PAULA T NOLAN PHOTOGRAPHY

These photographs are all taken along a stretch of the Royal Canal between Sheriff Street and Drumcondra. You can see by the ice in the last few (photos begin with more recent), the project started in Winter. It was the winter of 2021.

During the winter of 2020-2021, my heart was broken. Walking with the camera was perhaps the only relief to be had from this hurt. I found myself drawn towards images that would be beautiful if only they hadn’t been hurt themselves, polluted, disrespected and betrayed. I have yet to meet a man or woman, a child even, who cannot express a love of the beauty of nature, yet these same people betray it by careless pollution. So these images tied in with my own feelings of betrayal and being disrespected. Did I see the beauty first, or the rubbish?

Definitely the beauty, followed by the rubbish, followed by the beauty possible in both together. I suppose you’d call it a terrible beauty. I know many people won’t be up for that. If the human condition is to err, for any kind of peace and forgiveness, we need to accept this; to accept a beauty that includes hurts and betrayals – those that happen to us, and those we perpetuate on others. It would be spring time, and ‘Project Floating 2’, before I could get up close and personal with this concept, and the psychology of destruction. How do we become mindless of our mark on our world?

I worked closely with the Father Browne (1880-1960) photography collection for almost fourteen years, designing his books. I have chosen to treat these photographs as duotones, and the tone chosen is one used for many years for the printing of Father Browne’s photographs. It is a ‘secret’ combination, given to me once those holding the collection felt I could be trusted not to share it. It is subtle, and I often refer to it as a ‘champagne tint’.

Copy and paste link to Father Browne website: http://www.fatherbrowne.com/

All the PROJECT FLOATING photographs are taken along the same stretch of the Royal Canal, between Sheriff Street and Drumcondra.

Come spring time of 2021, the heartbreak I’d experienced through the winter began to abate, and I felt a defiance to emerge from it. Getting up close and personal with the debris, which I’d hitherto photographed from a distance, wasn’t a conscious thing. Now, Instead of guessing the tin can way over there might be a Coca Cola can, now we can see the branding as clearly as any billboard poster. I loved the contexts around these discarded objects, as spring and eventually summer encased them with green tendrils, almost like a Venus flytrap for rubbish. I began to see how nature responded to the carelessness of humans in discarding of their rubbish. How attempts to heal the hurt covered it over at first, then over a very long period of time if the object was biodegradable, nature disposed of it. For non biodegradable objects, the harm is permanent and cumulative. It may be hidden, but that is no harm reduction, as any dredge of waterways will contest.

These images are composed by standing as close to the edge as is possible without falling into the water, gaining a steady foot and centring the subject.

Eventually these shots finally began to overlap with taking shots with NO rubbish, some contained in PROJECT FLOATING 3.

All the PROJECT FLOATING photographs are taken along the same stretch of the Royal Canal, between Sheriff Street and Drumcondra.

It took a long journey through a dark winter, into spring, then summer, before I was able to see pure nature without the pollution that had hitherto so endeared itself to me. I was finally able to see the world without hurt eyes, or what I sometimes call ‘The Crippled Eye’. There is so much going on underwater alongside these growths, small insects darting, light dappling off the tiniest tendril, the wind making ripples then stopping to take another breath.

For ‘PROJECT FLOATING 1’, I walked fast, stopped for seconds only, then snapped. For ‘PROJECT FLOATING 2’, I stopped for longer periods of time, went up close to the water, took care composing the final image. So for part three, I slowed down some more, taking longer again to compose each shot, making sure I was happy with the composition of the shapes, the light, what hit the four corners. I found many of them began to resemble sections of Renaissance paintings, and was happy sometimes to work to achieve this by moving about and choosing one section over another. The only photos I cropped afterwards were ones I took specifically knowing how I would crop them later. This is how deliberate I was about when to pause a composition, and when to press that shutter button.

It struck me at this juncture that the understanding of the environment, ergo respect for it, may be linked to haste versus taking time. How true this may be in both choice of romantic partner (such hurt began the project) and in how we interact with nature. Being ‘mindful’ is something of a trend. Could this be harnessed in some way to protect nature?

I live in the North Inner City, a place where the boundaries enjoyed (or not) in leafier suburbs are non-existent. I like this. People say it’s not as safe as other parts of Dublin city, I say I don’t know about that; here I can see the person who is a risk to me from a mile away, but I’ve had more money stolen from me by people in suits than tracksuits. The former appear as stand up citizens, so the guard is down. Here, your guard is always up if you are out walking. So experientially, I feel safer.

What has all this got to do with pollution? It’s to do with ownership. How to make people take ownership (metaphorically) of their surroundings and be mindful of it, proud to keep it clean. In that context, working with the local community is the method I find best, and any campaigning I do is on the the X platform.

https://twitter.com/IrishPTNolan

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Making fast decisions, as with ‘PROJECT FLOATING 1’, is something I’m trained to do in my decades working with design for print. Especially for newspapers and magazines with tight deadlines. You become highly attuned to what is the best image, what works best in a particular context, and to making those choices in nanno seconds. I bring this to photography in spades, along with decades of looking at various genres of painting and other art forms. Sometimes I can feel these various levels of experience join forces almost without my willing them to do so, then ‘snap’, the image.

