Week of Irish Photographers/Photography

Scarlett68

Starting Tonight on RTE1 @ 11.05pm

This week of programmes may be of interest to some of you. Tonights programme is "Fergus Bourke:In his own words"

Blurb from RTE:
From Sunday 9 to Friday 14 August, new and archive programmes on the faces and photographers of a hundred years of Irish life, city and country.

thebaz

some great stuff on the box, the documentatries on Bourke, Thuillier and Minihan should be revealing

sineadw

ah crap - and I would have loved to see that. Too late reading

Thanks Scarlett -will be looking out for the series

Skittle

Don't forget you can look at the program through the RTE player on it's website, in case you missed it.

gary82

"Fergus Bourke - In His Own Words" - http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1053415

Scarlett68

The times of these programmese are a bit all over the shop, so here's the rest of the list:

Mon - 7.30pm "Day by Day by Day" - Photogs - Day Brothers from Cork
Mon - 8.30pm "The Day Before Yesterday" Photog Fr Francis Browne
Mon - 11.05pm "David Farrell - Elusive Moments" Photog David Farrell

Tue - 11.25pm "Riviera Cocktail" Photog Edward Quinn

Wed - 7.30pm "Sweet Cork of Three - Edwardian Cork on Camera" Cinematogs Mitchell and Kenyon
Wed - 11.55pm "Dark Room" Photog Harry Thuillier Jnr

Thur - 11.05pm "The Man who Shot Beckett" Photog John Minihan

Fri - 8.30pm "Townlands: Not Fade Away" Photogs Mespoulet & Mignon

Arciphel

Scarlett68 wrote: »

Mon - 11.05pm "David Farrell - Elusive Moments" Photog David Farrell

My God, I am watching this and it makes me want to go and throw my camera down the stairs



The bit where he says that he shoots in 6x6 and 6x9 and then says "Film ... you know, REAL photography" ... FFS!

AnCatDubh

ah, he's just admitted that he has to go digital on fototv, admission of defeat for an analog soul methinks..... welcome to many mega pixels and low dynamic ranges mealsothinks....

Sleepy

Interesting enough doc, wonder what the legal status would be about publishing that collection of passport pics he found... surely you don't own the copyright just by finding the image?

wersal gummage

ah that chap was full of ****. i have better photos myself - just dont have the yarn of bull**** to go with them.

decsramble

Sleepy wrote: »

Interesting enough doc, wonder what the legal status would be about publishing that collection of passport pics he found... surely you don't own the copyright just by finding the image?

Been done before as well, I seem to remember an exhibition in the Gallery of Photography a few years ago. I think it was the woman who took photos by putting the film in her mouth. She had a section of passport photos as well. I wonder if that is where he got the idea.

thebaz

I found him very heavy going, in comparison to Fergus Bourke - technically good, but I hate the stuffiness of IMMA and that elitist Arty community attitude, its like pop music is trash, classical is real music - get some soul brothers

decsramble

wersal gummage wrote: »

ah that chap was full of ****. i have better photos myself - just dont have the yarn of bull**** to go with them.

Each to their own I suppose but I didn't really like his stuff either. I think if you look at a photo of trampled grass and you need the photographer beside you to explain what the photo symbolizes, where he took the photo, who trampled the grass and how he found his inspiration I get bored. Others love it though and they pay thousands for symbolism so what the hell do I know.

decsramble

thebaz wrote: »

I found him very heavy going, in comparison to Fergus Bourke - technically good, but I hate the stuffiness of IMMA and that elitist Arty community attitude, its like pop music is trash, classical is real music - get some soul brothers

Yes the documentary about Fergus Bourke was brilliant and made me want to go out and take photos straight away. Anyone who hasn't seen it should go up to RTE Player and watch it before it gets taken down.

