I Live in Ireland
Wednesday July 15, 2008
Aaiden, Ireland: Canon 40D 40mm at F4/1/100 ISO 400
I have a bike. I shot a band. I read a book.
Today I got a present. I got home and waiting for me was a bike from Julianne's cousin by marriage who lives here. I brought it to the bike store to get all fixed up. I can't wait to starting pulling the ladies on for a ride. Oh and if Meghan reads this - by ladies I mean older ladies with big flower purses and not all the little Irish hotties that beckon to me like Sirens and haunt my dreams.
Leon, Disconnect4: Canon 40D 40mm at F4/1/100 ISO 400
I am really really into a book that I bought called "Zeno and the Tortoise" By Nicholas Fearn. It's a philosophy book with various philosophical tools and methods for thinking about various topics. I read through the whole thing today in an intense reading session and I am re-reading it tomorrow.
Joe, Drunk in Bedroom: Canon 40D 50mm at F1.8/1/80 ISO 650
I photographed my new friends Disconnect4. They are really good and I hope that they get out of this little town and more people get to hear them because they work really hard and want it really bad.
The last photo I was drunk when I came home and in love with myself.
Thursday July 14, 2008
Keith, Disconnect4: Canon 40D 17mm at F4/1/125 ISO 250
What's that orb in the sky?
Disconnect4, Rehearsal Space: Canon 40D 17mm at F4/1/125 ISO 250
Ok, so let's be honest here. I have been "updating" this blog pretty frequently but it isn't online yet because I don't have the internet. So it’s me reading it. I like reading it - but it kind of defeats its ultimate purpose I think. So it’s like a week later and I am trying to remember what I did on this day. I took some rehearsal photos of Disconnect4 - obviously.
I walked around and filmed a bunch of HD film stuff with Megz and I remember it was sunny. Because it is NEVER sunny here. David, if you see this photo I have like two flashes set up and some of them just HAPPEN to be behind the musicians. I will buy you one of those Irish rings with the two hands holding the heart and we can call it even. Other than what is in this photo I have no idea what went on. Thank god I took some photos!
Monday July 13, 2008
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Philip Glass, Ireland: Canon 40D 40mm at F4/1/100 ISO 400
Philip Glass - The most famous person I've never heard of.
This morning I woke up at 10:20 because my great new mobile that doesn't send out text messages or call out didn't go off at 8:00 like programmed. I had about 2 min to prep my camera and run the 15 min walk into town for my morning photocall. I was shooting some women in some play I've never heard of and then Philip Glass showed up. I have heard of him but wasn't familiar with his title of "greatest living composer" nickname. He's won two Academy Awards - but it wasn't with his smile that's for sure.
About an hour later I was shooting a dance troop that call themselves "Circa". The highlight was when one guy almost dropped this girl - oh and it was really magical too.
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Circa, Ireland: Canon 40D 80mm at F1.8 - 1/200 ISO 1000
The rest of the day I e-mailed publications around town and around Ireland to see if anyone wanted any of my Philip Glass photos. And I'm sure you will all be really interested to know I went to get Curry fries with Meghan and she lost her phone and then we found her phone and then this weird fog rolled in that looked like a gaseous death and then I came home and cleaned my room. This is the shit that blogs were MADE OF!
Sunday July 12, 2008
Cemetery, Ireland Canon 40D 17-40mm at F16/Tv-100 ISO 100
You're crazy Rosmary, there is no plot against you!
This morning I woke up early to check out a nearby cemetery. It was pretty similar to the ones back home except there was of course a LOT of Celtic crosses - they must be cheaper down here. I started to get really depressed because I noticed a whole lot of young people buried there and also it started to rain so I packed up after a few shots and went home to watch "Rosemary's Baby" to cheer myself up. All I can say about that movie is very few movies make Satan Worship so very very sexy.
Afterwards I came home and did some editing and read some Immanuel Kant and his notion of the pure truth of perception. After I went and shot the opening of the Galway Arts Festival with some huge blow up things made by an artist Max Streicher from Toronto and some pretty boring film stills from Joni Mitchell. Trying to understand what these huge blow up people would look like from the perspective of Kant was interesting, but trying to take pictures of all the children freaked out by them was more interesting.
Galway Box Office Opening, Ireland Canon 40D 17mm at F4-1/125 ISO 400 - Fill Flash
As I headed home I called Leon from a Galway band called Disconnect4 and he invited me to join them for a pint. His friends were a great bunch of jokers and the pub we were at was full of seniors. I ordered a gin/tonic which pulled odd looks from all the pint holders in the bar. Afterwards Leon and Yvonne, a photography student who plays bass in the band, said they would bring me to a nearby old cemetery which was full of Spanish sailors lost at sea. Since the average age of the bar was probably 85, I finished my drink and told the people that I was headed to the grave yard and if they didn't want to come with then I'm sure I would see them there soon.
Yvonne, Ireland Canon 40D 17mm at F4-1/125 ISO 250
When we got there the door was chained shut but brilliantly the chain was not wrapped tightly and we pushed on the door and walked in. Leon and Yvonne have a great chemistry and for the next few hours I followed them around as they crawled up various walls, and through the windows of their own flat.
Cemetery, Ireland Canon 40D 17mm at F4/Tv-1/125 ISO 250
Below is the ONLY way on or off of Leon's patio, which is through the window in the kitchen and back in superman style onto his bed which fittingly had "The Avenger" bedsheets. Yvonne went last because we had just met and me starring up her dress at her ass probably would have been kind of awkward - for her.
