Postcards from Ballymun...

Beautiful, sunny day. October 2010. 
Camera loaded with unusual for me material - Velvia 50, colour reversal film...
Now it's like a traveling in time... especially if Ballymun has changed so much since then.
That was a moment in time when every corner of now 'Old Ballymun' was so inspiring.

Yes, it's another blog post based purely on archival materials initially rejected. It basically must have evolved in me and I had to grow into the decision of showing it...   

© Artur Sikora

© Artur Sikora

© Artur Sikora

© Artur Sikora

© Artur Sikora

Built in nature...

It took me a while to write this post. Usually when I am showing photographs and writing about modernism all words just flowing out of my head. This time however was a bit different.
I tried to write something a few times this week but decided to postpone it at the end.
It is probably because disappointment sitting deep in my head related to camera incident I am constantly talking about... I know... 
Material for this article was the most important for me and most of photographs which never came out were made exactly on described below site. Close-ups, some details and really interesting frames showing how well this building is connected to the nature. 

I am here anyway with what’s left and with some description...  at last.

Visiting described place was special for couple of reasons. It is the only naturally preserved structure in the area, structure so well representing my beloved period in architecture. It is also the only one which stands out and looks simply beautiful. 

The most interesting aspect however is the fact that the owner of the house was my history teacher in secondary school. Absolutely lovely lady! It was a pure pleasure to meet her after all these years.

How did I get to photographing described building? I was thinking about it many times when my trip to Poland was approaching… and believe me or not but actually It’s happened spontaneously. 
I mentioned Mariusz Tomczuk in my last post.  Yep, he lives almost next door :) and Mariusz also had a plan to visit neighbouring modernist treasure so… we just did it. 

House was built in 1938 by the father of present owner. This extraordinary building sits on a beautiful plot surrounded by an amazing trees. Generally it is a very green part of the town, away from a busy streets. All of it makes this place very special.

What’s the most important if the fact that interior looks like the time has stopped decades ago. It is not only about furnitures but also the smallest details. Incredible. I was seriously amazed when I entered the house.
This applies to the entire building.

I also had an opportunity to see part of the original project. Very exciting moment. Small A4, already yellow/brownish pages with hand drown layouts . Unfortunately there was no obvious these days data table so I don’t have the name of the Architect.

Anyway - there is nothing more to say to be honest. Have a look please at photographs. This house is just beautiful and its every corner speaks for itself!

We had a plan to split our session into two parts that day in order to get a proper lighting on all elevations. Time was flying however so we managed to do it in one go. Sun smoothly illuminated our 'model' from the east to the west perfectly!

I am not sure when I will be in Hrubieszow again and if I will be able to rephotograph what has been lost but I am really happy with images I got and possibility of seeing the house.
Many thanks to the owner of the place for having us! 

Tech info:

All photographs here were made with Hasselblad 500c/m and Distagon 50/4 on Ilford Pan F Plus 50 and Kodak TMax 400 exposed at ISO 50.

...Birds

Just a short announcement related to my FB post this morning.  

Presented below photograph ‘Birds' has been selected for international juried exhibition - Black and White 2016 in PH21 Gallery in Budapest. 

Also the same photograph was awarded by the jurors with Honourable Mention. 

Fantastic beginning of the day.

‘Birds’ was made in my neighbourhood a few months ago while testing ISKRA, 6x6 foldable camera. Unique moment and unique place which is sadly disappearing now after so many years. Ongoing demolition is moving pretty fast…

Exhibition will take a place in PH21 Gallery, H-1092 Budapest, Ráday u. 55. May 5–31, 2016. 

…So my photography is going back to Budapest. Just a couple of weeks to go.

RHA 185th Annual Exhibition

My photography is coming back to RHA Gallery after a few years break. I feel very excited from early morning when message from RHA with this great news arrived :)
Below is a photograph which will be presented during 185th Annual Exhibition.

It is still one month to go but as usually I highly recommend it as one of the most important art events every year in Ireland.
Exhibition will be opened 25th of May and will run until 8th of August.

Here is also link to  article about my previous one, in 2011 -  'The Unit' .

Incarnations...

Here is a few words about my ventures I started while ago. There is a lot of confusion so I would like to clear it out or rather simply explain it.

My photographic passion is quite broad and touches many areas of photographic world.