Covey

What each of them has given me so far is the same urge, one I've never had before, to take landscapes of a sort. And I'm pretty sure I can't do it

positivenote

have to say i just watched the fergus bourke documentary and i thought it was both excellent and inspiring... compared to the David Farrell one earlier tonight, im of the opinion that Bourke just seemed more real about his photography or maybe his work was less pretentious. Personally im no fan of all that theoretical BS being spoken when Farrell was narrowing down the selection of his prints for the gallery with those two women... about the journeys and the paths etc etc.. its all about the photos for me

thebaz

c

positivenote wrote: »

have to say i just watched the fergus bourke documentary and i thought it was both excellent and inspiring... compared to the David Farrell one earlier tonight, im of the opinion that Bourke just seemed more real about his photography or maybe his work was less pretentious. Personally im no fan of all that theoretical BS being spoken when Farrell was narrowing down the selection of his prints for the gallery with those two women... about the journeys and the paths etc etc.. its all about the photos for me

agree fully , the Fergus Bourke documentary showed a gifted photographer with humility and not taking himself too seriously - Farrell seamed in love with himself and the whole elite Art world , which is the antitheses of the Magnum philosophy , here in Ireland to get on in the art world, its more about who you know, rather than what you can do - don't think I'd be a good student in Dun laoghaire :-)

Covey

I wouldn't agree with both of the above.

Don't get me wrong, Fergus Bourke was a genius, if you can lay your hands on his book, it's well worth the price. He also would be closer to what I personally take, especially the street stuff, which of course gives one more of an empathy with the artist.

However, I got a lot from last nights programme. I think photography is multi faceted and looking outside your own genre can be very rewarding. I admired a lot of what he did and although I wouldn't see myself going down the same road, I certainly gained both inspiration and food for thought from both programmes.

Very different for sure sure, but all the better for that.

Zxc

I've only seen a couple of the programmes in the series so far, the one about Fergus Bourke and the one on David Farrell.
If nothing else, these two films, and I feel sure the others in the series, demonstrate the vastness of the field of photography and the photographers who work in it.
Personally I think it is wonderful to have some programmes dedicated to photography, an art and activity which is practised by thousands but frequently ignored on tv.
Back to films about photographers. I saw one a year or so ago on the work of Colman Doyle and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing his fantastic images, hearing him talk about them and reveal something of how he works. That's a film I would happily watch again.
Often these retrospectives on photography are not simply about photography or the photographer him or herself but are wonderful documentary treasures of social history.

homerun_homer

All I could think when watching the David Farrell programme last night was that I would hate to have been the poor guy from Lugo having to listen to his nonsense.
I love art and photography and like to know what inspires things but some of the waffle he went on about last night in his boring monotone voice just...it's not for me ta.

I'll try watching the other show on RTE player in work. (Edit-Just realised work server is based in the UK. Blast)

Buzz Lightyear

I saw last nights show on David Farrell and while there was an awful lot of artistic BS and waffle I did gain some inspiration from the shoot he did on the 'Disappeared'. It was watching him feck off into the country side, find a spot and wait for that 25 seconds of light. I made me see from the end result what the fuss is all about when the phrase is used 'it's all about the light'.

cleeek

Buzz Lightyear wrote: »

I saw last nights show on David Farrell and while there was an awful lot of artistic BS and waffle I did gain some inspiration from the shoot he did on the 'Disappeared'. It was watching him feck off into the country side, find a spot and wait for that 25 seconds of light. I made me see from the end result what the fuss is all about when the phrase is used 'it's all about the light'.

I agree with you, inbetween the artistic waffly stuff, he had some really good advice. He seemed very articulate.

To me, I thought both programmes were very good. They were no way similar, they were about two very different people, producing the same output, but doing things differently.

The one about Fergus Bourke I liked, as he did seem very humble and down-to-earth. You're right, there was no bull**** in the things he said, more or less.

But, saying that, I also found that either he wasn't able to explain why he did what he did. Maybe it was just his lack of being able to find words.

I really liked the part where he said "I hate when people come into an exhibition and do nothing but walk around and nod their head." I thought that was very funny.

Don't get me wrong his photography, especially his street photography was really great.

Whereas the one about David Farrell seemed to have more description, and more explanation (leaving aside the very theoritical, kinda up in the air stuff).

Farrell seemed to be able to describe and explain things abit better. That doesn't necessairly make him a better photographer, but it helps people to understand what he does.

As a person, I think Bourke seemed to be abit "more human", or maybe it was just Farrell seemed abit put-off by the camera. I dunno if it was just me, but both guys seemed to have big monsters to deal with!

