DIT Photography Graduates 2012

A collaborative blog, documenting the journey towards our graduate photography exhibition in June 2012.

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If you missed the show this is a quick video of the section in the show. Here is the video of the section in the gallery of photography

[digitalfaun]

DIT Photography 2012 Exhibition Review Gallery Of Photography

Walkthrough video by Lauren Pritchard

The most difficult aspect of evaluating this show was attempting to distance myself from the personal relationships I have with the artists involved. Then on second consideration, I realised that the reason I undertook featuring the graduate class of 2012 is because of those exact relationships.

When we started college in September 2008, this course required that every student spend the entirety of first year exclusively using 35mm black and white film. This limitation wasn’t fully understood at the time and it was only in the years after that the students understood that it was this hardnosed focus on core fundamentals that allowed them to evolve into other areas and other mediums with unpredicted comfort. Some days, in the winter when you had a deadline coming up, you’d line up outside college at 8am to make sure you got an enlarger and stay in there until close, twelve hours later, not having seen daylight at all. It seemed rough and the dropout rate was high. 11 of the original 31 students listed on Day One of the course would not make it to the end of the first year. It was tough but looking back, it was probably the most enjoyable year I’ve ever spent in formal education.

I deferred college the following year due to an anxiety condition and joined a new group of students for second year. I would never be in the same class as my first year friends again but in such a small college that almost doesn’t matter. You spend so much time in close quarters here that it’s almost impossible to not see everyone’s work as it develops. To see the evolution of everyone’s black and white prints in first year to the work presented in this show, is truly a privilege.

I think this progression of the process is most evident in the work of Joseph Carr. His work, displayed as a large grid on the first floor of the Gallery of Photography, consists of urban landscape shots taken with a hand-built toy camera on 35mm black and white film and display the master print skills I had coveted when I was a classmate of his in first year. I admired him then and I admire him today. He strayed from this approach over the his time spent in DIT but always seemed to create work deep rooted in the hands-on manual approach to photography that we were taught from the outset.

The next closest would be Brian Cregan’s study of the Cordyline tree (cordyline australis) and its demise in Ireland’s urban setting. Again, Brian shot, developed and printed this project by hand but in terms of aesthetics it’s a very different series altogether. The process itself may be the strongest influence of the look of each shot. Brian used a tripod and 8x10 camera and I think even if you don’t include the quality of the image, you can see the effect that the process had on the original vision of the image. While Carr’s work seems fleeting, an attempt to capture and interaction with the urban environment, Cregan’s is a lot more deliberate, a slower process, a conversation with a dying or dead plant. It’s very successful and I think the idea of printing simple contacts of the 8x10 negatives by hand works well with the tree samples included in his area of display. The physicality of the object is not lost here.

Alva Keogh’s series “N.S.A.” is a mixed media piece combining paint, photography and a technique of cutting the top layer off sections of paper which gives the work an almost sculptural quality. The two pieces exhibited here come in at a B0 paper size, which measures approximately 40 inches by 56 inches. Hung like a tapestries on offset large nails on the wall, their size seems even larger and their impact is immediate. The vibrancy of the paint against the black and white images and the large top layer sections that have been removed with a scalpel let this work stand as an art piece rather than being simply categorised as photography.

The physical object has such importance among this class that Lyndsey Putt even installed a working photocopier in her designated room with laminated photos for visitors to photocopy and take home. It’s this originality and attention to detail that sets apart student work and real work. This was accompanied by a wrap-around cut and paste old school zine style collage of photos from her series which discusses the special issues and difficulties women face standing at the front at hardcore and punk shows. With the rise of things like Brighton’s The Photocopy Club and a general resurgence in zine culture among the photography world, it’s really exciting to see artists embracing this DIY style of display.

Another participant engaging in spatial issues is Katie O’Neill whose series, “Public Bodies”, details the nature of living in an urban environment and the way a person can interact with their surroundings. By fitting people into unusual shapes and places, the work initially looks a little off but I think that almost becomes a strength. The difficulty when assessing a lot of student work is that the brevity of the process needs to be taken into account and therefore it’s hard to make work that’s more interesting with time in such a limited timeframe. I think several of the artists included here have accomplished that.

Caroline McNally’s overall body of work presented in this exhibition tackles the topic of waste management. Her images depict landfill sites as otherworldly landscapes using colour palettes similar to those used in sci-fi movies for scenes showing foreign planets. The serene pastel colours aren’t exactly what you’d associate with former dumping areas, but they work in a way that transforms the view of landscapes in the same way that Ryan McGinley’s early colour work had a similar impact by catching the viewer off guard with unnatural beautiful colour. What’s even more satisfying about McNally’s work is that the book she presented on a table beside her work, isn’t the same series shown in the pale wooden frames mounted on the wall. Her book deals with the same themes and issues but tackles it in an approach that couldn’t be more different. Inside the gorgeous yellow hardback cover lies an intense catalogue of objects in her house, sorted by how they would be recycled. Resembling more of a technician’s manual in design than a photobook, each page presents you with sometimes upward of a hundred objects, all neatly laid out in a grid on a white background. Flipping through each page you come across everything from her old Star Wars figures to her board-games right up to her silver kitchenware. The care and time that went into the process of developing such a body of images elevates the book as one of the most charming pieces you’re likely to come across this year.

