Ubiquitous Concrete

It will be the first and probably the only Polish accent within 'Unfulfilled Dreams' series. 
1964, International Architectural Competition for Master Plan, for the New Campus & Arts, Administration and Aula Maxima Buildings for University College Dublin, Ireland.
The author of the winning scheme is very talented young architect from Poland, Andrzej Wejchert (1937-2009), graduated with honours from the Faculty of Architecture, Warsaw University of Technology. 

I will focus here on the most important for me - Administration Building /Tierney Building/ completed in 1972, awarded Triennial Gold Medal 1971-1973 by The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland.

Bridge in between  Newman and  Tierney buidings

 























I approached UCD Relations Office with request for permission to photograph Administration Building in early December 2012. Now in March 2013 finally I was able to set my camera in there and record its internal beauty.

'This building has a centralising function relating to the entire campus. It is used by academic staff, students and outside visitors. The offices of the President, Registrar, Secretary and the Governing Body are located here, and it also serves as a distribution centre.The building features a dominent central space, containing the General Office Hall and Public Concourse. Cellular accomodation is simply and directly related to this space.'
  /info. www.wejchert.ie/ 

Photographing UCD campus, oasis of modernist forms many times before I knew exactly that I will come back there one day to focus on just one, very special structure.
I am truly fascinated every single time I can admire such a genuine design. Concrete is so versatile and creative material to build with. Especially when used in the way Modernists did. 
Modernist's design is timeless itself... their  buildings however vanishing or quite often are changing irretrievably. I am pointing it almost every time I am photographing modernist architecture...
All UCD campus is changing as well which is obvious sign of time. It should be done however with a little bit more respect to the first and really good concept of all Belfield Campus.
Part of Tierney Building has been already 'covered' by new extension - UCD Research Building. It's a big loss as in my opinion the idea of the original design has been 'damaged'… You can still have a look at non existent elevation visible on old photographs. It is beautiful...Please click HERE

First floor waiting area

Interior space is mostly reorganized of course and its way of use has changed. However there are still  places which remains untouched or at least they looks like that ;)
I am talking about communication area.
Typically nice staircase, large windows giving beautiful natural light, bridge in between Tierney and John Henry Newman buildings /first photograph/...and ubiquitous fascinating concrete.

staircase

 


































Coming back to the author ... After winning mentioned above competition Andrzej Wejchert co-founded in 1974 with Danuta Kornaus-Wejchert the practice later known as a  A&D Wejchert Architects, here in Dublin. While working initially in Ireland, A&D Wejchert Architects undertook also several commissions in Poland. 
Andrzej Wejchert passed away in May 2009.

I also took couple of photographs outside which I am going to present very soon.
 /within 'Unfulfilled Dreams' series on my website and on my FB website / 

Four strings

Saturday afternoon, just a couple of hours after photographing TCD buidings  /described in previous post 'The Form'/ I had another session. 
My studio visited Bart Kotowski, Fusion Trip bass player.
You already know him from my old session over two years ago.
Fusion Trip just released their new album 'Spreading Passion' which you can listen and buy HERE

Some tech info as always:

Sinar F2
Schneider-Kreuznach Symmar-S 150mm 5.6
Fomapan 100 4x5 in Kodak Xtol
2x lights Quantuum PT-300 with softboxes


And music at the end:
 

The form

'Unfulfilled Dreams' is moving into the next stage. While interiors still remain the most important part of the project I am starting to focus also on buildings itself. This is just to show context or simply how form and function can blend itself inside and outside.
Since first week of December last year I am trying to get a permission to photograph another object. Looks like I am almost there. Talking to different people responsible for such a decisions I came across Trinity College communication office once again. 
That was it. Decided to come back to TCD campus... Berkeley Library and Arts Building area.
Luckily I got an answer withing 24 hours and spent Saturday morning in there

At the same time 'Unfulfilled Dream' as most of you already know, got a really good exposure on fantastic Le Journal de la Photographie last weekend. 
You can see it HERE if you missed it :)

And of course new photographs:

Berkeley Library

Arts Building

Tech:

Sinar F2
Schneider-Kreuznach Symmar-S 150mm 5.6
Fomapan 100 4x5 in Caffenol-c-m

Keeping myself busy...

Time for a bit of self-promotion ;) 

It is information rather for those who are not aware of the fact that I am offering a few services related to photography.
I would say even more - they are all related to celluloid based traditional film photography ;)
Let's start then....

