Curiosities Abroad

During our recent trip to Ireland we were treated to spectacular scenes right out of the travel guides and tourism brochures. The lush green colors of the countryside, amazing views from castle towers, historic pubs, and local musicians in nearly every bar and on most every street corner. It was a feast for the senses. I have the photographs to prove it. But that's not what you'll see here. This is about a few things that probably won't make the cut to be included in the photo album you may find on our coffee table or bookshelf, but that you may still find interesting or entertaining.
I'll start with The Little Museum. It's located in a small house near Stephens Green and dedicated to the history of Dublin. Among the old newspapers, photographs and original furnishings was one rather large room located on the second floor dedicated entirely to the band U2. It was complete with one of those 60s style round egg chairs (which I couldn't resist trying out), an oversized guitar and half of a car covered with a wild design, but of which I was clueless as to its significance. Cool looking, though.

On the main floor was an entire wall covered with drawings by young girls who may have visited as part of a school tour. The children were asked to draw a picture on the subject of "Who will you be when you grow up?" I thought this was a great idea and really enjoyed seeing the contributions. A footballer, primary school teacher, a righteous woman...and many more. Every one was positive and hopeful. 

Art of all kinds was everywhere, and displayed in many different fashions. On a building in a small country town -

Inside the Guinness beer storehouse was this display.

Lining the halls of the Ireland National book depository at Trinity College were dozens of busts depicting ancient philosophers as well as historical scholars and writers. Even Socrates was represented. (Pronounced "So Crates" according to Theodore "Ted" Logan and Bill S. Preston, Esq.)

At the National Gallery of Ireland I was stunned by the work of a little known emerging artist named Saoirse Wall. Right there in the room next to paintings by Mauve and Monet was her video self portrait piece. It was hypnotizing watching her slight movements as her eyes looked straight at me like she was there in person. Incredible visual concept art.

Just a couple other items of note - Irish antique stores are the real deal. They are not second hand consignment thrift stores. They are packed with actual antiques and fascinating relics of all kinds.

Apparently being poisoned is not all that uncommon in Ireland. 

And if you ever find yourself in Dublin looking to do something slightly out of the ordinary - take the Ghost Bus tour. It was a hoot. Also informative about Ireland's dark side. But mostly just a lot of fun.

 

There's more. Like a small cafe we wandered in to one morning after seeing the sign in the window offering a "Traditional Irish Breakfast." Once inside we discovered the owner and most of the staff were Middle Eastern and the music coming out of the speakers above us was jazz. Not the experience we were expecting. But we appreciated the cultural diversity and the breakfast was actually very good...in a traditional Irish sort of way.

Roger O'Dea     5/20/2018

Strange But True

This is a true story. It happened just this way. I think it's something worth writing down. So I'm writing it down. Others may not find much of interest here, but I'd like to put it in my "permanent record" (pun intended). So here it is.
Monday I was sitting in the waiting room of the optometrist's office waiting for Kris while she was getting an exam. I picked up a copy of Rolling Stone that was on the table next to me. I'm not a big fan of what that magazine has become, but it was a choice of that or Redbook. I flipped to the 'Reviews' page which included new music, movies and books. One of the books was titled "Astral Weeks, A Secret History of 1968" by Ryan Walsh. It's about the famous and influential album by Van Morrison, which is one of my most favorite records of all time. The books gets into details of the time and place connected with the making of the album and talks about people who were in and around that same time and place. My fascination and love for the record is hard to explain in my own words, so here is an excerpt from a review by legendary rock critic Lester Bangs which explains it so much better than I can -

 

I had to get this book. I wrote down the book title and author so I would be sure to find it the next time I went to the bookstore. Then, the next day at 4:52 a.m. a message came in on my phone from an old friend who lives hundreds of miles away asking me to confirm my street address. I replied with a confirmation and a request to "send more Bings." That evening the reply came back saying "Sorry, I have no Bings to send, but be watching your mail for this to arrive..." followed by a link to Amazon.com which took me to this - 

 

 Wait. What? Are you kidding me right now? What are the chances of that happening? It turned out that my friend, Al, had seen the same review in Rolling Stone on one of his phone apps the same day and... knowing we both share a fondness and appreciation for 60s and 70s music (and that album in particular)... decided to order it for me. How cool was that? I told him it must be Divine intervention, cosmic energy, or synchronicity. He opted for Divine intervention, which I am perfectly okay with since it's all pretty much the same thing anyway.

And, guess what arrived in my mailbox today? That's right. Astral Weeks by Ryan Walsh.

 

Can't wait to get into it and discover the whole story. Was Janet Planet the muse who inspired several of the songs? What was James Brown's connection? And what was up with the radio station owner who believed he was the reincarnation of a scientist from Atlantis? It's all in there. Maybe I'll even find out what really happened on "Cyprus Avenue."  If I do, and you're interested, I'll let you know. And...thanks, Al. You're an alright guy.