Another favourite of the people I’ve talked to was Laura McCormack’s “Low Season”, another series of colourful landscapes but in a very different way to McNally’s. McNally’s was very much muted, manipulating the colours of the settings in post-processing but “Low Season” is rooted in the immediate. The process was mainly a result of using coloured gels in outdoor situations to generate new ways of lighting old beaten up seaside imagery. The various blues, greens and pinks all pop against the night and revitalises these monuments of a fading tourist industry located in McCormack’s home county of Limerick. The challenge in making a series is the requirement to plan the shooting intelligently. Lighting an outdoor location necessitates a huge amount of premeditation and I think it shows in the carefully laid out colour-sequencing shown here.

Ieva Baltaduonyte’s work is rooted in precise colour management but more in the sense of minimalism and meticulousness. A two channel video piece is the first thing most people see when visiting the exhibition as it’s perched right at the top of the staircase. I think the video is the least effective piece of work in her section and it doesn’t show any of the same styling as the photographs which are very distinct and identifiable as the artist’s own from the outset. Unlike McNally’s diverse exploration of one theme, it just comes across as disjointed in this circumstance. I think if it could be identified as a standalone piece, it would communicate itself better. Unfortunately, here it’s presented as a precursor to the images which follow it and as a result lacks the permanence and discipline which so thoroughly ground her other featured work.

Where her video work stumbles, her images impress. The overall quality of the photos is as good as anyone can expect and the amount of times I saw her print them in college, the sheer amount of duplicates that didn’t fit the exact colour profile she wanted, really stands as a testament to the ones she selected as her final showcase prints. The work, which conveniently fits in with this year’s PhotoIreland theme of “Migration” takes its name from the Lithuanian word meaning the same thing, “Migracijos”. The work is a combination of simple straight portraits with a grid of four relating objects underneath each one. There’s a heavy emphasis on white and cleanliness and this sanitised structured space allows the work to really bloom. The images are accompanied by vinyl text which I assume is a quote from the subject photographed. Overall, I think this is where Baltaduonyte’s strength lies; the ordered perfected still image. I think the “less is more” mantra works so well in the artist’s work and it’s frustrating to see her almost spoil it with the prelude video piece.

The next artist I’ll discuss is Lauren Pritchard and I have to warn you up front to take my words with a grain of salt. Sure I’m trying to be impartial and write a somewhat objective review of this exhibition but at the end of the day, Lauren is still my girlfriend. I’ve seen her work develop possibly closer than anyone except maybe the college lecturers and I think that both hinders and gives me an edge right now. On the plus side, I’ve seen what it started out as, what didn’t make the cut and was present for several of the shoots featured in her book and video displays. Unlike anyone else on the course, the make-up of her work was predominantly video. Located exactly above Baltaduonyte’s work, it’s almost the antithesis of everything in “Migracijos”. Instead of being greeted by a video, you’re met at the top of the staircase with a lightbox and a photobook. The lightbox contains a single still image taken during the same shoot as one of the featured videos in the thoroughly blacked out room beside it. Using a very similar image as an appetiser for the full work is a lot more effective than the reverse. Inside said room is a three channel video piece whose monitors provide the only source of light in the room. Each video piece is a slow motion portrait shot through a water reflection although at first this is not immediately obvious. The measured pace of each video adds to the complementary nature of the initial still image. It takes a minute or two of studying the work to understand what’s actually happening here and it’s that necessity for considered viewing that makes her multimedia series “I is Another” a hallmark of excellent work.

Lauren’s roommate, Sinead O’Neill developed a series of models based around the process of Fracking (hydraulic fracturing); the controversial technique of pumping chemicals into the ground to erode shale rock and extract fossil fuels. The models were built by hand and shot as miniature landscapes. The exhibited piece which fills the wall nicely is accompanied by a graphic design word board showing popular keywords associated with the issue. I think the courage to step outside of one’s comfort zone to work in other disciplines such as model-making and design gives O’Neill’s work a deserving sense of merit.

[wephotograph-blog]

Thanks again to Alex (DigitalFaun) for this review of the gallery of photography section of our show and all the interviews he did with us. This meant a lot to the class. 

If you missed the show a quick video of the section in the gallery of photography is above and here is the video of the section in the archive. We hope you enjoyed the show and our website and remember most of the work can still be sold and a lot of us are available for work

[digitalfaun]

D I T   G R A D U A T E   I N T E R V I E W :  A L V A   K E O G H

Alva Keogh printed these images at 44 inches wide and then used paint and scalpels to transform simple black and white shots to something much more. 

