I'm not saying I'm great, to tell you the truth I'm mediocre at the best of times, but at least on each roll of film there is 3 or 4 things of interest.

Besides I cheated a little on this photo project, because three of the locations I have used before except they were on Black and White and I wanted to see what they look like in colour.

So here they are to set my conscience straight.

Some damn strong light

This Summer has turned to shit, really and truly turned to shit. What ever we have done to have deserved this eternal Winter trust upon us, I do not know. Well Winter is too harsh a season to describe what is happening it's more of an in between, I call Sminter.

Everyday for five weeks now it has rained and been overcast, I find no motivation to go outside and do something whether it's sport or take some pictures.
Something is happening to the climate, even is you believe in global warming or not. You cannot deny something is changing in the weather.
Maybe it's Karma or God, or just plain science, what ever the hell (pardon the pun) you believe in, the world around us is changing and there is nothing we can do about it.

For a brief two days, a week or two back the clouds vanished, and the sun shone through like I never have seen before.
It probably has shone as brightly before, but as it's been so long since I've seen it, it felt like the first time.

These photos document those two evenings.
I was carrying around two cameras film and digital.


On Camden street I had picked up some film at Gunn's camera store. Then just outside it this burst of light came through.
Luckily someone in a white shirt was kind enough to step into the light.

I then said enough of this fake bullshit digital, and then took out my real camera.
Considering my digital SLR is 1200 Euro more expensive than a film F3, I still consider my digi D200 a plastic toy.

My favourite of the series. With a car passing through.

Anouther white shirt adding to the abstract.
The final shot before the light moved out of position.
I packed my oh so heavy Digi SLR into my car, and started to walk around with the lighter alternative.

A few minutes later walking by the LUAS tracks. A pyramid with a car on top.

The Daniel Day LUAS Itself.

The reflections were literally bounding off everything.

Inside this tunnell light was coming from both ends, the nearest side was light reflected off an office building into the tunnell.
My battery on my light meter was beginning to die, so I had to guess the exposure at f4 at 1/125 not bad Huh?
Just after I had taken this shot a second Gypsy started to yell at me, who was begging near where I was standing.
She couldn't speak English and the only word's I got was Picture and money.
I promptly told her to "go fuck herself".
Which she then threw a plastic bottle at me.
I then walked off laughing. After picking up a new battery from a chemist. Shot into the McCafe. The light illuminates such touching moments, a couple in trouble, perhaps we're better off alone.

Finally some double exposures of the light.
Hopefully some day this will happen again.

The Iwa Jima of Dublin.

Walking down Grafton street. I saw this phone box bent over.

I had walked around town for four hours already and got nothing, and now finally something of intrest.

So I waited to see if anything would happen.

Eventually these blokes showed up to to lend a helping hand to Dublin county council.

With no great war to fight in our modern age of peace, we must fight our own Iwa Jima.

Despite their valiant efforts the flag was never raised. And they walked home in defeat.

On the LUAS train home I noticed these reflections in the window of the other passengers. It's like an Abstract Double exposure on film.
All shots with a Nikon f3 on Fuji Neopan 400 developed in d-76.