Roger O'Dea      3/14/2018

 

Work That Matters (Nobody Cares)

I've been watching a series of You Tube videos about photography. They have been generally interesting and helpful. Until now. The latest video in the series is titled "Nobody Cares About Your Photography." That title didn't bother me as much as something the producer of the series said about half-way in. He said, "you need to be of your time and you need to make work that matters."
Work that matters? Matters to who? What if it matters only to me? Is that enough? Yes. For me that's enough. If someone else gets some enjoyment or inspiration from it, or if it conjours up some emotion or memory, or just makes someone smile (or cry), that's a bonus. And that bit about being of your time...bullshit. Some of my most favorite images have been created with unsophisticated technology from another time. That doesn't mean they aren't relevant in this time.
If you would care to indulge me for a moment, I'll illustrate what I mean with a few photographs -

A simple Polaroid picture of an old car sitting in an alley of a very small town. I took the picture because the scene appealed to me visually. So it mattered to me. I was to find out later during a gallery exhibit in which the photo was featured that it also mattered to someone else. A woman approached me and told a very personal story about the car and it's relationship to her family. I wonder if I would have even taken the picture if, on that day, I was only looking to take photographs of  "things that matter."

Another example is a picture that is very simple but contains more visual elements in a single image than almost anything else in my personal collection.

Color, shadows, texture, shapes, perspective, rule of thirds, lines and angles...it's all there. It's one that has received very little thought or attention from anyone who has seen it, but it matters to me. 

Simple, real, raw and flawed Polaroids of some people who are important to me. People whom I met in the course of business and became friends with, one who I met by chance out hiking and have developed a new friendship, and friends who I grew up with and have influenced me in different but meaningful ways. These photographs matter to me.

These two matter because they won awards -

This one because it's about a secret that I wish I knew - 

This one because it's about sharing a Zen moment with a friend who is gone now -

Or this one because it looks like a place in a dream but it's real -

And this one because it's...well...because it's a bear sleeping while sitting up like a human  - 

Sometimes that's all it takes to matter. Just a bear sitting in a field. 

So I'm not going to stop taking pictures because nobody cares. Every photograph I take means something to me. And, if it's true that nobody cares now, one of them might mean something to somebody some day. Then I guess I will have done work that matters.

Roger O'Dea     3/4/2018

What I See

My pictures came back from the lab the other day. I've been studying them, and selected two scenes that I think best illustrate why I am fascinated with the art of photography, especially film photography, and what specifically gives me the most enjoyment from making photographs. Simply put, it's how the same or similar scenes can look very different depending on the camera, film, even time of day.  I love how I can take a picture of something and the result is unique to the exact moment in time in which it was taken. And, in the case of portraits or candids of people, the emotions and personality of the subject at that exact moment. 

These two particular rolls of film were actually an experiment. I wanted to compare films and cameras that I really want to get back to using regularly again after lately finding myself turning to digital more often. The black and whites were taken with a vintage Pentax K1000 using Ilford Delta 100 B & W film. The color photos were taken with my plastic Color Splash camera using expired Lomography 100 color film. Yes, using the expired film was intentional. I've always been intrigued and a little excited to see the results from using older outdated film. I never know what to expect. The colors are sometimes a little off and less saturated. Or more saturated. It makes each photo truly unique. Nobody else will ever be able to duplicate it no matter how hard they try. One click of the shutter, one exposure, one chance to get the shot. You either get it or you don't. And you don't know until you go into the darkroom or open that envelope from the lab.

Now back to the subject of this particular exercise. Below you will see what I chose as subjects of this study. They are not pretty or perfect. I don't really do pretty and perfect. They were chosen because there is so much "going on." In the art garden scene look for the individual steps and spaces between them on the stairs, the shapes of the windows, the wrapped up hose, the shadow people in one of the paintings, the abstract shapes and lines in another...and so much more. In the alley scene with the power lines look at the straight, curved and tangled wires, the grainy sky, the symmetry of the transformers, the mural in the background of a child's face and again...so much more. I like both versions of each scene.   (Click on photo to enlarge and open in a new window)

 

 

If you look closely, the light and shadows bring out so much detail in the black and white pictures. The slightly odd hues of the color versions bring out a personality and feeling exclusive to those particular photographs. 
I hope you see what I'm talking about. Or, it could be you will have an entirely different interpretation. That might even be better. I think Degas said it best, "Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” 
So. What do you see?

Roger O'Dea     1/25/2018

From the Photo Archives

Too cold to go exploring today. So I took the occasion to search my old photos and see what I could find that has been forgotten, overlooked or ignored over the past few years.  Here are a few I picked out. Not sure why these particular photos. They are just the ones that caught my immediate attention. I'm sure there's a reason. It might come to me, but in the meantime go ahead and take a look if you're so inclined. I hope you see something you like, or that conjures up a fond memory, or in some way makes you happy. That would make me happy, too.

 

 A Zen garden right in the heart of the city. Denver.

 

I don't remember where this was. I wonder what it was.

