Street photography in dublin?
Do you shoot the streets of Dublin? Have you ever done so? Having spent a long weekend in this fine city last month, it’s a location I can thoroughly recommend.
The first ever Dublin Street Photography Festival took place in early May, featuring an extensive exhibition of work by a host of international and Irish photographers and lectures, workshops and guided photo walks over the four four days. An outdoor exhibition of work by top international street photographers included work by Matt Stuart, Tatsuo Suzuki, Olga Karlovac, Richard Sandler, Melissa O’Shaughnessy and - er - me!
This fabulous festival also featured:
The first Jill Freedman retrospective in Ireland featuring images of her iconic work spanning many years. Jill was a world renowned, award winning photographer who published seven books and whose work is exhibited in the permanent collections of many museums.
The Irish Streets Exhibition featuring selected single images by Irish street photographers.
Finalists Exhibition featuring the finalists in the DSPF photography competition.
Akihiko Okamura – an exhibition featuring Japanese photographer Akihiko Okamuara’s Irish work, his first public showing in Ireland, will premiere at Photo Museum Ireland (on until 6thJuly - see below).
There was a great showing by StreetSnappers Collective members including Ginny Wren, Neil Johansson and Santos Alvarez Leon (the latter two being finalists in the two main competitions).
It was also a good Festival for me personally: as well as an outdoor exhibition of my work I had an image on display in the Ireland Museum of Photography and my work was featured on Irish national TV and in the Irish Times. I was a judge in the ‘series’ competition, I gave a talk and I ran a workshop. Best of all, I consumed my body weight in the world’s best Guinness.
My images - on the panel on the right (Olga Karlovac on the left)
This was my first visit to Dublin for over 40 years (the last visit was part of a rugby tour which is probably best forgotten). I would have loved to have had time to explore more of the city, particularly Dublin 8 and the docklands area, but what I did see offered lots of potential. I think my favourite spots were Camden Street / Wexford Street, Grafton Street and the Temple Bar area - all great on a sunny day.
If street portraits are your thing then you’re in for a treat. Not only are the plenty of interesting people, the people I did chat to were uniformly friendly, warm and accommodating. I also met some great local street photographers, making plenty of new friends along the way; it’s just that kind of place.
Great Dublin street photographer, Jim Leonard (Instagram)
Photo Museum Ireland
This is Dublin’s version of The Photographer’s Gallery in London. It’s more of a gallery than a museum and features one of the most diverse and interesting bookshops I’ve seen. If ever you’re in Dublin, you really should visit. The current exhibition (until 6th July) features an amazing documentary photographer - Akihiko Okamiura. This is the world premiere of Okamura’s ‘Memories of Others’ collection which features an extensive body of work from his years living in the north and the south. The book which accompanies the exhibition, published by Prestel, is a stunner.
A Dublin street photography workshop?
Almost certainly. This will be timed to coincide with next year’s Festival, likely to be the first weekend in May. If you’re interested in principle please let me know with a quick message here so that I can judge numbers (please let me know if you would prefer a 1-day or a 2-day workshop). The exact dates should be launched in a few months.