I dunno, I liked both. Both were different. But thats not a bad thing.

Anouilh

This description of the photgraphers who visit Lugo might put David Farrell's work into a clearer context:

http://forlackofwood.blogspot.com/2009/07/lugoland.html

DotOrg

couldn't see it describing the photographers on that blog? All it gives is a list of names and describes the hotel they say in.

Though I did find a link to his photos:
http://www.lugoland.it/web/?pag=2007&l=en
which i do expect would be much better when viewed as large prints

thebaz

I watched most of the shows, and what struck me was the quality or lack of, the shows themselves.
The one on the Cate d'Azur was terribly made, but the photographer himself took great photographs.
The ones on Minihan, Bourke and Thuillier were brilliant.
The one on Farrell was well made , but found it difficult to warm to the photographer, liked his swimming shots though - just my thoughts .
Minihan I think was my favourite.

ajsp.

I really like the Thuillier show. I liked him more than his photos. He seemed like a chap that I could talk to for hours.

positivenote

just watched the Minnihan documentary.. thought it was very interesting, it must have been a great time to be around london with a camera during the early-mod 1960's.

Overall i thought the series was very interesting and educational, but Bourke was prob my fav of them all.

bullpost

I enjoyed the Minihan documentary - thought the Athy photos were excellent.

The camera is at its most potent when capturing people , not things I think.

Interesting that Minihan observed that he didn't see himself as an artist , but a photographer.

Scarlett68

Of all of them thus far I loved the Minihan programme the most. One of the most interesting things he had said was that Beckett was looking at his photos and saw so much more in them than he had seen or intended when they were taken. I thought that was such an extremely honest thing to say (and just goes to show how subjective any image is to the viewer).

He may not think it but he is an artist; an artist with extreme integrity ,and, moreover respect for the people in his portraiture.

Anouilh

At the moment, the world of Albert Kahhn:

http://www.albertkahn.co.uk/museum.html

http://architect.architecture.sk/albert-kahn-architect/albert-kahn-architect.php

Valentia

I read this earlier today. Having Sky+d the whole series and only having seen the Fergus Burke one before I didn't comment.

I had half a pre conceived idea that I wouldn't like the David Farrell programme. How wrong I was. As Covey said it may not be the kind of stuff I might do, though some of it I'd like to try and emulate, I found him stimulating. He brought another dimension to his art. He set himself some daunting challenges but I think he succeed in achieving his goals and more. I didn't find him arty farty at all. If I had a criticism it would be that on one or two occasions he added to the significance of detail in his shots after taking them. Details that I'm sure he didn't see while he was taking them. But we all do that now and again.

Valentia

Covey wrote: »

What each of them has given me so far is the same urge, one I've never had before, to take landscapes of a sort. And I'm pretty sure I can't do it

As my friend Brittney would say "That's so not true!!" Look at the shot on your blog today. In fact some of your shots are landscapes but you are looking at something else in them.

http://www.eyeblinks.net/index.php?showimage=103

http://www.eyeblinks.net/index.php?showimage=95

AnCatDubh

Valentia wrote: »

I read this earlier today. Having Sky+d the whole series and only having seen the Fergus Burke one before I didn't comment.

I had half a pre conceived idea that I wouldn't like the David Farrell programme. How wrong I was. As Covey said it may not be the kind of stuff I might do, though some of it I'd like to try and emulate, I found him stimulating. He brought another dimension to his art. He set himself some daunting challenges but I think he succeed in achieving his goals and more. I didn't find him arty farty at all. If I had a criticism it would be that on one or two occasions he added to the significance of detail in his shots after taking them. Details that I'm sure he didn't see while he was taking them. But we all do that now and again.

I'd love if we could bring the likes of David Farrell online here for rational discussion - like or loath his work he has a perspective and I think we all would benefit from being exposed to a one to one exchange.

Anyone got a contact?

decsramble

AnCatDubh wrote: »

I'd love if we could bring the likes of David Farrell online here for rational discussion - like or loath his work he has a perspective and I think we all would benefit from being exposed to a one to one exchange.

Anyone got a contact?

That would be great. It's a shame RTE didnt think to have the photographers who are still around do some online chat.