TG4 tonight 9:30 - Coleman Doyle

bullpost

Looks like an interesting program.

Coleman Doyle abhar Machnaimh - TG4 - 21:30
Profile of the photographer's career which spans more than 60 years. The pictures he has taken of Ireland reveal a country which has undergone huge change during the latter part of the 20th century.

mrmac

Thanks for the heads-up.
I think I've seen some of his work on TV before - it's actually hard to believe that some of the pictures are not that old!

Morrisseeee

Thanks for the reminder, sounds interesting......but......

TG4 - 21:30

....oooohh very close to clashing with an event on RTE 2 ! I'll record it I think.

Morrisseeee

Got to see this (as the OTHER event on RTE 2 was a disaster !!), it was a very enjoyable programme.

AnCatDubh

Caught last 15 minutes of this. I wouldn't have been overly familiar with the guy albeit he's been in every household in the country for the last 60 years but some wonderful documentary / reportage / portrait imagery to behold. I hope a repeat is shown. Appears to be a true master of his trade.

One little thing I noticed in the few minutes that I saw - the images which were from the archive were many of which were stunning black and whites, but the image he took at the end of the guy from the blasket islands, presumably with his modern day equipment didn't have the same ambience and aesthetic feel to it at all when showed in print. Film versus digital perhaps?

Did anyone else think so?

Morrisseeee

I recorded the programme aswell, because its a programme I could see myself watching over & over. His images are stunning, truly capturing 'the moment'. He had an 'unreal' knack (skill) of taking the perfect photo at the perfect time. Every pic shown last last night told a story, from a simple landscape, to a portrait to the troubles in the North.

Film versus digital perhaps?

No competition really !!!!!!

Mycroft H

I'll watch it when i get a break from studying, thank god for sky+

artyeva

not a terribly well edited documentary [imo] but so many stunning images and he seemed like a lovely modest unassuming guy too. one thing that stuck me watching it was that i can't honestly remember the last time i saw a shot on the front page of an irish newspaper that made me go 'wow' out loud. :rolleyes:

Morrisseeee

i can't honestly remember the last time i saw a shot on the front page of an irish newspaper that made me go 'wow' out loud.

....stop buying the Star & the Sun !!!!!
Is your point that 'even though his 'work' is very good and acknowledged, that it still doesn't 'grab' your attention', or that today's photographers are not up to his standard (in his prime) ?
I persume that today's Newspapers would go with a poor quality 'Headline-grabing'/'money-making' photo than a 'Coleman Doyle type' photo, well some newspapers anyway !

mrmac

I watched it - and thought it was fantastic.

Strangely, I thought all of his B&W shots had far more impact than his colour ones.

Did you happen to notice the lighting on, nearly all, his portraits? They all seemed to be natural window light, perhaps with a reflector. The shot of the owld guy on the Blaskets, showed this in practice, and it was great! No fancy gizmos.

Made me think a lot more about what's in the image, instead of just taking a photograph. I have loads of "nice" shots, but I would say very very few that "tell a story" or draw you into the scene.

artyeva

Morrisseeee wrote: »

....stop buying the Star & the Sun !!!!!

ha!! i wouldn't pick one out of a bin to line a hamster cage with, never mind hand over money for them...:D

mrmac wrote: »

Made me think a lot more about what's in the image, instead of just taking a photograph. I have loads of "nice" shots, but I would say very very few that "tell a story" or draw you into the scene.

This was kinda what I was thinking - Doyle's shots really did tell a story as well as sell it, iykwim. it's not often i've seen an irish paper using photography in this way. too often it's just a photo of whoever is mentioned in the article, sometimes without any deeper interaction - or something. [not really sure how to put into words, doh!] but i saw so much more in Doyle's work. his images seem to be able to stand alone as 'articles'.

i'm not expressing this very well. time for more coffee

mrmac

artyeva wrote: »

i'm not expressing this very well. time for more coffee

Great minds, eh? Just poured myself another cup!

I think I know what you mean? The shots that where used for the Irish Press, helped to tell the story, to sell the article. Yet, even today, without having a clue what the original story was about, we can still enjoy the scene and imagine what was going on.

I think that's why I like taking "candid" shots of my kids so much. They can make me think "what's going on in that wee head of hers"?

ThOnda

TV was off-limits due to demand for some british-antitalent-freak-showcase :mad:

Did somebody record it in a way so I could see it? Possibly on my TV(DVD/VHS) or PC?

Morrisseeee

Off topic:

I think that's why I like taking "candid" shots of my kids so much

Yeah, I love these type of photos. They are difficult though, as they move around so much, and doubly so as I'm using a manual lens...doh !

whyulittle

ThOnda wrote: »

TV was off-limits due to demand for some british-antitalent-freak-showcase :mad:

Did somebody record it in a way so I could see it? Possibly on my TV(DVD/VHS) or PC?

Watching Champions League Final as well, huh?

mrmac

There are a few excerpts available to view on the Production Companies website :

http://www.feenish.com/ourwork/abharmachnaimh/details/


BTW - C&P - "The National Library of Ireland has acquired the entire photographic collection of Colman Doyle, widely acknowledged as one of the most important Irish photographers of the 20th century. Most of the 25,000-item collection comprises negatives, the balance (approximately 2,000 items) comprising photographic prints."

AnCatDubh

Hey - for anyone who missed it, only caught 10 minutes of it, or is living in hope of getting a recording off someone, I was in touch with TG4 today and this programme is available on the internet for viewing for the next month. By logging on to http://www.tg4.tv (note not .ie), you will find it under Faisnéis - Cartlann (left hand side of the navigation). It will be available for viewing on this site for a month.

Maith thú TG4. Iontach ar fad.

Cheers.