Temple Bar Last night.

From Oct 2009

Warsaw Poland. Oct last year.

Attacked.

Like a still from a horror movie.

From Last October.

The way things are headed.

I just read an interview with Brian Eno. His parting thoughts on the Music industry strike an extreme resemblance to what is happening to the photographic industry right now. In my humble opinion that is.

On the end of an era

"I think records were just a little bubble through time and those who made a living from them for a while were lucky. There is no reason why anyone should have made so much money from selling records except that everything was right for this period of time. I always knew it would run out sooner or later. It couldn't last, and now it's running out. I don't particularly care that it is and like the way things are going. The record age was just a blip. It was a bit like if you had a source of whale blubber in the 1840s and it could be used as fuel. Before gas came along, if you traded in whale blubber, you were the richest man on Earth. Then gas came along and you'd be stuck with your whale blubber. Sorry mate – history's moving along. Recorded music equals whale blubber. Eventually, something else will replace it."

People Watching.

Wien Part 1

At the end of last September I got to spend a few days in Vienna. Wonderful city, clean, safe (except for transsexual prostitutes near westbanof), reliable transport, plenty to see although I never saw any museums, before I left I think I squeezed one in.
The above shot is the first photo I made when I got off the plane.
With any neg scanners that I seem to touch, lately end up just plain not working, I got some 5x7 prints made, and did a flat bed scan of the images.
This reminds me of the riddle of the Sphinx, in the story of Oedipus, how we start our lives on four legs, then two, and finally three.
At the Museum Quater.
Everywhere you go in that city is parks, I mean you look on a map and every district has it's own beautifully preserved park.


I was so lucky when I arrived there was an unseasonal Indian summer. I left Ireland and the pissing rain and cold, to lovely sunny temperate days. I couldn't believe that as soon as I landed, off went the wool sweater to walking around in a t-shirt.
Next installment will be some Black and white from the trip.

Bratislava.

With my recent neg scanner woes, I have a backlog, of images to get through. Then again I'm more concerned with with running a business and trying to market images that are sellable, rather than this stuff. None the less here is an edit from a day trip I did to Bratislava in Slovakia. The hostel I stayed in had a bar in the lower basement done up like a torture chamber, it was only when I got home did I actually see the movie "Hostel". Can't understand why they set the movie there, it's one of the safest country's I've ever traveled through. It would be more realistic if it was set in Transnistria.



This is one of those images that I'll have to print big, at least 20" in width, the woman coming up the stairway has a similar expression to the posters at the end of the cement pillar.
I would have liked to have experimented with this composition more, but as I made this image a man with a bandage around his arm approached me claiming he had just been robbed and could I lend him some money to get home. "Eh No". Later on that I saw the same man walking around town Minus the bandage.
I was in the church and the nun was fast asleep, luckily the pffft of the rangefinder did not wake her. This is one of those very rare times where I photograph someone who is homeless.
It's a quite city in general, you pretty much can see it in a day or two. Although I will say it has some of the most stunning looking women I've ever seen in my life. That statement by the way has nothing to do with the above image.

Apparently I'm a Terrorist?

Well you maybe wondering what the scan of the following document is all about, it's a copy of my detainment form, where I was searched and questioned by three non-uniformed undercover police officers for the suspicious act of taking photos in a public place, this falls under section 44 of the anti terrorism act. I've blurred out the lower part of the form as it contains the names of the undercover officers. Needless to say it was an eventful little stay in England, thank god I don't live there.

As you can see from the form the reason for more search and also they photographed my face for there records was this.

"Stopped and searched due to behavour within groups of People at guard change. Seen walking in and out of crowds aimlessly without purpose taking photographs."

I was attending a photographic convention and trade show in London, as my day job involves Family portraits and Weddings, but as you know my personal work is street photography and vintage cameras.
On Thursday the 14th, my first morning for my stay I decided to go to Buckingham palace to see the changing of the guards. It was a overcast dull morning and when I arrived, there was already a hundred or so tourists gathered each one taking photos of anything that moved. I of course do the opposite of what everyone else is snapping and go and document the crowd and look for humorous juxapositions. I don't take a single frame of buckingham palace or the guards marching.

