For those who don’t mind a 14 day quaratine.
Covid holidays
Lockdown pt 1
Lens Culture Street Photography Awards 2020
This is my entry for the Lens Culture Street Photography Awards 2020. The man sitting is Tom Neachtain and as you can see is fond of an afternoon refreshment. Sadly after a few months of meeting and photographing Tom, he was diagnosed with Alzheimers and is now on the 7up in a nursing home. His friend Shay Rooney a local carpenter and occasional actor is seen chatting with Tom. Unfortunately I didn’t get the name of the cat as it was just passing through .
From ‘The return of the raging skies’ series of 2012
12 Shades of green
I have to admit the colour green is generally not a favourite of mine, except for nature, grass, trees etc. Its my mum’s favourite though. Memories of Dame Maggie Smith in the film Gosford Park with her unscripted ” Difficult colour green…. very tricky.” Well as it is St Patrick’s Day today I’ve complied 12 green images I’ve shot over the years.
Car parks
Despite spending so much of my life travelling on the London underground I never been that fond of Car parks especially underground. Car parks are mostly dreary, dark and uninspiring, but very occasionally one catches my eye. Here’s a recent series .
The Night Surfers
My car crash modelling career! A Christmas message.
Back in 2004 I called up art directer Joanna Wenley at the London advertising agency Boase Massimi Pollitt (BMP) who replied ‘Ah yes Kelvin, you were my dead body’! After a spit second of hesitation I then recalled my doomed ‘car crash ‘ modelling career back in 1986 whilst assisting John Claridge at a secret location. He was commissioned by Joanna and the brilliant Frank Budgen to photograph Derbyshire County Council’s anti drink drive campaign during the Christmas period. John rewarded my corpse like modelling with a not to be sniffed at 50 quid. I came across these ads recently while reading Dave Dye’s excellent nostalgic blog ‘Stuff From the loft’ https://davedye.com/
Drive safely this Christmas. Photography by John Claridge
Irish Cricket Part 3 – 13 Portraits . With a brief history of Irish cricket.
There were forms of cricket played in Ireland as early as the 1600’s with stool ball and other stick ‘n ball games emerging. In the 1730’s Charles and Lord John Sackville played cricket in the Phoenix park but the first recognised match was the Garrison (British army officers) verses an all Ireland team (Irish aristocracy ) in 1792 playing annually. Cricket was and still is the game of the British Empire cementing the ties of the colonies. Although Rugby spread to other countries such as South Africa, Australia, NZ , cricket spread to India largely due to their climate. Carlow CC formed in 1830 as well as Wicklow. The Phoenix which is the longest surviving club formed in 1834. Trinity College in 1835 and Royal school of Armagh 1854. The biggest and most successful sporting celebrity in England in the late 19th century was WC Grace who played regularly at Trinity College grounds. A game that was associated with gentry and the elite quickly became a game of the people, played by all classes across Ireland in the late 1800’s. It was the most popular sport in Ireland. Cricket clubs formed in every county. Even the Irish republicans were playing the most Englishness of games. It was reported that the indigenous game of Hurling was a problem because it was ‘seen as barbaric’ causing excitement thus leading to violence, whereas cricket was seen as disciplined with organisation.
The game went into decline towards the end of the 19th century, a victim of politics and class, as the growth of Gaelic Games became a rallying point for the disaffected and disenfranchised working-class tenants of Ireland against their upper-class, cricket-playing, landlords. Although the game of cricket itself was not anathema to the downtrodden, its affiliation to England was.
Although the game continued in the north of the country and in the heartlands of central and northern Dublin, the GAA introduced the draconian Law 27 in 1902, banning GAA players from either participating or even watching the so-called English sports of football, rugby or cricket. The ban lasted for more than 70 years, ensuring the game became unknown in much of the country. internal issues within cricket didn’t help, such as the failure to organise a governing body which might have unified the sport and helped it maintain its popularity. Anybody who showed an interest in cricket was regarded as a traitor. The success of the Land Acts in reducing the land ownership is indicated by the fact that in 1870, only 3% of Irish farmers owned their own land while 97% were tenants. By 1929, this ratio had been reversed with 97.4% of farmers holding their farms in freehold. So as a result of this (in rural areas) the large estates that were used as cricket pitches were now owned by the tenant farmers who were not interested in giving or letting the land as cricket pitches, as farming to feed themselves took priority .
The departure of the British in 1922 from the new Free State also contributed towards the game losing further ground, while in the north of the country it strengthened where ties to Britain remained strong.
It took until 1923 to attempt the formation of the Irish Cricket Union with a brief to organise the national squad, arranging fixtures against the Scots and the English MCC, with occasional visits by English counties and test teams. But due to internal politics the Irish Cricket Union wasn’t officially formed until 2001 which became Cricket Ireland.
The Irish Cricket team went on to beat the West Indies in 2004 and went on to beat Bangladesh and Pakistan in the 2007 World Cup. Followed by a win over England in the same competition in 2011. Cricket in schools in Ireland is gradually increasing with girls as well as the boys. Women’s cricket has had its own success which I’ll be featuring next season.
As a footnote….. In 1740 during the mid Georgian period , George Smith the leaseholder of the Artillery ground ( London’s main cricket venue ) who was also the landlord of the Pied Horse Pub. To gain access to the ground the spectators had to pass through the pub, so he was able to charge them an entrance fee as well as drink! He then also bought in Hurling teams which although was a success , Hurling didn’t ‘catch on’ in UK. Shame though.
Irish Cricket Part 2- group shots.
A major part of this project is to shoot a variety of cricket teams in a proud gladiatorial style. Having shot numerous groups in this style over the years. It’s always a challenge to get everyone looking ‘right’ in limited time as the cricketers had often finished their match with food, drink and a change of clothes being their main concern. Invariably a few have either been blinking, laughing and smiling or looking in the wrong direction. I have been shooting a variety of positions along with variations of holding different items of equipment. This often creates tough decision making when editing, for example the cricketer in the foreground might look perfect but the one to the right’s bat would be at another preferred angle or another cricketer has moved resulting in him being obscured. Also when shooting, consideration is given with the changing light with cloud and sky variations. It’s very much ‘work in progress’ as I have many more team set ups to achieve next season such as women, male and female juniors with more emphasis on arranging the full team (as you can see only 9 in some) and wardrobe (no shorts!).
Merrion CC.
The images below are of The Theatrical Cavaliers at the St Columba’s school.
Set at the foothills of the Dublin mountains. Its has the oldest original pavilion in the country. Inside has a list of all school teams dating back as far as 1850 to the present day.
Next week Part 3 – Cricket Portraits.