Afterwards I watched the Sigur Ros film with Yvonne and Leon in Eyre Square on a screen set up for the Film festival. It's so amazing I can't even describe it - so I wont.
Leon's Flat, Ireland Canon 40D 17mm at F4 - 1/125 ISO 250
Saturday July 11, 2008
Near Hare Island, Ireland Canon 40D 17-40mm at F8 - 1/100 ISO 200
Today I was SUPPOSED to shoot something...
Today I was supposed to shoot some gallery opening for the Galway Arts Festival at a place called Cluain Mhuire which is part of the GMIT campus. I asked a few nice Irish people for directions and received what I am soon learning is the classic Irish response "It's just across the street", which for me meant a 45 min hike down a highway in the wrong direction and missing the gallery opening entirely.
Hoping to save the day I made a quick detour to the shoreline and did some landscape shots and played with some dog that I can only assume is a poor sea soul that has been transformed into a dog by some kind hearted witch. I also met a lovely Latvian fellow who didn't speak a word of English (or Russian I'm guessing) who was washing his only pair of brown underwear in the cold Atlantic Ocean. I'm afraid I didn't get a photo of him but the image of him splashing cold water against his naked goose bumpy groin can surely be seen at the back of my skull where it is now been permanently burned.
Near Hare Island, Ireland Canon 40D 17mm at F8 - 1/100 ISO 200
There were signs everywhere stating that "Access to Hare Island is strictly prohibited in favor of public safety". I wasn't about to swim the 1000m in rocky water to find the cursed demon bunnies that were banished there by the fine people of Galway so I took a few video shots with my Fuji for reference and went home.
Near Hare Island, Ireland Canon 40D 17mm at F16 - 1/80 ISO 400
Friday July 10, 2008
Wolf Tone Bridge, Ireland Canon 40D 17mm at F8 - 1/125 ISO 100
The Dutch are the most brilliant people, and you're an idiot...
Today, was my first assignment for the Galway Arts Festival. I had two art openings to photograph; one was at the University Hospital and the Other at Kenny Gallery.
On the way to the hospital I met a friendly Dutch man who insisted on making fun of me for being lost. I asked him which way North was and he gave me a riddle about Galway being on the west Coast. I told him I had NO idea where the coast is in proximity to where I was. He then told me he had a friend from P.E.I who looked a lot like John Denver which was very helpful. Then he told me French people didn't actually speak French and how the Dutch were brilliant because they built cities on the ocean. He then tipped his hat and flew into the sky along to take his place with all the other Dutch angels.
Griffin Road, Ireland Canon 40D 17mm at F11 - 1/80 ISO 100
The University Hospital one was less than glamorous even with all the art they have installed for the festival. The speaker was held up and couldn't make his speech - I suspected a Dutch subplot. While walking around town trying to find the hospital I took the two photos posted here. Each of them are two photos combined so I could capture how dramatic the clouds are here in Galway. So far all the days have been cloudy, and from what I'm told this has been the weather for the last 1000 years or so.
Kenny Gallery, Ireland Canon 40D 17mm at F4 - 1/80 ISO 400
The art at Kenny gallery was pretty impressive, especially with the two glasses of wine and the empty stomach that allowed me to get my art on. The artist was a Pauline Bewick and she is very fond of muted colors and naked women in exotic landscapes. After a third glass of wine so was I.
Thursday July 09, 2008
Toby From The Moldy Peaches, Roisin Dubh, Canon 40D 50mm at F1.8- 1/100 ISO 100
Some fresh Jams from a dude from the Moldy Peaches
Not much going on today, I looked for some food and bed sheets and met my neighbour from Vancouver (Teron) who invited me to a local bar to see Toby from The Moldy Peaches jam out a few jams. Below Megz was sleeping in the afternoon.
Meghan, Ireland Canon 40D 55mm at F4 -1/100 ISO 400
Wednesday July 08, 2008
Citylink Bus, Ireland Fuji f50 Automatic Macro setting ISO 100
This too will come to pass...
For those of you who will read this blog (which will be me and my mother) I will try and update this pretty much every day for the first week or so and then forget about it and then maybe post some party photos every couple of weeks until me and everyone else forgets about this blog and I end up finding it when I redesign my site in a few years.
I arrived in Dublin Airport around 9AM and sped through the customs with one flash of my new Italian Passport. "Ciao!" The baggage claim took exceptionally long with one new bag making an appearance every 10 min or so. I envisioned a wirey Irishmen with a thick orange handlebar moustache at the far end of the conveyor wearing a football jersey and a large blue Samsonite bag being dragged along the tarmac in one hand and his mobile between his shoulder and freckled cheek.
Eventually my mangled bag plopped out of the rubber curtain and I raced to the bus platform to see my 10:15 bus promptly leave for Galway city at 10:05. Fortunate for me there was a thin spray of cool Irish rain steadily falling down. Another bus immediately took its place. After about 20 min of persistent complaining to the teenage mother who was driving it I explained that if the bus was indeed MY bus; then it wouldn't matter if I loaded my soaked luggage now or at boarding time. Eventually She snapped her hubba bubba lips and reluctantly let me load my bags and sorry soaked ass onto the bus.
The bus drive was along what seemed like a backroad but is actually a major Irish Highway. The first thing that struck me was how remote the majority of Ireland is. How many fields with sheep there are and how sparse the infrastructure here is. I felt like I was being driven to the ends of the earth and the ominous graffiti scribbled on my bus window seemed to confirm my suspicion.