Darkroom Service
This one is for photographers, both amateurs and professionals and also for all those who keep their old negatives in boxes and would like to archive/transfer them into hard drive or CD. 

What is it all about?

Darkroom Service offers hand processing of professional B&W negative films from 35mm up to large format 4x5 and high resolution scanning (2400dpi or even higher) - colour and B&W negatives and slides up to 8x10.
Excellent quality and really good prices.

As a Darkroom Service I am offering also B&W negative film processing workshops. It covers traditional way of developing or alternative, using COFFEE. Decision is made by a student.

Here I would like to point that I am open to any form of cooperation with schools or camera clubs on the field of B&W film photography.
Last year I was providing such workshop in National College of Art and Design (NCAD) as a part of Photography and Digital Imaging Course (PDI). I have been also teaching for a few months traditional photography and darkroom printing techniques in The Academy of Photography (within DLight Studio).

You can have a look at www.darkroomservice.ie website for details.

First of all however I am a photographer specializing in portraiture and architectural photography. I work exclusively with analogue equipment which make all process and its result very special and unique.
I am open for commissions!

phot. Rafal Krol

Please contact me in case of any questions or simply if you would like to book a session.
You can have a look at my website for further details - www.artursikora.com


Thank you! 

Long live film :)

Update 24/04/2013 -  DarkroomService offering now also C41 processing up to 4x5!

'This is my place...'

I just realised that amount of equipment I am using during photography session is growing up every time I am starting new series :) Everything is getting bigger and heavier. Maybe I have to think seriously about come back to 35mm ;) 
...maybe one day. For now I'll keep photographing with large cameras ;)

'This is my place…' . Series I am working on since April this year /already presented on my FB page and website/. Simple portraits taken in so called comfort zone of photographed people. 
At the beginning it suppose to be only area where they live. I changed my mind however expanding it also to the places where they obviously feel good. It gives new possibilities which makes all series more interesting I suppose. 
Portait you can see below was taken last Saturday. For the first time it wasn't living place and also for the first time in this series it was indoor session.
...and quite unusual location - All Hallows College…

'This is my place...' will grow up. Another portrait  I took on Sunday morning is ready for presentation ;) Please follow my FB page for updates.


And now something completely different :)

As this is my last post in 2012 I would like to wish All The Best in New Year to all people who visiting my blog! ...and before that - Happy Christmas of course to all of you who celebrating it :) 
Many thanks for being here...

Moments of Glory..

‘Black and White Photographer of the Year’ 2012 edition is now closed. Last Friday all winners got a wonderful news. Well done guys!!!
We will be able to see selected photographs by the end of November in Black+White Photography magazine.

This time I am not one of them.
It would be probably too much - two years in a row ;D 
(you can come back to my post about competition in 2011. Just click HERE please)

...However I am extremely happy that 5 of my photographs were nominated in 3 categories. 3 of them got a nomination for the main prize - Photographer of the Year 2012 /Overall Winner/.
Great honor!

Lets Start from the top then ;) I am sure most of you remember my blog post ‘Forbidden Place...’
These photographs received the highest grade...in two categories!
“Forbidden Place’ series was nominated for  the Overall Winner prize and two images from this series were also nominated for ‘The Living World’ single image category (first and second below).

For ‘The Living World’ was nominated never published before ‘Silent witness’ as well.

The Last photograph it’s a portrait from one of my assignments I was working on in January.
“Reservoir Dogs’ theme nominated for  ‘The Human Spirit’ single image category :) 

Looking forward to see the jury choice and also to ‘Black and White Photographer of the Year’ 2013 edition!


...and this is not the end. There are some more nominations ;) 
'The Irish Times Open House Dublin Photography Competition' with Irish Architecture Foundation.
'Architecture Alive'...
Three photographs has been selected by Jury :)

Busaras

Berkeley Library, TCD

UCD campus

Now it's the time to work harder, get ready for next year editions... and moments of glory ;)

Behind the trees

Third post within one week... It's very unusual for me ;)
Well, I just couldn’t wait to show you all these wonderful buildings. Would love to do it  almost at once ;)
This is the last one I visited during Open House 2012  after The Old Terminal and Central Bank anyway.

Sunny afternoon, distance just about 10km so I took my bike as usually. It was still early  when I arrived. I had some time to enjoy the area before our tour started. Very quiet road with lots of mature trees around and in-between them, covered in green...Meander.
Classic modernist, flat-roofed house designed by Alan and Mairin Hope and built in 1939 as a home for their family.