How influential do you think an environment containing practicing peers is on your work? In terms of getting feedback to improve on, very. After four years of intense crits, tutorials and being in such a close, helpful class, it’s become the norm to seek opinions while making work. I think it’s one of the best ways to gauge audience perception. Online platforms like Flickr or tumblr are useful, but I love the immediacy of being able to sit down with people and discuss ideas with photos at hand. It’s still crazy to me how another person can suggest something so obvious that I just hadn’t thought of before, usually because I’m focusing so much on a different aspect. Sometimes it can be what makes or breaks the work.

What about your work do you think sets you apart from the rest of your class? My current project involves painting, ripping and scratching photographs – I’d say it’s fairly set apart! The process of getting the work to this point has been a long and messy one, and I was so wrapped up in it that I’d often forget just how different it is compared to the rest of my class. It’s far more hands-on and, I guess, extreme than others are. But it’s always best to have variety like that; it’s what makes our grad show stand out.

You just finished college and the phone rings. It’s your dream job offering to put you in a position where you can pursue your ideal project? Who’s on the line and what did they say? If you’d asked me that in 1st Year, I’d have said to get back to me at the end of 4th Year. Yet here we are and I honestly still don’t have a set answer. Maybe it’s an editor from a fashion or arts magazine, it could be a band or brand looking to collaborate, or maybe it’s a gallery director. Get back to me in another four years and I’ll have a better answer…you know, probably.

Honestly, where do you see your photography in five years? Well, it would be pretty nice if that editor or gallery director had called by then. I suppose I can see myself working part time (in a gallery? Let me dream) and doing freelance photography, maybe with a Masters under my belt. That would be an ideal set up. All of those factors would change my photography, so it’s hard to say, but it’s exciting to think my current work might just be the beginning for my photography’s future style.

What advice would yourself if you could go back in time to your first day in the course? Enjoy sleep while you can! Stick to your gut and make the work that you want – not others. Go read Roland Barthes’ work because he’s stickin’ around for four years. Harvard referencing isn’t all that bad, you may as well start drinking tea, and just get ready to meet an incredible group of people.

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Alva Keogh currently resides between Kildare and Dublin, Ireland and can be found online at the following: Website | DIT Graduate Website | DIT Graduate Facebook

The DIT Graduate Exhibition runs until June 17th in the Gallery of Photography and June 24th in the National Photographic Archive.

[digitalfaun]

D I T   G R A D U A T E   I N T E R V I E W :  D E R E K   B R U N E L L

Derek Brunell mainly works within personal themes incorporating a cinematic style to give the viewer an inside look into his home life. This is the penultimate interview in the DIT Graduate series. There’s one left and one day left to see the show in it’s entirety before the Gallery of Photography section is closed off.

How influential do you think an environment containing practicing peers is on your work? I think it’s always good to have another set of eyes. One student in particular advice helped me make a worthwhile change in the installation for the grad show that worked out. I think being around other practicing peers is definately a benefit, within reason. By the end of the course there were seventeen of us. Perfect number. I wouldn’t like to have been in a very large class. Because the class was small, we were all very aware of each other’s interests and styles so it was easier to give advice on the direction of a project, useful references etc. This was something that some of the exchange students pointed out that they found a benefit to the course in DIT.

What about your work do you think sets you apart from the rest of your class? I’m the only one that’s really worked with tungsten lights and cinematic style. My work is generally high contrast with an intense colour palette. I also shoot primarily portraiture and the others who primarily shoot portraiture do so in a more neutral colour palette than me. My work is also very personal and usually relates to my own family and no else in the class for obvious reasons is doing work on my family.

You just finished college and the phone rings. It’s your dream job offering to put you in a position where you can pursue your ideal project? Who’s on the line and what did they say? Martin Parr telling me he’s going to produce my book and not only that, he’s going to allow me to neurotically edit it again and again and again before it goes into mass production.

Honestly, where do you see your photography in five years? I don’t know is the honest answer. I hope to have pushed my lighting skills on. That’s always been a priority for me. I have some ideas of projects that I want to work on but at the moment things are only at the ideas stage. There are some “targets” I have in my head…but I’d prefer to keep them private.

What advice would you give to yourself if you could go back in time to your first day in the course? Ask for help when you need it. Particularly when your working with tech you just can’t get your head around. During crits get some else to take notes for you. It’s very difficult to listen, respond and write down the feedback at the same time. Sounds silly but it really is a big help when you have someone making the notes for you. Be aware that photography is subjective. Grades aren’t always going to make sense to you. You can get shit grades for work that you thought was good and great ones for work you thought was crap. The important thing at the end of the day is to be proud of it yourself. Take more risks. Push yourself to work on subject matter that makes you uncomfortable. The briefs are quite loose, you can tailor them to suit what you want to work on for the most part.

