Thursday, May 01, 2008
Dublin 10 - being Ray D'Arcy
Comments:
The billboard, the high contrast and the general dillappidation of the scene combined with those apartment blocks which look very much like backlot facades give this the look of some sort of post-fascist fantasy. Interesting.
The period/date clues in this shot are all over the place, and that I think is a large part of its appeal. Even down to the Victorian sky.
If I had been standing where you were, I don't think that I'd have seen this as a prospective photo. Yet presented with the photo there is nothing that I would want to change.
I think this revolves around the silhouetted person in front. The high contrast obviously builds effect but the fact that this person up front is devoid of all but a blacked in outline contrasts so well with the openness of the brain on the billboard. There is a visual feast of supporting objects in the scene but none of them are 'looking' direct at the viewer of this shot. Everything is looking/pointing out of the photograph even the silhouetted person is walking out stage right. This all leads me to the confined space behind the fence. Not sure I'm 'turned on yet' but most certainly interested. Well seen.
I think that the trigger for this was the bloke looking a little bit like a Brit from the late '50s, coupled with the feeling that the billboard was somehow more interesting than it actually is. It took a year, and a new b/w tool, to get it into a state that made an impact although I agree with all the comments about the oddities. Dublin could make a good backdrop for film about a dysfunctional society inasmuch that one keeps stumbling on these places that fall outside the new image of the place. The attitude to rubbish is worse than the UK: the main canal a few blocks further on was glinting along its entire length from discarded beer cans!
Like a scene from a arty black and white movie, I am quite "turned on" by this one. Both figures, the fenced area, those squared "building blocks" -- it oozes atmosphere. The billboard is a good counterpoint to its more gritty surroundings.
It is interesting to see this high contrast scene next to Colin's Mudvac North Sea image -- what a difference our choices in processing make!
There is a triangle of interest with the two people and the poster, I feel it is assisted by the soot and whitewash tone of the image.
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If I had been standing where you were, I don't think that I'd have seen this as a prospective photo. Yet presented with the photo there is nothing that I would want to change.
It is interesting to see this high contrast scene next to Colin's Mudvac North Sea image -- what a difference our choices in processing make!