- Artur Sikora Photography

- Darkroom Service

- Studio A.S. - Commercial Photography 

Photo: Rafal Krol

Let's start from the first one and the most important:

Artur Sikora Photographer

I am first of all traditional photographer working mainly with analogue equipment. This part of my world is mostly B&W but I am not running away from colour if necessary ;)

Of course This service is open for any assignments in specific areas (architecture and portraiture) especially for people who understand the meaning and uniqueness of traditional way of creating images.

I also teach basic elements of photography like negative film processing, darkroom printing, understanding of composition and exposition triangle and other technical bits and pieces. 

www.artursikora.com

What next? 

Darkroom Service



This is an extension of my primary passion which I decided to share with others couple of years ago.

As I stated on Darkroom Service website  - 'I started Darkroom Service to open new possibilities for young photographers, help those experienced to keep on working with the best possible photographic medium and simply... keep film alive.'

I have in my offer: 

- processing all types of professional B&W films (not C-41!) from 35mm up to large      
   format 4x5,

 - scanning negatives in high resolution up to format 8x10,

 - scanning glass plates in high resolution up to format 8x10,

 - scanning prints up to format 8x10 or A4 , basic restoration and archiving them on 

    CD/DVD

 - contact sheets wet printing (B&W)

 - contact sheets archival pigment prints (colour and B&W)

 - photographs archival pigment printing up to A3+ format (13x19in)

www.darkroomservice.ie

The last one is:

Studio A.S Commercial Photography 

It's completely new venture...well officially ;) This part is totally dedicated to commercial assignments, fully digital with quite a big turnover and at the same time very high quality of final 'product'.

What is in the offer? Architecture, Interior Photography, Portraiture, Corporate and actor Headshots and recently also events.

I was doing bits and pieces like that during last few years but at some stage I sold all digital equipment and become analogue purist...well until now when I discovered how high quality proper digital equipment represents these days.
It will never replace my old good Hasselblad  or Sinar but I am truly impressed and happy to use also this medium for  some very specific assignments/situations :)

www.studioasphotography.com

So... yes - these three incarnations is one and the same person - Artur Sikora ;) 

Thanks a lot!

Joseph Plunkett Tower

Saturday. Beautiful sunny morning. Ballymun. Joseph Plunkett Tower - the last one remaining...
Loaded with cameras and tripods we are going to the second floor of almost empty 15th storey structure.
I am with Jim, who brought me once again into Ballymun and got an access to the Tower. /you can have a look at my previous article related to this place to get a context...link is HERE/
We choose stairs and within no time we are in the front door of one of the three still inhabited flats. 
Doors opens...
Very bright and spacious two bedrooms, large living room with kitchen annex. Nowadays apartments usually not getting even close with size to this one built about 50 years ago. That's the fact.

Living room /fragment/

It's quite warm in there. Half century old underfloor heating still working perfectly. After a while I realized why most of the people who had to leave those flats were so dissapointed. They left behind beautiful memories but also comfortable and secure places. They were surrounded by good neighbours, people who cared, truly friendly and family-like neighbourhood which was mentioned many times by those who had to move away after decades ...

After short conversation with Lisa, owner of the flat, wonderful and very patient person, we took our equipment out of the bags and started to photograph it.
Soon this place will be gone as all original Ballymun flats...
While I was writing this text I got the message from Jim that actually only two families left out of three in Joseph Plunkett Tower...

The Tower consist of 90 flats and was named /as six other/ after the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation. It was build as the last one /1967/ and will be demolished as the last one.

Hall

On the way back we decided to stay a while within the building and record the maze of corridors and staircase on our negative films. Strong light of winter sun was illuminating everything so well... 
Surrounding emptiness and echo bouncing from concrete walls, ceiling and floor was the only strange feeling. It also emphasized mystery of that situation.

Corridor on the ground floor

  

Staircase

Just before we left, on the main gate we've met Bernie Rehill on her way back from shopping /photograph below/. Bernie, retired from Ballymun Library was mentioned third person living in the Tower. She is moving to the new place now.

...How much time left? Months? Weeks? 
Lisa will move probably soon. The same will happen with the last family we had no chance to meet.  I am convinced that these people will find themselves and happiness in new reality. The question is how long it takes...
All of it it's a part of history, disappearing part of history...is it good or bad? 
I am not the one to judge. The future will give the answer.


I would like to thank Lisa for showing us her place, Jim for all his help and companion and also Bernie for posing and great chat. Really appreciate that.


Equipment used:

Sinar F2 large format camera 4x5 with Schneider-Kreuznach Symmar-S 150mm 5.6 lens, Hasselblad 500cm with Distagon 50mm 4 and Planar 80mm 2.8 lenses. Film? Fomapan 100 4x5 exposed at ISO 64, couple of rolls of TMax 400 exposed at 3200 and 1600. 