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Derek Brunell currently resides in Dublin, Ireland and can be found online at the following: Website | DIT Graduate Website | DIT Graduate Facebook

The DIT Graduate Exhibition runs until June 17th in the Gallery of Photography and June 24th in the National Photographic Archive.

[digitalfaun]

D I T   G R A D U A T E   I N T E R V I E W :  L A U R A   H U G H E S

A lot of Laura’s work revolves around the use of minimal movement to unnerve the viewer. Think of it like being the last person awake late at night and you think you saw something move out of the corner of your eye. It emulates that feeling. Unfortunately, I can’t display the images as such here so you’ll have to go see for yourself before the show closes in the Gallery of Photography on Sunday.

How influential do you think an environment containing practicing peers is on your work? By work, most of what I’ve produced over the past few years has purely been for college, so I would say quite influential.. I’m pretty sure that without the presence and support of peers that were not only practising, but doing the work for the same reason, I wouldn’t have got this point in time; finished 4th year with work actually up on the walls of the G.O.P. I did a lot of what I suppose you could call collaboration, with one of the girls in the class, and having a person there who is on the same wave length as you that can maybe pick up your creative short comings and throw suggestions out there was really necessary for me and the completion of a lot of my work over the past four years. On the other end of the spectrum, while it should have made me strive to be better, being in the same environment as people that I feel are so much more creative, more confident in themselves and their work than I am was a little hard. Seeing a lot of the work created over the years kinda made me feel a little bit inadequate in the work that I was previously happy producing.

What about your work do you think sets you apart from the rest of your class? I suppose a lot of the work from our class can be quite serious, and socially and politically driven, and I’m not that way inclined.. so my work does tend to be on a bit more of either a personal level or less serious note! I had a project based around things that people had said fuck it to in life like! Um.. If I’m to talk specifically about the final works let’s say, I suppose it could be that I’ve merged two completely different loves together. I composed and recorded a music track exclusively to go with my book project, because music’s a huge part of my life, and being able to that was quite nice and in a way it sets me apart.

You just finished college and the phone rings. It’s your dream job offering to put you in a position where you can pursue your ideal project? Who’s on the line and what did they say? It’s Justin Vernon calling. he’s asked if I would be willing to document the rest of the journey that he intends to take Bon Iver on. That and to sing with them

Honestly, where do you see your photography in five years? Honestlym I haven’t a clue. I’m hoping to do a lot of the clichéd finding myself over the next while, because I seem to have lost track of who I am as a person. Trying to force and, for want of a better word, conform to a standard of creativity has left me very drained. I’ve done a lot of experimenting over the course of the course, I mean, my final works are video pieces, and I’d never used video before this year! I’ve not found my comfort zone yet, even though I probably should have, so I don’t think I can answer that question really.

What advice would you give to yourself if you could go back in time to your first day in the course? I’d tell myself to not be so sensitive to criticismm to be more confident in myself and my work, and to defend it properly if I felt that what I was doing was right. I’d let myself know that conflicting thoughts aren’t always a bad thing and, I’d make sure I knew to say what I really feel about things instead of just agreeing with people and being unhappy in what that means I have to do. I’d also tell myself to learn to relax! If that didn’t work a second time round and I got to go back again? I’d tell myself to run.

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Laura Hughes currently resides in Dublin, Ireland and can be found online at the following: Website | SoundCloud (Music) | DIT Graduate Website | DIT Graduate Facebook

The DIT Graduate Exhibition runs until June 17th in the Gallery of Photography and June 24th in the National Photographic Archive.

[digitalfaun]

D I T   G R A D U A T E   I N T E R V I E W :  R A C H A E L   H E G A R T Y

Rachael Hegarty borrowed my copy of “Double Duce” in first year and is yet to return it. I want that book back. In all seriousness though, Rachael tackled the very common topic of tattoos in an interesting way. Her prints in the National Photographic Archive present the series much better than any online version. Make sure to check out the series before the show closes on June 24th. 

How influential do you think an environment containing practicing peers is on your work? Going to college with a group of other aspiring photographers was very influential but also very intimidating. You constantly judge your own work against everyone else’s and question whether you’re cut out for it all. However, having others around you with the same interests helps to expand your own knowledge of the subject in all different areas. You also get inspired to improve your own work and develop your own style that will set you apart from the rest. Then, when the course gets tough, your peers become your support system and you all help each other to cope and complete the tasks at hand.

What about your work do you think sets you apart from the rest of your class? I think everyone has their own style and approach to the areas of photography that they are interested in. I enjoy portraiture and fashion photography and these are the areas I’ve develop over the last four years. I love beautiful pictures, and I think that is reflected in my work.