PAUL KANE GALLERY CHRISTMAS EXHIBITION 2023

Irish Architectural Institute, Merrion Square, Dublin 2.

Opening Wednesday 6 December at 6pm.

Duration 7-16 December (excl. weekends)

Noon to 5pm.

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ROYAL CANAL LINES

These are two images from an ongoing project called ‘PROJECT FLOATING’, this being Part 4 and titled ‘Royal Canal Lines’. The entire project is based along the Royal Canal close to my home. This is a departure from the three previous parts, in so far as it feels as if it has nothing to do with this photographer’s personal issues, but all to do with this photographer enjoying what the eye perceives, and striving a way to share with others the magic of what I see. Yet is is also ALL to do with the previous personal issues, in so far as I am free of the pain of them, and no longer afraid.

Taken looking directly into the Royal Canal at very close quarters, we see the bare tendrils of growth almost as a line drawing on the surface, then details of 'what lies beneath'. The composition is made at source, not cropped later. It is something of an expression of the obvious concept that all art has its teacher in nature. In these images, for example, I can see the quality of line work by of some of the greatest artists of our time, like Miro, Matisse and Picasso.

The project is on hold for the past year or more, due to ongoing works obstructing access to the canal from where I live. It has also become a little less safe to stroll along with a camera, but we are confident once the works have finished, the safety issue will be dealt with. I cannot tell you how much I look forward to that time, and continuing this concept!

Part of the impulse in making these images is to explore how nature itself may teach us how not to destroy our earth, or planet; how to avoid becoming extinct. Can it teach us before it’s too late? Can we be taught this lesson gently, or will it require nature to become violent towards humankind?

Seeing how nature in all its wonder took over during Covid, and how magical it felt to be inferior to nature, to look to it as my host and not the other way around, told me that frankly the natural world would be better off without us if we don’t ‘come to our spit’ and realise we must be respectful of our generous hosts. In some ways these images (only two here) are my way of saying thank you to what is on offer by my host, the earth, and allowing myself to do this with a sense of wonder, and freedom from the negativity of doomsday thoughts.

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The photographs framed and exhibited are approximately one meter wide, as large as I could make them allowing they may need to fit on the wall of someone’s home. But they need to be large. You cannot fully see on this website the detail involved. I wanted people to enter the gallery and first see the lines, then on closer inspection their eyes need to ‘scan’ it, rather than take it all in, in one go. They are a tale of two images: the line drawing element, then what lies beneath.

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PAULA T NOLAN

Royal Canal Lines I

89cm (W) x 60cm (H)

Archival pigment print on Photo Rag Pearl

Edition: 3 + 2AP

€950 (Framed)

€500 (Unframed)

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PAULA T NOLAN

Royal Canal Lines I I

89cm (W) x 60cm (H)

Archival pigment print on Photo Rag Pearl

Edition: 3 + 2AP

€950 (Framed)

€500 (Unframed)

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THREE ELEMENTS: EARTH, WIND, WATER

I love herons. I also love Caravaggio paintings. When the light obeys, both loves meet.

Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork, Ireland T45CD93

Conservation

Fota Wildlife Park cares for several different animal species in danger of extinction. Through long-established Breeding programmes, which are run cooperatively with other institutions around the world, the Park is helping restore populations of some species while protecting the very survival of others.

Sustainability

Fota Island Resort recognises that it has a responsibility to the environment. Our aim is to comply with, and exceed where possible, our company’s legal obligations and codes of practice. We are committed to reducing our environmental impact and continually improving our environmental performance. This is an integral part of our business strategy and operating methods. We hope to inspire our customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders to follow this example.

Education

We know that wildlife matters! Our team are committed to raising awareness about the plight of many endangered species, we can help our younger visitors to understand their roles in protecting the world they are growing up in.

It costs approximately €120,000 per week to run Fota Wildlife Park.

For more information on the animals, go to

https://www.fotawildlife.ie/pages/animals

When this old world is getting you down, look up!

ALL THESE PHOTOGRAPHS WERE EXHIBITED BY THE PAUL KANE GALLERY IN AN EXHIBITION ENTITLED ‘DOUBLE EXPOSURE’.

The exhibition took place in the Irish Architectural Archive in Merrion Square, and was a 2-person show, the other exhibitor being Michael Corrigan with is stunning quality colour images, so we made quite a contrasting pair. While intended to take place in 2020, it was postponed and ultimately took place in October 2021.

All these photos were taken between 1st January and 100 days later, in 2020. Each day I took sky photos, each day with the same ultra wide angle lens, the plan being to literally walk from darkness into light, from winter in to spring. Little did we know it would be from the world as we know it, into a brand new Covid world.