Ubiquitous Concrete

It will be the first and probably the only Polish accent within 'Unfulfilled Dreams' series. 
1964, International Architectural Competition for Master Plan, for the New Campus & Arts, Administration and Aula Maxima Buildings for University College Dublin, Ireland.
The author of the winning scheme is very talented young architect from Poland, Andrzej Wejchert (1937-2009), graduated with honours from the Faculty of Architecture, Warsaw University of Technology. 

I will focus here on the most important for me - Administration Building /Tierney Building/ completed in 1972, awarded Triennial Gold Medal 1971-1973 by The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland.

Bridge in between  Newman and  Tierney buidings

I approached UCD Relations Office with request for permission to photograph Administration Building in early December 2012. Now in March 2013 finally I was able to set my camera in there and record its internal beauty.

'This building has a centralising function relating to the entire campus. It is used by academic staff, students and outside visitors. The offices of the President, Registrar, Secretary and the Governing Body are located here, and it also serves as a distribution centre.The building features a dominent central space, containing the General Office Hall and Public Concourse. Cellular accomodation is simply and directly related to this space.'
  /info. www.wejchert.ie/ 

Photographing UCD campus, oasis of modernist forms many times before I knew exactly that I will come back there one day to focus on just one, very special structure.
I am truly fascinated every single time I can admire such a genuine design. Concrete is so versatile and creative material to build with. Especially when used in the way Modernists did. 
Modernist's design is timeless itself... their  buildings however vanishing or quite often are changing irretrievably. I am pointing it almost every time I am photographing modernist architecture...
All UCD campus is changing as well which is obvious sign of time. It should be done however with a little bit more respect to the first and really good concept of all Belfield Campus.
Part of Tierney Building has been already 'covered' by new extension - UCD Research Building. It's a big loss as in my opinion the idea of the original design has been 'damaged'… You can still have a look at non existent elevation visible on old photographs. It is beautiful...Please click HERE

First floor waiting area

Interior space is mostly reorganized of course and its way of use has changed. However there are still  places which remains untouched or at least they looks like that ;)
I am talking about communication area.
Typically nice staircase, large windows giving beautiful natural light, bridge in between Tierney and John Henry Newman buildings /first photograph/...and ubiquitous fascinating concrete.

staircase

Coming back to the author ... After winning mentioned above competition Andrzej Wejchert co-founded in 1974 with Danuta Kornaus-Wejchert the practice later known as a  A&D Wejchert Architects, here in Dublin. While working initially in Ireland, A&D Wejchert Architects undertook also several commissions in Poland. 
Andrzej Wejchert passed away in May 2009.

I also took couple of photographs outside which I am going to present very soon.
 /within 'Unfulfilled Dreams' series on my website and on my FB website / 

...forbidden place?

- ‘You could find much more interesting object for your images’
- ‘well, I know it’s bizarre but I really like it’
- ‘we all likes different things’

haha...that was a short but very suggestive conversation with a lady walking her dog on the beach two days ago. 

That was really weird feeling seeing people looking at me when I was photographing 

industrial area beside Dublin Port. They all have been there to enjoy the view behind my shoulders...I was the only 'freak' fascinated by the large chimneys and steal structures around them ;) Industrial landscapes can be attractive not only for people who are bored or tired with the things usually recognized as beautiful.
The mystery, desolation and power of such a places is something excessively appealing.
It’s a fantastic area however not very friendly ...
I am talking here about the energy of this place rather then anything else.

Last Saturday it was my third trip in there and not the last one I am afraid...
In-fact, I've been there with camera twice before - once over a year ago in the same place (photographs are somewhere on my facebook webpage) and second time in 2009 when I visited old Pigeon House (click HERE please to see photographs). 
The Power Station and all industrial objects around is located in Dublin Bay, close to Irishtown Nature Park and Sandymount Strand. Contrasty place - very nice seaside with Wicklow Mountains view, green, quite and attractive neighbourhood ...and a few hundreds meters away, behind high fens - industrial plants.

I live just a 15 minutes cycling from there so distance is not a problem. There is however something else which I don't really understand. Something which makes this place impossible to photograph in the way i want...
After my first trip I wasn't happy with taken photographs. It obviously wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. OK, fair enough.
I went there the following weekend and...another two hours of shooting wasted. Unexpected elements appears on most of the negatives which makes them useless.
...So third approach... and here we go again - this times 6 out of 12 negatives were incorrectly fitted in holders and photographs came out - let’s say not very straight. A few from the other 6 have mentioned before marks on them again...