You just finished college and the phone rings. It’s your dream job offering to put you in a position where you can pursue your ideal project? Who’s on the line and what did they say? A rich stranger is on the line offering to buy me a studio or apartment in New York city with all expenses paid for, for the next five years. During this time, I am free to build up an amazing portfolio and continue to learn all that I can about photography. A girl can dream!

Honestly, where do you see your photography in five years? Hopefully, I will have travelled loads and I’ll be ready to settle down somewhere and pursue a career in photography or find a stable job that will support me while I build up clients and portfolios. Maybe even look into opening my own studio.

What advice would you give to yourself if you could go back in time to your first day in the course? RUN! .. But really, I’d tell myself to accept and develop from criticism rather than shut down from it. I’d tell myself to practice all the time and read more. And save a lot, because that final year exhibition is going to take all your money!

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Rachael Hegarty currently resides in Dublin, Ireland and can be found online at the following: Website | DIT Graduate Website | DIT Graduate Facebook

The DIT Graduate Exhibition runs until June 17th in the Gallery of Photography and June 24th in the National Photographic Archive.

[digitalfaun]

D I T   G R A D U A T E   I N T E R V I E W :  D A V I D   D O H E R T Y

David Doherty’s graduate work details the artificiality of the urban green space. His book was by far the largest and most concise study of a subject that I’d seen not only in a college surrounding but in the photography world as a whole.

How influential do you think an environment containing practicing peers is on your work? Fairly influential, over the years I have heard the odd person from another year in the course say your class photographically sits well together, that we’ve all got our own thing but you can see that you enjoy each other’s work and so on. Not to say this is an insult to us as a group but that it shows we’ve supported each other when we could; giving critique or references and so on.

What about your work do you think sets you apart from the rest of your class? Ah I really don’t know how to answer this one. I mean, what comes to mind first is that oddly greens have been my thing, whether they’ve been desaturated, a lot of green or super radioactive hyper greens, I always dealt with the idea of nature that surrounds us and the effect it can have on us, secondly I tend to focus on small banalities or ennui of everyday life but I try and project them in a grander, overdramatic kind of way and lastly I’m fairly “out there” maybe with the whole performance aspect of my work, ever since the summer before third year I’ve been obsessed with sculptural art, land art and performance art and I think they subconsciously developed together with my more personal ideas into a style.

You just finished college and the phone rings. It’s your dream job offering to put you in a position where you can pursue your ideal project? Who’s on the line and what did they say? I have no clue what to say, my instinct is to go with a rather cool and creative advertising company that will employ me to make rather exciting, colourful “artsy” images for them. The other option is doing the whole wedding, family portrait photography though I know I’d most probably be happier doing what I want when I want, meaning doing the odd horrible wedding job to be able to do more fine art work, selling a print or two every few years and enjoying my life. Although a fairly stressed out person at the best times, I’d just like to be happy and I’ll only really know what I want when the cards are laid out on the table, I’m rather practical that way, you always just have to keep trying.

Honestly, where do you see your photography in five years? My hope is to get into more performance art stuff-that should satisfy my need for fine art, and then do more documentary work as well, that would help me develop more people skills hopefully, in order to be more successful in commercial jobs, but I say I may end up getting a 9 to 5 type job and doing a load of fine art work for my wellbeing.

What advice would you give to yourself if you could go back in time to your first day in the course? Relax, this is not the weirdest day you’ll ever have! You’re going to freak out so much, you’ll hyperventilate, you’ll have the odd mild panic attack, you’ll get rather depressed and angry with yourself when you can’t explain your ideas to tutors among many other reasons, you’ll feel worthless when you give into going with the flow regarding a project submission with whatever tutor, you’ll end up being a rather clichéd young artist-type taking photographs of yourself and calling it the best work you’ve done and you’ll even cry to yourself a few times in a toilet stall in college. Yet when you finish up, although you still won’t be happy with the result and you’ll feel like you should of done more and regret almost everything you have done, at least you tried, you tried so hard in everything through the four years and you need to look at yourself then, you’ll have had some great experiences and learned so much about art, photography and even yourself. In summary: it’s grand like! It’s always alright.

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David Doherty currently resides in Dublin, Ireland and can be found online at the following: Website | DIT Graduate Website | DIT Graduate Facebook

The DIT Graduate Exhibition runs until June 17th in the Gallery of Photography and June 24th in the National Photographic Archive.

[digitalfaun]

D I T   G R A D U A T E   I N T E R V I E W :  L A U R E N   P R I T C H A R D

Lauren Pritchard’s series “I Is Another” is collection of prints, books and videos and was almost entirely shot through reflections on water. Oh, and she’s my girlfriend. 

How influential do you think an environment containing practicing peers is on your work? Extremely. I honestly don’t think I would have pushed myself to work so hard throughout the four years of the course if I hadn’t been surrounded by such an amazingly supportive and creative group of people. Having practicing peers that close to hand when you need advice or want an opinion on a new piece of work is such an asset and in a way it makes you strive to produce better work. To an extent I also think it made us a little bit competitive to create something that would impress others and feedback definitely helped me steer projects in a better direction at times.