Taking these photos was a precursor to the Royal Canal photos in PROJECT FLOATING. The sky photos were the start of a two-year recovery process from a devastating betrayal. It takes as long as it takes! The switch from sky to terrain mirrors the switch from escaping emotionally into wrestling with the demons.

But no demons take over entirely, thank heavens – literally. Walking and taking photographs for the first 100 days of 2020, I became witness to a magical process of the earth cleansing itself. As Covid restricted all but the most basic of movement, the world around me quickly adapted to healing itself. The sky no longer had jet trails for the hundreds of planes taking off from Dublin Airport every day. It because a most beautiful blue, and this was reflected in the sea, and the canal water. I had never in my life seen such a colour blue, such purity of colour, and this was matched by the purity of the air. The air quality of inner city Dublin became extraordinarily clean. I could smell the greenery as I walked each day. Alfie Byrne Road, a hugely busy through way from the East Wall to Clontarf, sounded and smelled like a country meadow. Birds became superior to humans as they seemed to revel in this new clean world, and I could see moss growing green down by the Clontarf mud flats. A whole new world and I personally was deeply saddened to see it go, to see fumes take over once more, birds retreat, squirrels take to the upper branches, and the smell of my surroundings again polluted by diesel and petrol, the noise of trains, cars, buses again blotting out the sounds of birds, of AIR moving, of insects.

The ‘up’ side of this is that we all became witness to how quickly the earth wants to heal. It healed a damn sight faster than my poor heart at that time! While it might seem as if we have lost the chance to save our world, I hold out hope.

My love of photography began with photographing skies. The first sky to make my heart leap was taken in Rosslare with a Nokia. I was hooked. I make a speciality of taking photographs of skies from inside buses, trains and cars. Especially buses, as they are high above standing height and allow for a great long view.

The photos in this album are a mixture of some taken down near my beloved Dollymount Strand, some in Gran Canaria and some in Australia. About half of the Australia shots were taken from a car window as we travelled through the Blue Mountains.

Windows in the Irish Cultural Centre and nearby streets just after dark when people are arriving home from work. Always a time in winter that evokes melancholy and pleasant loneliness, the hope is some of this emotion is captured by way of lighting. I love that it is unmistakably NOT Dublin, where I am from, and so for me it evokes also a sense of the aloneness of being a solo traveller. I was in Paris to attend Paris Photo 2023.

In 2016, I went to Paris Photo. It was a cold early November - and especially on the open rooftop of Gallerie Lafayette at dusk and after dark. 

These shots were taken by placing the camera on an outstretched arm of the tripod, with it still around my neck for security. It was the only way to exclude the parapet on the wall. 

It took over two hours to get what I wanted, more if you count the previous day taking practise shots with the iPhone. The iPhone allows me access to spaces the camera doesn’t lend itself to, and then I try to make the camera more versatile than it is intended to be to achieve the same shots as the phone. 

The monochrome Eiffel Tower shots were taken on a rainy grey day.

Glimpse-memories from a childhood living with alcoholism

On 20 March 2024 I met Andy on the 9.04pm train from Newbridge to Dublin, Heuston. I first admired the hat, and then Andy chose to sit with me for most of the journey. We talked about life, love and many things, and Andy had an array of ‘props’ which he showed me, many from AliExpress. 

I loved the company. There is something of the mystic about Andy, and for the duration of our time together I felt comfortable and as if we existed for a while in a sacred space of our own making. I love outliers, being a bit of an outlier myself. It’s amongst non-outliers I feel least at ease.

I asked Andy’s permission to take photographs. I was fairly sure the visible camera meant this would be okay. The upshot was a catwalk of outfit props, with the train as the unexpected venue. 

Here is an email from Andy, sent after I asked for permission to use the photographs on my website:

Hello Paula,

I hope you are very well, I am fine, feel free to use any photo which you have taken of me and submit them to any website. 

I will send some music links to you soon, please tell me more about your good self, your travels, family etc and the names of famous people which you have met.

I met the singer Johnny McEvoy in Dublin Heuston station a number of years ago. 

I am wearing my new yellow coat today and I have a new umbrella with bright fuchsia ribbons.

Take care for now,

Regards.

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It is worth recalling the experience of being a woman on her own at Newbridge Train Station at night, in the dark, in winter time. On the first platform, there was a young man with a hood up keeping to the shadows. On the steps to cross to the opposite platform, three young people were shooting up smack. I had to pass all of these people. On the Dublin bound platform the other side of the bridge, was a man of about forty years of age who looked to me to be ‘safe’, and I thought to myself, “Oh good, someone who isn’t dodgy.” Across on the opposite platform I could see now that the lone hooded young man was joined by another hooded individual, a bit older, and they were in a dark corner making some kind of exchange. After about ten minutes, another young man with a hoodie came in a gate behind me on my platform and walked directly up to the ’safe’ man. They seemed to know each other. He guided him out the gate. I presume some sort of drug exchange took place, and about ten minutes later this older man came back in the gate alone to the platform just as the train pulled in, and on he got. So when Andy joined me at my table, not only did I love the company, but I felt safer.  Thank you, Andy