GOOD FRIDAY - REMEMBERING SHANE WITH LORCAN COLLINS

Family and friends of Shane MacThomáis were treated to a rather special tour of the 1916 graves at Glasnevin Cemetery by the inimitable Lorcan  Collins of 1916 Rebellion Walking Tour fame, http://www.1916rising.com/. The Good Friday tour was in lieu of a month's mind for Shane.... The bauld Lorcan was on fire and had us all eating out of his hands. Warm, witty and irreverant (I don't know how he gets away with some of the stuff he says!)... it was a great way for us to commemorate Shane, as raw as his loss still is.

SAME SEA EXHIBITION OPENING

I'm currently  showing some Cuban work at Noshington Café, on the South Circular Road, in Dublin. I've called the exhibition "Same Sea" after an inscription I noticed on a plaque mounted on the junction of O'Reilly Street in Habana Viejo.

It reads "Two island peoples in the same sea of struggle and hope - Cuba & Ireland."

The exhibition will run until June 30th. Drop in and view it!

REMEMBERING SHANE

My old friend Shane MacThomáis died recently and while searching through my archive for pictures of Shane, I rediscovered these photographs of a commemoration parade for 25th year anniversary of the 1981 hunger strikes.

The event was held in West Belfast, during the summer of 2006, and as Shane had to travel up for work, I went along for the trip, hoping to make a few interesting images. I was studying in Newport at the time and I was using a medium format camera with a waist level view finder. It's my favourite way of looking at the world.

As Shane was off networking and politicking I scratched around looking for picture opportunities, trying my best to be unobtrusive. These four are what I took home from the trip.

BEST DRESSED LADY PUNCHESTOWN

A few images from the Osprey Best Dressed Lady Competition at the Winter Festival at Punchestown which I photographed on Sunday 20th. The winner, Eibhilín Mhic Earraigh, moonlights, successfully, as a milliner to her friends. She's at http://www.facebook.com/eibhilin and @eibhilinmhic on twitter.

Hope & Renewal, The Finished Piece

Friday morning was wet & misty and there was no sign of Fink as I crossed over Francis Street on my way out to do pictures for Dublin People but he eventually showed up after the rain and by the time I was returning in the late afternoon he had pretty much finished his piece "Hope & Renewal". It's at the corner of Mark's Alley West and Francis Street. I'd like to do a time lapse piece with him making work. More anon, ciao for now...

City of Hope

I was tooing and froing from my parking space on Francis St today and met the street artist Fink (no relation to Barton, apparently) starting a new piece. I did a few pics and then had a little look through some older pics and I came across this one I made in Berlin last year.

Sunday Drive, Monument Valley, Utah.

I'm in Arizona at the minute and I spent the last few days up in Flagstaff from where I made a couple of trips, including one to Monument Valley. It features in several of John Ford's Westerns starting with Stage Coach (I think). Anyway, I took a 5" x 4" camera with me, hoping to capture magic hour in all its golden cinematic allure only to be frustrated by a stubborn hard Sou' Westerly. I go to the lab tomorrow....