What about your work do you think sets you apart from the rest of your class? I’ve been told that my work is darker than others in the class, my final year work in particular, but I’m not completely sure if I can really see that. A lot of my work was undertaken in a studio, whether it was indoors or outdoors, in a very controlled environment and I guess in some ways that has made my work differ form others but to no great extent. In my major project, however, I sort of jumped into the deep end and ended up producing a predominantly video project without ever being taught anything about it in college. I suppose you could say that sets me apart.

You just finished college and the phone rings. It’s your dream job offering to put you in a position where you can pursue your ideal project? Who’s on the line and what did they say? I honestly have no idea. If you asked me this question four years ago the answer would have been along the lines of Walter Iooss Jr. and anything to do really good sports photography. However, seeing as I haven’t photographed anything remotely sports related since 1st year that answer has changed dramatically. Now, I think it would be any job that enabled me to actually see the world over the next few years. That, or a residency in some fabulous gallery.

Honestly, where do you see your photography in five years? Honestly, I have no idea. I have a feeling that my work is progressing into more video work rather than photography. Although, I still think that the tangibility of holding a printed image in your hand is worth something more than just viewing a piece of work on screen, well when it’s my own work anyway. But getting back to the question, hopefully I’ll have seen a bit of the world by then so maybe working in a gallery with my own studio space.

What advice would you give to yourself if you could go back in time to your first day in the course? To learn to stand up for my work sooner. When you’re in a course that involves having to stand in front of twenty-something people to explain and sometimes defend the work that you’ve put part of your soul into, you should definitely be able to stand firm on your ideas and even remotely get your point across. Also, to not take it so seriously at times. In the past year I think everyone’s stress levels went through the roof on certain occasions when really we all should have just taken a step back, relaxed and enjoyed being in each other’s company for one last year.

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Lauren Pritchard currently resides between Cork and Dublin, Ireland and can be found online at the following: Website | DIT Graduate Website | DIT Graduate Facebook

The DIT Graduate Exhibition runs until June 17th in the Gallery of Photography and June 24th in the National Photographic Archive.

[wephotograph-blog]

An inspiration for Lauren Pritchard's I is Another

Lauren writes:

Work that I have always been captivated by is that of Emma Critchley. Her underwater portraits are created in response to a fascination with an environment within which humans cannot naturally exist. The work explores how people react and interact with the space underwater; her sitters were are all originally chosen because they have a specific relationship with water already. However each portrait seems to discard the ethereal impression that is associated with water, as the images seem somewhat grounded. The images explore the nature of entering this space underwater and how when a person is submerged they do not only change place, they change their nature. 

Click to see the rest of Lauren's posts

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Another thing about Lauren Pritchard's work

Lauren writes:

I decided to shoot the direct image as well as the reflective image for the series as I felt it was important to ground this series in the real world, regardless of how or if they'd end up in the final selection. The idea of matching up the angles as close as possible allowed me to address the real world, while still keeping the integrity of the original shot. The video of the double figure was born out of this concept. The series is constantly clashing with the viewer's idea of representation and I think with the double video this comes across more clearly than others. Here you're presented with your view and the reflective view. It's about confronting the other, confronting yourself and I think this video acts as a microcosm of the process which the viewer undertakes throughout engaging with the series.

Click to see the rest of Lauren's posts

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A certain aspect of Lauren Pritchard's work

Lauren writes:

When I undertook this project, I felt that perhaps it was one that needed to be explored before I'd know exactly which direction worked. In terms of process, I was fairly well set, I just needed some tweaking but the actual development itself needed to be more of an experimentation process than I usual do. 

As a result, I think this is why the series ended up with three different methods of display as opposed to the one I had attempted to narrow down to in the fledgling stages of the project. The usual thing of not knowing what your project is until you're close to finishing it I think actually helped me in this instance. It allowed me to broaden the scope of the series, to expand it from just prints into video and a photobook. Each aspect gives a unique insight into the series and is viewed so differently that I couldn't exclude any format. It was adaptable and elastic but without seeming like I had stretched the series too thin. I think the book is extending the print in one direction, and the video extends it in the other. The combination of all three lets you see the whole project.

For example, the book utilised text and colour blocking in a way that would be far too distracting to implement in either other format. The sequencing also became important. Hopping around from subject to subject is a difficult thing to accomplish without making the work seem disjointed or forced and with a book, there's less room for error. An individual spread needs to have as much impact as a print with sometimes a lot less than half the space, and in some way entice the viewer into wanting to see the next one. When you're in a gallery, it's very easy to just follow the route and put yourself in front of everything once, then move on. With a photobook, you have to work on the constraint that the viewer can close the book immediately. It's a challenge but a rewarding one if you approach it the right way.

