Ireland — Nicholas Mackey

Photography.

Ireland

Dublin, My Dublin.

I opened my memories and something echoes from way back.
The image of a weak-sunned winter morning appears.
There I was, shivering, stood up high on the roof with my camera.
Before going to school, I wanted to capture on film the edgy wonder of my rooftop city,
Stretching as far as the dreamy, grey horizon.

Fitzwilton House,(now demolished), Cumberland Road, Dublin; circa 1972.

Alison, my sister; Dublin; 1978.

Looking beyond Fitzwilton House (now demolished) on Cumberland Road, over the Grand Canal and towards the Dublin Mountains; Dublin; circa 1972.

Wellington Monument, Phoenix Park, Dublin; 1972.

Wilton Terrace, Grand Canal, Dublin; circa 1972-73.

Four Courts, Dublin; 2009. Shown at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, 2010.

Fitzwilliam Square, looking down Lower Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin; circa 1972-73.

Christ Church Cathedral Arch, looking down Winetavern Street, Dublin; circa 1972-73

Hugh Powers in Herbert Park, Dublin, Ireland; circa spring 1973.

The Day Dublin Trembled; bomb explosion in South Leinster Street, Dublin; Friday, 17th May 1974.

Statue of W.B. Yeats, by Henry Moore; St. Stephen's Green, Dublin; 1971.

Ireland.

Such a big road of memory
Power to draw you back instantly to its fold.

As a kid in the early 1960s, I discovered the joy of photographs not only in themselves but also in books, magazines and newspapers.
I wondered, “Can I take photos?”
I was over the moon when my beloved Scottish grandmother gave me her antique leather bellows camera. I was seven years old at the time and have been on a creative journey ever since. More than sixty years have sped by. Still learning.

Etched into tiny rectangles of celluloid are recorded momentary fragments over a lifetime and, from these negatives, pictures with stories emerge. So many stories.

Greece