RHA Annual Exhibition

I'm off today to the preview of the RHA Annual Exhibition. I'm delighted that 2 of my Stoneybatter photos will be part of the show. There'll be a little corner of the 'batter hanging proudly on the south side.

The show officially opens tomorrow and runs until the 12th August. 

Viking Place - Stoneybatter

Moira Road - Stoneybatter

Even more happy to find that my pieces are hanging beside Hugh O'Conor's wonderful image. I've been in awe of his work for years. 

Then I came across a piece called Nightshade, by Sergey Talichkin - a view over the city I'm familiar with from Killiney Hill.

I went looking in it for one house in particular that struck me when I was up there...it has it's own spotlight, highlighting it from it's neighbours. 

Sergey noticed it too.

Clontarf

It's some spot. Every once and a while it takes my breath away. Like this evening...what a sight. There's a segmented rainbow hiding in there. The camera phone really doesn't do it justice. Another of those moments I wish I had my proper camera with me. 

I guess, unlike Pokemon, you can't catch them all. ..

Taken on iPhone - edited with Snapseed

Hell of a spill...

Abbey Street, Dublin. The cameras on phones these days are handy, but sometimes just make me wish I had a proper camera with me instead.

Taken on iPhone - Edited with Snapseed

Feel the burn...

This shot cost me; Cormac started the spin, I pressed the button...then a searing hot spark of burning metal managed to find the gap between my neck and my shirt.

Searing hot sparks of metal hurt against flesh...felt like it burnt for days.

Lesson learnt...once burnt, twice shy. 

Back to Stoneybatter

Nearly home

The Dodder

Dublin constantly surprises me. As a country lad it's taking me a while to get to know the place properly. Thankfully my buddy Cormac knows it like the back of his hand. We often head out on night time photography trips.  

The most recent brought us to the stretch of the Dodder around Dartry park. What a place...hard to believe you're about 15 minutes from the city center.

Seemingly you can walk along the banks of the Dodder all the way from Tallaght to Lansdown. That's something I would love to do someday.

Turning the corner

Onto Kirwan Street, Stoneybatter  

Dublin - From Darkness into Light

Well, that was quite the week...first a huge thanks to everybody who helped me, in any way, with getting last week's exhibition together. I pulled in so many favours, and couldn't have done it without you all. I foolishly and hopelessly underestimated the extent of the work involved in getting something like this together...last time I got that stressed was when I was doing my thesis!

After a frenzied morning getting the show hung and the place all set up, for the first time ever I was able to see so many of my pictures up on a wall. Felt good.

Then, just when we were ready to open the doors, this happened:

Well...that's what they were worried about. The whole of the CHQ, and numerous other buildings on the Quays were evacuated, due to a serious gas mains leak just to the east. So, that was the end of that. Opening night cancelled. I was shell-shocked. So many people had come from all over to be there...it was a tough one to take.

We carried on regardless. The next day we were ready to make up for lost ground.

All in, 15 of the photos sold, which I am delighted with...especially since we only really had one day for the show. The raffle too was a great success. A special congrats to Daragh Murphy who was the lucky winner.  He will receive his framed copy of the Troop Stables in a week or so.

Huge thanks to everybody who bought pieces and raffle tickets. Without you all this would have all been for nothing.

The Troop Stables - Image selected by raffle winner Daragh Murphy

Between that and the raffle I will be making a donation of €3,900 to Pieta House. I'll be meeting up with Brian McEvoy from Pieta House next week to hand over the funds. I was hoping for more, but given that we had just one day for the show, I'm happy with the result.

I still have 20 images from the collection for sale and have set up a mini-gallery at home if anyone wants a private viewing! I will put up more details on the remaining images in a later post. If anyone is interested in them please contact me.

Thanks again to everyone for all your support and encouragement. You can be assured that your donations will go a long way in helping provide support and assistance to those who really need it.

Onwards and upwards.

Exhibition Open

The exhibition is now open for viewing. We'll be kicking off officially from at 4pm - 7pm this afternoon. Hopefully see you there.

Irish Times

Massive thanks to Malachy Clerkin from the Irish Times for his lovely words about the exhibition, opening tomorrow in the CHQ, Customs House Quay, Dublin. Read the article here