Yesterday, as part of Belfast Pride, I went along to the QueerSpace Historic Bus Tour; I was informed and entertained and met some great people.

When I first saw John Baucher’s (a.k.a. Moochin Photoman) through the viewfinder (photographs (and indeed some of his non-Ttv images) I thought they were a bit shit. To me the off-focus, black border, scratches and bits of dust on the lens (or more likely, viewfinder) only detracted what could have been a good image.

In time my opinion changed, just like in the beginning I didn’t appreciate John’s almost straight-from the camera approach to publishing often bland photographs, instead I realised that these were all part of a greater idea, of documenting the “normal” and “ordinary”.

This is what the exhibition looked like. It ran from 5th – 25th July in the Waterfront Hall.

John manages to see things, and has a skill for approaching people; capturing a great side of them in their portraits. In some ways I am reminded of Irving Penn’s Corner Portraits style he adopted in 1948 — by placing his subjects in a tight corner he was able to make them feel as uncomfortable, or nervous, as he felt shooting them. On the other hand, many took his approach in their stride.

After a while I began to see that John takes great portraits, and these are the ones that stand out, and his acquired technique is what makes makes them all the more unique.

I feel rather honoured to have had my own image as part of the exhibition, and grateful to have been able to take it home on the last day, in what was aptly named the “TtV Takeaway”.

I also nabbed the shot of photographer (and my university course director) Paul Seawright:

As well as having over 1000 of his own images on display, John put together a huge number of Ttv images from photographers around the world, these too were up for grabs. Here are a few of those I took home with me:

I don’t go to St Georges Market often enough, when I do I get that warm feeling inside… The people are friendly (except the few who tell me off for taking photographs of their wares), the food is great, coffee is tasty, and, when I see crap artwork I am just more motivated to get a bunch of images printed and get my own stall.

Now that the market is open each day of the weekend I’ve been a couple of Sundays recently, generally around lunchtime on an empty stomach, which is never a good idea — for me.

The band was playing, people were milling about; eating, chatting, browsing the stalls. I had my earphones in my pocket as I enjoyed the atmosphere of the everyone enjoying their Sunday afternoon.

I also bumped into @CakesbyJames (and Dawn) and had myself the most incredible brownie.

Victoria Square was also hosting a Craft Fair with had some nice bits and pieces, including this guy (forgot to get his name) making some pottery:

I may be back next weekend for more buns and coffee!

Thanks to my friends for a great night out in Dublin for my birthday on Thursday.

On Wednesday, I saw Angus & Julia Stone in the Button Factory. It was a fantastic gig; I truly love their music. Here’s a shit photograph taken from quite far back:

Oh and thanks everyone for the 43 “Happy Birthday” messages on twitter and 34 on Facebook. Some made me laugh a lot. People are awesome.

As displayed by the three young boys in the photograph.
Drumglass Park, Lisburn Road, Belfast, during the main Orange Order Parade.

In order; Harp, Carlsberg, Budweiser, Fosters, Magners, Tennants, Carling, Strongbow, a keg of Heineken, two cans of Guinness and some soft drinks cans.

A photo shoot I did with a local amateur comedy theatre group, Oscar Wilde and the Men of the Hour, a few months back.

I’ve been having major spam issues with my Google Mail accounts over the last couple of months. It started in May, when my inbox received a barrage of failed delivery emails.

Each one seemingly sent from [random_string]@icedcoffee.ie. The automatic return emails are from ‘Postmaster’, ‘Mail Delivery Service’, ‘Content-filter at…’, ‘Mailer-Daemon’, ‘(unknown sender)’ etc, with various expected subject lines such as ‘Delivery Status Notification (Failure)’, ‘Delayed Mail (still being retried)’, ‘Permanent Delivery Failure’. One or two have been automatic ‘Out-Of-Office’ replies. So far, I have heard from two friends that they got spammy emails advertising some sort of herbal product.

Here is a screenshot of my inbox as it looks at the minute (Click for bigger). Here is a screenshot of my Spam folder; on the bright side, at least it is catching most of it…

When it first happened, I changed all relevant passwords; those of my Gmail account (an email which has sent out some of the emails, but not one that I use often, or the main culprit) and my Google Apps account, which manages all my email. Regardless, in the last few days it has started up again. Filling my inbox, potentially pissing off real people occasionally, and not least of all worrying me about the security of my email accounts and other associations with Google.

If anyone could offer some suggestions, a method of informing Google of this issue, and ideally a solution to the problem plaguing my inbox, and potentially that of others, I’d be very appreciative.

Today Ireland’s first International Photography Festival opens in Dublin. Over the next 11 days the festival aims to showcase the work of many photographers, through hosting a number of exhibitions, as well as a number of talks and workshops taking place in over 30 venues.

Unfortunately, there is no single event in Ireland that unifies, strengthens or celebrates their efforts in the cultivation of a photographic literacy. Although there is a strong support for other artistic practices, there has never been an International Photographic Festival held in Ireland.

PhotoIreland wants to fill up this enormous gap in Irish culture and, in doing so, join many European capitals like London, Paris and Madrid, who enjoy the celebration of Photographic Festivals that encourage their citizens to participate in a number of events, even outside the exhibition agenda, like through educational programs, workshops, portfolio reviews, guided tours, etc.

The full programme of events can be viewed here.

A few of my own picks include:

Exhitions
Official Opening of PhotoIreland 2010
Open to everyone
Meeting House Square
1st July, 8:00 pm

The Gift
Giorgia Fiorio
Gallery of Photography
1st July, 6pm – 23rd August 6pm

America
Deirdre Brennan
Sycamore Club Gallery
1st July, 6:00 pm – 11th July, 6:00 pm

Inspiration
Perry Ogden, David Bailey, August Sander, Roger Mayne, Gilles Peress, Donovan Wylie, Alan MacWeeney
Sebastian Guinness Gallery
1st July, 6:00 pm – 31st July, 6:00 pm

I Like Boring Things
Dorje de Burgh, Tansy Cowley, David Morrissey, Samuel Cunnane, Kate Nevin, Anna J. McCormack, Edmund Doherty
The Centre for Creative Practices
1st July, 7:00 pm – 6th July, 6:00 pm

Art on the Luas
Selected Artists
Selected Luas stops
1st July, 10:30 pm – 11th July, 10:00 pm

The Scarred Landscape
Debbie Castro
Mill Street Studios
2nd July, 7:00 pm – 11th July, 6:00 pm

Fine Art Black and White Landscapes from Ireland
Neil McShane
Dublin Camera Club
3rd July, 6:30 pm – 31st July, 4:00 pm

OpenCall 2010
Selected Artists
The Complex
5th July, 6:00 pm – 18th July, 6:00 pm

SHOOT: Photography of the moment
Stephen Shore, Nan Goldin, Walter Pfeiffer, Boris Mikhailov, Wolfgang Tillmans, Juergen Teller, Mark Borthwick, Ari Marcopoulos
Indigo and Cloth
9th July, 7:00 pm

Talks
Scarred Landscape. Scarred Mindscape?
Debbie Castro
Mill Street Studios
3rd July, 12:30 pm

Fragments From a Broken World
Sean Hillen, kennardphillipps
Meeting House Square
3rd July, 7:30 pm

Giorgia Fiorio
Gallery of Photography
2nd July, 1:15 pm

Photo Blogging
The Back Loft, La Catedral
10th July, 12:00 pm

My new toys, courtesy of Nation.

The graffiti in Madrid is a problem. Some of it’s humourous, some artistic, most is just dirty. In Madrid it is every where. No wall left clean, no shutters untouched, stone left unturned.