The theme for my collection of photographs is ‘urban decay’. All the photographs are taken around The Coombe/Blackpitts area of Dublin, one largely forgotten during the economic ‘boom’, and one which has unsurprisingly been hit heavily during the subsequent recession.
All the photographs were taken with a Nikon D40x with an AD-S NIKKOR 18-55mm lense, with the exception of the first photograph, which was taken with my Fujifilm FinePix A825. I had used the latter camera when I initially explored the area in order to get a feel for angles and lighting at particular times of the day. I found the best time for taking photographs was early in the morning, as I wanted to avoid, as much as possible, human interaction. My intent was to focus on the harshness of the buildings and imagery, and to reinforce my impression that much of the area was built for functionary reasons rather than aesthetic ideals.
I included the first photograph, taken with the inferior Fujifilm FinePix A825 as I liked the darkness which the photograph gave, with the recent rain giving a reflective sheen from the street. I didn’t manipulate the shadows from the photograph, as I feel they emphasised the overbearing nature of the building on the left of the photograph.
The second photograph is a familiar one in this area. Graffiti ‘tags’ are commonplace, and this one includes the ‘Gonzilla’ tag which was endemic throughout Dublin a couple of years back. This was often accompanied with a crude drawing of a Godzilla-type character, but this door seems to only have tags. The black doors open on to a laneway, bordered to the left by a row of terraced housing and to the right the overbearing building seen in the previous photograph. I utilised a zoom function in order to take the photograph safely and to attempt to only feature the black doors in the shot. Despite this, the photograph required minor cropping when I uploaded the photographs.
The third photograph is a strange building at the junction of Mill Street and Ardee Street. I liked the sharp lines and the soft, dull colours of the building. There is also a slightly surreal feel to the building, especially the makeshift and impractical doorway, as well as the steel roof structure which seemingly defies purpose, but gives the impression of a lookout tower. This particular building houses an evangelical church, and indeed Mill Street – a particularly bleak street in the area – houses another evangelical church and a mosque. With many businesses on this street closing, one of the few organisations which are occupying the various premises are increasingly religious-based. I increased the aperture for this photograph in order to increase the effect of the dull colours from the building. Again minor cropping was required in this photograph to reduce the visibility of cars to the left of the photograph.
The next shot is of Mill Lane, a strange lane-way which seems to only be used for illegal dumping. Indeed, there is only one door on the lane. The buildings – especially to the left – lend themselves to bizarre angles, and give a kind of retro-futuristic feel. This is contrasted by the dilapidated 18th Century building at the end of the lane (the last time the area was a vibrant and economically-viable district). I reduced the aperture on the camera as I thought that there was too much light (mainly due to the fact that the photograph was taken early in the morning and was facing east).
The next photograph is of a disused shop front, complete with broken glass and a graffiti stencil. I wanted to highlight the contrast between the old use of the shop front and the more recent resurgence of graffiti or stencilling. Both uses play into a particular understanding of the area, and both highlight the neglect which has long affected the area. As I was hemmed in by early-morning traffic, I had to reduce the focus on the image, while increasing the aperture.
The following photograph is of the street that the previous photograph belongs to: The Coombe. This particular part of The Coombe was earmarked for an apartment complex just before the recession hit. You can identify the old advertisements for this that are still standing in the background. I was able to negotiate a wider capture on this photograph by taking advantage of a break in the traffic. This wider image reflects the further wider view of the area as one of potential development, one that was never realised.
The following photograph is of a door in Fumbally Lane. The building was initially meant to be part of the digital hub area of Dublin, but was vacant for many years following the recession. It has recently been reopened under a cheap rental scheme to house a collective of architects. This image mirrors the previous graffiti image of a doorway, and was intending to highlight the repetitive nature of the graffiti tagging which is common throughout this part of Dublin.
The final shot I’ve included is a photograph of St Patrick’s Cathedral. I wanted to contrast with the ‘decay’ of the other shots. I tried to capture the light of the rising sun on its steeple, but also attempted (by taking it from below at a severe angle) to show the domineering nature of the cathedral on its surrounding environs. I allowed a wide-aperture for this shot to highlight as much light as possible.
Tags: AD-S NIKKOR 18-55mm lense, aperture, Ardee Street, assignment, blogging, digimedia, digital cameras, digital photography, editing, Fujifilm FinePix A825, graffiti tags, Mill Street, recession, shopfront, St. Patrick's Cathedral, The Coombe, the liberties
Social Media And You
31 MarA New Kind of Media
The advance of technology has meant a strong shift in how we understand and consume media. Previously, media was understood in terms of information being dictated to us. We now have an element of control over how we interact with this media, which was limited previously. This includes areas such as the Guardian’s Comment Is Free function, where people can comment and question aspects of the news on the newspaper’s internet site. The ‘democratisation’ of media is an extremely positive move, yet there are problems which we must be aware are becoming increasingly prevalent. The rise of ‘citizen journalism’ can help enrich one’s understanding of current events, but can also give rise to a huge amount of information with no ‘filter’ option. This applies to areas of social media which we are familiar with, such as Facebook and Twitter.
The Viral Video
It seems like every day we are told that a particular video has gone ‘viral’. Does this mean that the particular video is newsworthy? Often these ‘viral’ videos can hide political persuasions or marketing ideas. A recent example was the Kony video.
There is no question that this video was a powerful documentary whose popularity was due to people on sites such as Facebook and Twitter sharing the video, similar to the ‘word-of-mouth’ stories which spread like wildfire in our youth. What was interesting was how quickly other facts about the story emerged, such as the hidden political agendas behind the group responsible for the original video, including allegations concerning their evangelical Christian doctrine. That a group of hipsters sporting guns in the jungle in Uganda didn’t arise suspicions from the outset was worrying in itself.
Determing What The Product Is
Perhaps that should read ‘Determing Who The Product Is? Facebook is a hugely powerful tool in promoting your ‘product’, whether that is a traditional product that you wish to sell, or whether that product is a personal endevour such as a blog or non-commercial enterprise. When I worked for Waterstone’s, I was in charge of managing the Facebook feed for the shop in the Jervis Shopping Centre. What I found was an easy way to promote discounts and new books in the shop, but extremely difficult to determine who was actually reading and valuing the information.
What is more subtle is the advertising that Facebook enables on your page. Some of it can be particularly perplexing and bemusing, including advertisements that are clearly directed at different genders. Some of them are remarkably apt, however, and are clearly utilising functions such as the ones that you ‘like’ and advertising similar products. People complain about the ‘invasion of privacy’, but it is important to note that if you are using a free service on the internet, the chances are likely that it is you that is the product.
Twitter has not quite reached this point yet. There are no advertisements (yet) and you can quickly ignore or report those people or companies who have clearly signed up to the service purely to advertise a product that is not necessarily relevant to your interests. Although I have tried to resist Twitter for many years, I recently signed up, purely because of the increasing prevalence of some companies advertising jobs in particular feeds that I may be interested in. The future of Twitter is surely to move towards a ‘Facebook model’ where advertisements are used based on the amount of personal information you have provided to the service. A cynic might argue that they have not immediately embraced this model in the hope that you will become hooked first and so will find it more difficult to cancel your account once this becomes central to the service.
Tags: advertising, citizen journalism, Comment Is Free, democratisation, Facebook, Kony 2012, media, privacy, social media, technology, The Guardian, Twitter, viral video