Click to see the rest of Lauren's posts

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Lauren Pritchard's Process

Lauren writes:

The process for "I is Another" is one that changed, often dramatically, throughout the project's life. The project emerged from a series of reflection images which I created in previous years and developed from there into other avenues as I generated theory and fine-tuned the craft which was needed to progress the series further. 

Click to see the rest of Lauren's posts

[digitalfaun]

D I T   G R A D U A T E   I N T E R V I E W :  B R E N D A N   G R I M E S

Brendan Grimes was a fully accomplished architectural historian before deciding to join the course as an advanced student halfway through.

How influential do you think an environment containing practicing peers is on your work? I tend to come up with my own ideas for projects but I find contact with my peers very stimulating and some of them definitely influence my work and how I approach it.

What about your work do you think sets you apart from the rest of your class? What about your work do you think sets you apart from the rest of your class? Probably my years of experience and artistic formation from when I was in my teens and 20’s. I’m 67 years old.

You just finished college and the phone rings. It’s your dream job offering to put you in a position where you can pursue your ideal project? Who’s on the line and what did they say? As an architectural historian and an Italophile I would love any job to do with architecture. Pope Benedict’s secretary: ‘Would you like to spend a year in Italy working on the former papal fortifications in the papal states?’

Honestly, where do you see your photography in five years? I think I will keep it up and be better in five years time.

What advice would you give to yourself if you could go back in time to your first day in the course? Be better organized.

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Brendan Grimes currently resides in Dublin, Ireland and can be found online at the following: Website | DIT Graduate Website | DIT Graduate Facebook

The DIT Graduate Exhibition runs until June 17th in the Gallery of Photography and June 24th in the National Photographic Archive.

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Thanks again to digitalfaun again for these interviews

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Brendan writes about his process for his project Ground Under Repair :

While on my bicycle for a bit of exercise one Sunday morning I noticed an overgrown field which I remembered had been a golf course. Subsequent research indicated that it had ceased being maintained nine months previously. Yet those nine months were enough to make evidence of its recent use not easy to see. The contrast between a highly maintained golf course and one that has been abandoned for even a few months is remarkable. I returned later and spent a couple of hours walking the ground in search of traces of its late use and trying to image what it had been like. My walk was like a preliminary archaeological investigation. Some golfing artefacts were still visible above ground but they were slowly disappearing into the undergrowth. 

Straight away it was apparent to me that this abandoned golf course was the result of the economic recession yet to me it was a benign result in that the landscape was healing itself free from the effects of herbicides and pesticides. I immediately saw the potential for a project using this landscape as a metaphor to convey to the viewer how we, as a nation, had mismanaged our affairs over the last ten years or so. 

My title for the project, Ground Under Repair,  gently mocks the efforts of those who would attempt to master nature. Now that they have gone away nature is doing the real repair work.

Research on-line, principally of newspaper articles, but most importantly of the National Asset Management Agency’s (NAMA) website  provided a list of golf clubs which were in receivership. With this information I made many visits to abandoned golf courses and to working ones in order to acquire an understanding of their effect on the landscape. Of special interest was the boundaries between the intensively cultivated ground of the golf courses and the neglected ground outside. Early in the project I decided that images which might be used in the exhibition should be capable of bearing a big enlargement so that details contained in the landscape could be clearly seen. Each of these images were made with a standard lens by merging three images in a panorama. Some of them were made by combining the techniques of focus stacking and panorama, i.e. six exposures were made to acquire one image.  

I decided that the final images were not to be traditional and popular type landscapes with interesting skies and dramatic lighting. Such an approach would distract the viewers’ attention from the subtle details within. I decided that monochrome would suit this project better than colour, and I also decided that skies should be smooth and cloudless, a gesture towards the white skies in early photographs resulting from the over-sensitivity of early emulsions to the blue end of the spectrum. To achieve this the plan was to photograph shortly before sunrise or shortly after sunset when there was a clear sky. This idea involved a lot of waiting for ideal conditions which did not occur often enough. However overcast skies were plentiful and those conditions proved satisfactory. 

After some consideration I decided that three images would explain everything; anything more would simply be a repetition with different photographs. For the photobook I chose to be more expansive and to include some details. A first selection of about forty images was reduced to fifteen plus four contained in the introductory text.

The images shown here are some of those which helped me work through the process of making sense of the project.

Click to see more of Brendan's posts

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An inspiration for Laura McCormack's Low Season

As this is a blog, we wanted to attempt to introduce our visitors to some inspiration, that people may not be wholly aware of, that each class member found during long searches in reference of the work we created for our graduate exhibition. 

Laura writes:

I was extremely inspired by the work of Erasmus Schroter, especially his Bunker series in which he photographs derelict army bunkers from World War II. He uses dramatic theatre lighting to illuminate the ruins. He also photographed a number of abandoned summer houses using similar lighting techniques. "Schröter celebrates things existing on the periphery, in darkness – left to disappear." 