When I go to leave a man in plain clothes approaches me and asks do I speak English, I say yes, are from here? I reply no I'm from Ireland. He then makes a hand gesture, and two men then stand beside him where they then show me their police badges and inform me I'm to be searched. They said that I was not taking photos other tourists were doing, and why was I not staying in the one spot, why was constantly moving in and out of the crowd. Buckingham palace is a prime target for terrorists and people who want to rob tourists. When I inform them that photography in public places is perfectly legal and they cant search me for that, they say that my behaviour was that of a pick pocket, and they can search me for suspicion of that, also under the anti terrorism act they can search me and take my details to prevent terrorism as I had a camera.
They did speak to me in a polite and courteous manner the whole time.

Last year at Canary Wharf I was approached by two uniformed officers for similiar reasons, but in that case I showed them a bussiness card and said that I was a proffessional and off they went. But this time when I explained that I make my living from photography and showed them my credentails, they said that a pro would not use an old film camera like I have (please bear in mind the camera they are refering to, is a Leica m6). Also why is my camera covered in black tape, why do I want it to blend in. I inform them that this camera is worth more second hand then a new Nikon D700. As for digital cameras I'm the proud owner of a Nikon D3, D700, and D2x, the policeman with the camera did know what I was talking about. He then writes the name leica m6 into a notebook. They said it was nothing against me personally, but they have orders to search people with unusual and unique looking camera equipment.

When they repeated the whole I could be a pickpocket thing, I put my arms out and allowed them to search me, I couldn't waste any more time as I had an expensive seminar to get to. After my pockets were emptied they took my photo with a Nikon D40, both of my face and full lenght of my body. When I said what will those images be used for, they said not to worry, that once they clear that I'm ok, I should be fine. Although he didn't really say yes or no if they will be deleted.
The back of the search form says the record will be deleted in a year?

On Sunday at Hyde Park corner I met a Polish man who was detained and handcuffed by the police for taking photos, his wrists are still marked from where they cuffed him back in December, how is that in the interest of public safety, the article can be found on the Amateur Photographer website here

In the Police's defense, any that I talked to over the next days, say they are trying to save life's, that photography in public is still legal and I have every right to do it, but according to them, they have caught terrorists videotaping targets. Although I have not heard of any such instances in the media.

I could write so much more on this matter but I will leave it there. But after this incident I had a strange feeling that this is only the start, simlar instances will start to occur in Ireland next then the rest of europe.

T Minus one year

For Kodachrome.

Broken Scanners.

I'm tearing my imaginary hair out right now, like a phantom limb, you always feel it's there.
My Nikon 8000 that broke down a year ago is still in repairs as they cannot find a wiring diagram for that model (if any one knows where I can get a wiring diagram for a Nikon Coolscan 8000 please drop me a line). Then the less than average Epson v350 that I was using as a replacement started scanning purple lines through the images, I then borrow a Nikon 5000 from a friend, which rejects my negs. My luck with such matters is not good this past while.

Hence forth most of the images I made on my recent trip through Eastern europe are stuck in a drawer and not seeing the light of day.
I did manage to scan a few before things went pear shaped. The one above is from Brno, in the Czech Republic.

Wood Quay

Wood Quay Dublin, Kodak px125.

Pose

The Art of Zen

Pilgrimage.

Ilford Delta 400 pushed to 800, with an orange filter. The worst conditions I've ever tried to make images in.

Derry 08.

Still Developing

I'm still developing rolls of film from my trip, not to mention the others I've done this year that I've yet to even sort or look at yet.

This is from a film set in Prague I snuck into, about three seconds after this frame a security man approached me and began to speak in Czech, when I just shrugged my shoulders he escorted me off set.

......

Slovakian Gypsies

Flexaret VI

About two weeks back when I was in Olomouc (pronounced Olomoats) in the Czech republic, Greg from New Zealand who worked at the Poets Corner Hostel in the past and was familiar with the town, took me to a camera shop that was seriously in favor of analogue. City's larger than Olomouc in Ireland don't have camera shops as well stocked as this one.

I bought a Flexaret VI TLR for 850 Czech crowns, about €35. I left it in my backpack, and decided not to shoot a test roll till I got back to Dublin. The production years for that camera are 1961 to 65.

The First shot I made with it, the reflection from the back of a Fiat Punto.

The optics seem to be uncoated, yet despite that there is good tonality in the negs.


Theres a wonderful dreamlike softness to the images (due to uncoated glass), more of a portrait camera to be used in the studio or fine art projects, rather than on the street.
The Viewfinder is extremely dark, which can lead to composing difficulty's but I guess thats due to some mold forming in the top lens.
Other than that, I'm more excited about using this piece of gear, than I am about a new D700 I got a while back, yes you heard me right, I'm that much of a nerd.