 

Red Rock Park near Las Vegas. Before the rain came.

 

Sedona, AZ. A study in shapes, lines and colors. 

 

Sunrise in the Black Hills. Or sunset. Could be either.

 

Black Hills greenery. 

 

We all hit one every so often. That's okay as long as something doesn't break. 

Happy New Year. I hope in 2018 we see more kindness, less madness, and better days for all of us. 

Roger O'Dea     12/31/2017

 

 

 

 

Straight on Spirit

I went to church yesterday.  The Agape Spiritual Center. I guess you could call it church, but it is not really one in the traditional sense of the word. This is what is printed on their information sheet... "We honor people of every age, color, creed, culture & lifestyle. Many Paths - One God!"

http://www.agapeblackhills.com/

It is non-denominational. They prefer the term "Beyond Denominational." And so do I. It was a denominational church that led to my fall from grace many years ago. I was told by an elder of that church that I couldn't truly be close to God unless I could speak in tongues. I couldn't do that, and didn't understand why it mattered, so I left and never went back. And, other than a wedding or funeral and an occasional Christmas or Easter service, my church-going days were pretty much over. I didn't lose my faith. I just stopped going to any church professing a particular religion or affiliation. My church became nature. Still is.
But I missed the fellowship and community that I was once a part of. Some friends and acquaintances spoke very highly of ASC, so I had been thinking about a visit. Yesterday seemed like the right time.  It was the perfect time. The message by Rev. Vikki French was a very personal one. Several times it felt like she was speaking directly to me. And her comments really rang true about how we rarely remember the presents we received for Christmas in the past but do remember how we felt and who we were with.
I don't sing but I love music, and the music was so good! Very talented and inspired singers and players. There is also a part of the ceremony called "count your blessings" where during a song the music stops and people say out loud a blessing or something they are thankful for. Pretty cool idea. I didn't participate, but it was an excellent reminder of how we all are blessed in so many ways every day. Even when times are hard and nothing seems to be going right we should still stop once in a while and count our blessings.
I enjoyed my time there and felt welcome. I appreciate those who greeted me and helped me feel comfortable in an unfamiliar situation. I wish I would have had some personal contact with a few whom I recognized for one reason or another and with others who just seemed ...well...interesting. The type of people I love to have conversations with. But I plan on going back as time and Sunday activities allow, so I hope that will happen in my future visits. If you are in the Black Hills area and searching for some spiritual uplifting or fellowship, this might be a good place for you. Maybe I will see you there. We can count our blessings together. Even right out loud if the spirit moves you.

Roger O'Dea     Christmas Day / 2017

Life in Black and White (An Interactive Activity)

I've always enjoyed making black and white photographs. There's something in the light and shadows that makes them more real and timeless. Color certainly has it's place, but can also be distracting. There is a quote credited to Kim Hunter that describes my feelings about black and white photography as well as I ever could. She said, "...emotions come through much stronger in black and white. Color is distracting in a way, it pleases the eye but it doesn't necessarily reach the heart."

The following pictures were taken on my recent trip to Northern California. I have many in color, but these are the ones I saw as black and white. It's the only way they would work, in my opinion.
So take a look. Consider my comments. Do you agree? Do you see what I see? What do you feel? Most importantly - what is your own personal interpretation of each? What story do they tell you? I do hope you'll feel something. It could be anything. That's the fun of it. And that's what art is really all about.          

 (click on photos to enlarge and open in a separate view)

Montaro Beach, late afternoon on Highway 1 between Pacifica and Half Moon Bay. I took several color photos of this area, but only this one has the lone figure in the lower center left. Shows how insignificant we are compared to the majesty of nature.

Person sleeping in the plaza near Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco. I won't describe him as "homeless" because I don't know that for sure. Maybe there were other reasons he was there.

Two people huddled together sleeping on the street in the middle of the day. Quality gear, nice boots and sneakers. I am puzzled by this scene.

Riding a cable car through the streets of San Francisco at dusk. Urban scenes always look more real and raw in black and white. To me, anyway. In color you could easily miss the details in the architecture, and not notice the illuminations dimmed by the natural soft light of early evening.

A good example of how shadows and natural lighting can add an unexpected element. Enhanced by another lone figure sitting at the bus stop.

A study in perspective. And, doesn't the water actually look cold? Can you feel it?

Another one taken late afternoon as the fog was rolling in. Bodega Bay.

This is actually a record store in the Haight-Ashbury area. A little rundown with a storefront that needs a refresh. My eye was first drawn to the sign referencing Stanyan Street, familiar to me because of a poem by Rod McKuen.

This one makes me sad. She is rather well dressed and was obviously able to pay for a large meal at this fast food restaurant. I tried to make sure she wasn't in serious trouble. She raised her head, brushed me off and once again slumped face down into the plate. It was 8 a.m.  I didn't take any more photos that day. And that's where I'll end this photo essay. Thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed the show. Be sure to tune in again soon for our next episode.

Roger O'Dea     11/25/2017