Processing was done correctly, all chemicals were fresh and properly mixed. 

This time I took even a few sheets of different film then the one I am usually using...
I am shooting with large format for almost 2 years. I know that mistakes can happen especially with this type of equipment but not 3 times in the row...and It’s never happened to me before. Not in that way.

Strange coincidence...
I am just thinking - what is going on with this place? 

Dublin Port (fragment) and the area of Pigeon House Power Station*

*photograph from Google Maps

I may go there once again next weekend anyway.

Please note: presented here photographs are the only (out of about 30 taken during 3 visits) which are close enough to my idea how it should look like and they are technically OK...

Art of concrete

Visiting another modernist treasure I came back to Trinity College campus. Beside already well known Berkeley Library stands much younger structure - Arts and Social Science building, designed also by ABK Architects (completed in 1978 as a result of competition in 1969)

Main Hall

Mysterious dark maze of corridors full of vertical and horizontal planes, amazing textures and ubiquitous fair-faced concrete. Truly beautiful building but at the same time very hard place to photograph. I will explain it at the end in “technicalities” section.
Building often used for conferences and public lectures includes also Douglas Hyde Gallery , the Lecky Library and several administrative offices. 

I had to split my visit into two days. An extra time was required to obtain permission to photograph Gallery due to current art exhibition. It's a very special place with amazing proportions and overall feeling which makes it work of art in itself.
I would like to thank to TCD's Communications Office, Gallery’s Curatorial Assistant and Gallery’s Director. Really appreciate all your help! Many thanks to security staff as well.

Douglas Hyde Gallery

... technicalities:
4x5 equipment It’s  a standard for this project. Calumet CC-400, Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 90mm 8.0 lens and  Fomapan 100@64 4x5 film developed later in my favourite recently Caffenol-c-m.
I mentioned above some technical dificulties during this session. Obviously this wonderful dim light (fantastic especially in such an amazing interior) filling the space is extremely hard to deal with when all photographs has to be neatly composed on rather dark view camera’s ground glass, looking through perfect but also dark Super-Angulon lens...f8

Settings for all shots were almost the same: f16 i 30sec exposure
After developing of negatives, scanning and first edition (with few bad surprises) I decided to come back to Douglas Hyde Gallery in order to recompose the most interesting for me photograph. It was actually this morning...third visit.

Boland's Mill

View from roof terrace of adjoining apartment building (2011)/on Fomapan 100

"Boland's Flour Mill still stands today, an austere six storey cut-stone storehouse built to store grain and flour by the Boland's family in the 1830s. It boasts 250 wooden windows, with excellent views over MacMahon Bridge and the Grand Canal Dock. Many of the old wooden hoppers and milling machines are still present within the building. Towering above the storehouse and its ancillary kiln and mills, are three industrial Gotham-like silos of reinforced concrete, pitched in the 1940s." (info: www.turtlebunbury.com)

It's wonderful Building and Dublin’s significant landmark.

View from Grand Canal Dock Dart Station (2011)/on Fomapan 100

I think the important question i am asking whenever i am talking about old, precious buildings nowadays is their future. They're sadly disappearing...
Boland’s Mill is deserted since about 10 years . Very central location, easy public access, its size, character and nature makes it wonderful candidate for incredible cultural space similar to Tate Modern
 in London.
Available online visualizations however suggests that this future may look different. Not necessarily well. Please click HERE (quite nice project however not as a replacement for existing historical site)

View from Grand Canal Quay (2011)/on Fomapan 100

Building, owned by National Treasury Management Agency and of course the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA)...(as far as i know) is destined to be part of a hotel and office complex...again :(  The good part (which I found out just after seeing and reading about new ideas for this place) is that Boland’s Mill is listed as a protected structure (!) by Dublin City Councill  :)

What will happen then? Time will tell...

View from Barrow Street (2010) /on kodak Portra 400@800

I live almost beside which makes easier to have a closer look. Internal access is denied. Below however are links to one of a few galleries with photographs taken actually inside ...really worth to look at.
Please click HERE.

Victorian Market

Walking through Dublin's north inner-city area, from O’Connell Street (Dublin’s main thoroughfare) towards Smithfield  we will see a beautiful Victorian building - The Fruit and Vegetable Market.

Main entrance, Mary's Lane

Building, opened in 1892, was designed by Spencer Harty (Dublin City Engineer, 1887-1910) and William Cranwill Wilson (Engineer and architect, of Dublin).