[digitalfaun]

D I T   G R A D U A T E   I N T E R V I E W :   L A U R A   M C C O R M A C K

As you read this, I am attending the opening of the DIT Photography Graduate 2012 exhibition. This is the first in a series of uniform interviews conducted with the students leaving the course this year. I’ve kept the same questions for each person, something which I don’t normally do, in an attempt to better see the class as a whole rather than individuals. 

How influential do you think an environment containing practicing peers is on your work? I am lucky enough to have spent the past four years surrounded by some immensely talented people and we have grown and evolved not only as photographers but as individuals. I think it is a great experience to be able to develop your work in an environment where there is such a tremendous support system and being surrounded by so many creative and inspiring people, it is inevitable that your work will be influenced by them. I struggled to find my place as a photographer, having come straight from school into a course where, at first, I felt out of place and to a city where I knew no one. My friends from school wanted to be teachers and doctors and couldn’t relate to the kind of pressure I was under, they didn’t understand that there was more to photography than just pressing a button. Spending so much time amongst like-minded peers is what helped my work transform and helped me to progress as a photographer.

What about your work do you think sets you apart from the rest of your class? For me the only downside of being surrounded by so much talent was finding my own style, something that made my work stand out from the amazing projects my friends were producing. I started shooting at night, one winter when I was snowed in at home in Limerick and I became hooked. From there I began experimenting with coloured gels and light painting. I was able to go out into the dark and photograph a scene that normally I wouldn’t look twice at and create an image using long exposures, light and colour that was alien in comparison to its daytime form. I loved shooting in the silence of night and being able to take time to move within a site and use light to transform the landscape. I think that when I started producing those images was when I found a style that could set my work apart from that of my peers.

You just finished college and the phone rings. It’s your dream job offering to put you in a position where you can pursue your ideal project? Who’s on the line and what did they say? This is a tough one, before, I would have said it was Anna Wintour calling to hire me to do a shoot for American Vogue when I started at DIT I was sure that fashion photography was the direction I wanted to go in and even though I definitely wouldn’t say no to Anna Wintour, after 4 years I can say that would only be one on a long list of dream jobs for me. It is funny to look back and to have been so sure of something then only for it to be fighting for the top spot on my list of life goals now.

Honestly, where do you see your photography in five years? Ideally I would like to continue on with Low Season, my major project, photographing seaside resorts in out of season, at night and artificially lighting the coastal locations to bring the vibrance of summer back into the temporarily abandoned spaces. I have begun in Kerry so I would love to travel throughout Ireland shooting as many resorts as possible and documenting the seasonality of Irish seaside towns. So much has happened in the last four years however, that it is hard to picture myself five years from now not to mind where my photography will be. I will always be passionate about photography but I have had so many different experiences and have so much more that I want to learn that I could see myself doing anything from make up artistry to working in a gallery to working in film and television.

What advice would you give to yourself if you could go back in time to your first day in the course? I think I would tell first year me to be prepared but also that nothing is ever as bad as it seems and everything happens for a reason. I have had a lot of ups and downs over the last four years; projects that haven’t worked out the way I have wanted or everything going wrong and struggling to meet deadlines. I have had many sleepless nights and a few minor panic attacks, there were some tears and some drama but everything works out the way it should in the end. College is hard work, and photography takes even more hard work but all that work is worth it in the end when you can be proud that you have some of your best work on the wall.

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Laura McCormack currently resides between Dublin and Limerick, Ireland and can be found online at the following: Website | DIT Graduate Website | DIT Graduate Facebook

The DIT Graduate Exhibition runs until June 17th in the Gallery of Photography and June 24th in the National Photographic Archive.

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Thanks to Digitalfaun for interviewing a number of us, an interview will be posted on his blog each day around 6pm and here is Laura's

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A certain aspect of Laura McCormack's work

Laura writes:

My images were shot in a location that is very close to my heart. I have so many fond memories of Ballybunion in summer when I was younger and when I started going out with my friends and could drive back there, I began to experience Ballybunion in the winter months as well. I noticed how different the atmosphere was in winter, there are less tourists, the beach is silent, only a few locals walking their dogs. At first I was saddened by the emptiness of this town I was so attached to but I noticed that when all the tourists and holidaymakers had gone home, what was left was a community that made the most of the quiet months together before the dog days rolled back round again. Of course the town suffers in winter; sand gathers and fills the boardwalk, mobile home parks are closed up and beach shops are secured but left for the paint to chip away. This is when I situate myself in the dark of night and in the silence, I feel the emptiness and temporary abandonment of the place and I attempt to bring life back to it by lighting it in a way the is reminiscent of summer days and nights. Then, when April arrives; the sand is cleared away, the holiday homes are re-inhabited, the paint is refreshed and lights come back on.

Click here to see the rest of Laura's posts