Surf’s Up

Following on from my multimedia project handup in December, I bought a used disposable waterproof film camera, and brought it out for the first surf session of 2012. air temperature was around 5 deg C, water temp was 10 deg. C

After about two hours of catching fun waves, I got out of the water, took the camera out of the car, and – mistakenly – left the board and fins on dry land while trying my hand at surf photography.

It was not very easy with tired arms and legs, and having to wind on each frame with 5mm mitts ain’t easy while trying to stay afloat and dodging 5ft breaking waves. Still, we had a blast. Roll on the next swell.

Photograph of the Day #2

Originally, I was going to write a little about this photograph: Where and when it was taken, what is in the photograph, how the photograph was made. But then I thought, some images are best left unexplained.

Vernacular Unspectacular #2

Following on from my recent Vernacular Unpectacular posting, I was pointed – during a tutorial – in the direction of Raymond Moore, photographer; a man who in his own words tried to photograph “the magic that lies beneath the surface of things”.

The photographs below were taken prior to looking at Raymond Moore’s work, which is really interesting and challenging.

When I set out to document these rural vernacular buildings, I didn’t fully think about what exactly I was photographing. I guess there was some hidden desire to try and capture a sense of place, a sense of the history, some kind of resonant energy,  and its entirely probable that these images also reflect some inner state of being at the time of pushing the button.

Photo of The Day #1

Sometimes I don’t have anything to say about photos and photography. I just wonder about all of the photos out there and what people do with them. The photo below, for example, has been sitting somewhere in my hard-drive for the past two years. I was always aware that it was there but just didn’t know what to do with it. I still don’t know. Maybe over time, it will become part of a bigger collection of my photos from Finland, or a totally different project. It can take on meaning by becoming an integral part of something bigger. But for now, I’ll just show it to you as a single image, and leave it open to interpretation.

Restart Ireland’s Sugar Beet Industry

Most of Ireland’s sugar is imported from abroad. Ireland’s last remaining sugar plants were closed down in 2005/2006 following reforms of the EU’s Sugar Policies. Even at the end of the industry, the turnover in Co. Wexford alone was over €10 million.

The image below was taken at Wellington bridge at a disused sugar factory. The factory is adjacent to the now defunct Rosslare-Waterford railway line, which I was photographing at the time.

Re-starting the Irish sugar beet industry would create hundreds if not thousands of jobs across the country in areas where unemployment is destroying communities. It would create jobs for farmers, road hauliers, factory workers, and might even re-introduce traffic/business along the Rosslare-Waterford railway line, not to mention the growing bio-ethanol industry.

Now, doesn’t that sound sweet?