Market hall

The Market, owned now by Dublin City Council "is considered to be one of the finest expressions of the late Victorian approach to open plan buildings. The use of cast iron and glass was characteristic of the buildings of the time, epitomised by the Crystal Palace in London which was built for the Great Exhibition of 1851.” (info: The Capel Building).

Market hall, detail - the head of a column

You can have a look also at development plan for this area (DCC website): please click HERE (dowloadable in pdf format). Personally I found these documents quite dangerous (especially here in boom times) - demolish Everything and build..."something"! In this case looks like The Market is preserved. However everything around is dramatically over scaled. It's a history now anyway... at least for a while.

Gate, corner of St.Michan's Street and Mary's lane

I was photographing The Market Hall (second and third image) during a quiet afternoon. Ironically the most challenging to photograph was the most obvious place - main entrance (first image). It took me over two weeks since first visit there. It was almost impossible to set camera due to constant traffic, delivery trucks etc. Last Sunday (very early morning) I made another approach and finally I succeeded.


I would like to know a bit more about history of that
beautiful building, place full of life and bustle. Unfortunately available sources are a bit poor so if any of you have an access to some interesting information or details, please feel free to post it here in comments area or just email me. Thank you!

before they will vanish...

There are some things that will never fade away. You just feel it and you know that this is IT.
...taste and flavour of good coffee, sound of vinyl record, analogue photography and modernism, especially expressed by the architecture. That's My Things.
I would like to stop here for a while. Modernist architecture.
It is interesting how much the form may affect the senses. When i am entering into such a place i am shivering. I am amazed by simplicity and functionality of surrounding forms. Everything is so fresh, so thoughtful, so genuine. I would say there is even something mystical in it.
I tried to pass these feeling some time ago during work on one of my projects. To see results please click HERE.
Over a week ago I had the opportunity to admire a few such structures. Actually two...just two... Mentioned some time ago on this blog Open House Dublin 2010 made it possible.
The Original Dublin Airport Terminal (Desmond FitzGerald, completed in 1940), Berkeley Library (ABK Architects, completed in 1967), Busáras (Michael Scott, completed in 1953) and Liberty Hall (Desmond Rea O’Kelly, completed in 1965). That was my short list. Unfortunately I couldn't make it into the first two.  Very busy time. But i celebrated every minute in the other two.
Busáras by Michael Scott - real office machine, full of live. It's one of the first post Second World War examples of the International Modern style in Europe. During the tour which took over half an hour i  felt like traveling in time.

Busaras, entrance to the offices

Busaras, canteen

 ...and Liberty Hall - fantastic, simple structure...forgotten and totally underrated. I know, i know - there is just little percentage of people who appreciate Beauty of its form. I am one of them!
Unfortunately I could see there just the entrance hall and the top floor. Admittedly we could soak up the magnificent panorama of Dublin (please see photographs - just click HERE) over there, but it was not what I was looking for. I wanted to see more within the building itself, i wanted to feel it...not enough time and no access made it impossible.

Liberty Hall, entrance hall

The sad thing is that Liberty Hall may be demolished in the nearest future to be replaced by “something new”. Why? Why not renovate it, restore the former splendor and adapt to modern requirements? Its so simple...
I found a very comprehensive website with lots of information about this disappearing symbol of Dublin. If you will have some spare time please watch this FILM (click the link). Fantastic document!
I am still thinking about photographing these buildings in a broader aspect. Maybe it will happen one day...before some of them will vanish...

...retrospection

Some time ago i wrote a few words about shifting of interest and leaving architecture aside. That's true but it concerns work rather than subject matter. Architecture will always fill my head and soul in both ways - design and photography of course. It's probably one of this profession you are keeping forever. Doesn't matter where you are and what you are doing, there is a strange power forcing you to think about surrounding space and forms.

Presented in this post photographs are a kind of record of such observations and thoughts during period 2006-2008. That was the time when i could consider myself as an architectural photographer. (to see a few more photographs please click  HERE).
After that i decided to face many other subjects: street photography, portraits and so on... Architectural photography however stays as a very important one.

Next month starts Open House Dublin 2010 - Ireland’s biggest architecture festival. I am looking forward to it. Its an amazing opportunity to visit different buildings where usually access is denied, its an opportunity to talk to people about it and to exchange point of views and finally to photograph places and forms :)
I have my list of buildings i’d love to see...unfortunately many tours were booked out in first hour :( 

Well, I hope to see some of them anyway...