View from the garden

Interior is very impressive with its original furnishing and also external and internal finishes.
Meander, constructed of cedar-cladded block-work is not very big but at the same time spacious, cosy and bright interior due to often double or ever triple aspect rooms.
It is one of the most important example of Irish Modernism. 

 

tech:
again - hasselblad 500C/M with Planar 80mm 2.8 and Tmax 400 pushed to 3200

‘On the Ocean...’

Time to get back on board. Strong wind, rough sea but still lots of sun...


... it is easy enough to keep going with such a story looking at this photograph. We have to come back however on land... the land of concrete ;)
Mentioned in previous post Open House 2012 tour brought me back to the ‘Ocean Liner’.
Now I could climb up the steps and see pilothouse...

The Old Terminal at Dublin Airport revisited...

Roof terrace. We’ve got there through narrow stairs beside control tower where the Met Office is located since 1940.
I set my camera to take a photograph of it but...suddenly this wonderful couple appears.
I shifted my camera instantly. Such a scene is not happening too often. There was no sense anymore to photograph the tower itself without them ;)
It is exactly quintessence of comparison of The Old Terminal to the ‘Ocean Liner’ ...

                                                                                                                                                


Our tour which took almost 1.5 hour, ended up with fantastic lecture and slideshow about history of this building. It is not big at all but very well designed and functional.
Good old times when genuine architecture and character of the place was priority...which we sometimes lack nowadays.

view from internal staircase (with original wall heater mounted on the left)

corridor

That was my first Open House 2012 trip that day. Now... Central Bank was waiting for me ;) /described in previous post/


tech:
Hasselblad 500C/M with Planar 80mm 2.8 and Tmax 400@3200

The Big Bank

Architecture Festival ‘Open House 2012’ organized by Irish Architecture Foundation made the first weekend of October one of the busiest and most engaging for me since quite a long time.  
That was Saturday morning. 
I was really excited as places I had a plan to visit that day were almost impossible to see the other time. I took may camera, bag of films and I left my place very early. I had a day off from my usual family duties ;) hah
Having in mind ‘Unfulfilled Dreams’ series I booked all tours very carefully. Three buildings were on my list. First - once again The Old Terminal at Dublin Airport. This time with full access at last ;) 
I will start however from the other one, very unique I would normally never get an access to -  Central Bank of Ireland...

Central Bank of Ireland. View from Trinity Street

 

A few weeks earlier I received an email from DoCoMoMo Ireland about tour for its members to this building. That was something special. 
Close to the date tour was canceled by the Bank authority.
Luckily it has been just postponed  and we made it exactly during Open House festival. DoCoMoMo visit was the last one after all Open House tours so we had a little bit more time to see this truly amazing structure inside. Our little group was guided by Miriam Fitzpatrick, architect and lecturer (in Architecture and Urban Design). 

Entrance from the roof over canteen

Central Bank it's an extremely interesting building and very controversial at the same time. Mostly because of its location and size... Obviously wandering though town you won’t be able to miss it ;)

This fantastic monumental block of concrete (I just love concrete!!!) shows something completely different once you get inside. Each floor turns into amazingly light, bright and almost floating space. Floor to ceiling windows around each level gives truly breathtaking view of the city. These windows are set back about 1.5m from the edge of each floor. It’s like a huge projection screens with constant screening of Dublin’s panorama. 

Office room at 7th floor

The history of this building starts in 1967 when Sam Stephenson and Arthur Gibney were appointed to design the new headquarter for the Central Bank.
The original design was for 15 storey (!!!)... at the end we’ve got ‘just’ an 8 storey building. Seven floors of offices with 8th as a plant room.
Structure of the Central Bank and the way how it was build it’s another interesting story. It’s suspended structure with service cores. Each floor (made of precast concrete panels) was lifted up to the top which obviously means  - it was build from the top to the bottom.

‘The Typical Floors, measuring 45mx30m are supported at twelve hanger pints around the perimeter and on twin reinforced concrete cores. From these hanger points the loads are transmitted directly to the roof level through pairs of high tensile bars (...)‘  /info from the leaflet by Institution of Engineers of Ireland/

I highly recommend to watch documentary film on John Sisk & Son Ltd. (main contractor) website about the construction of the Central Bank Building in 1978 when it was completed. Click HERE please. It is absolutely great!!!

At the end of the day I was already thinking about Sunday and another great location ;) 
First however I will come back to mentioned at the beginning The Old Terminal...it's in next blog post.


Some usual tech details:
This time just a medium format camera, Hasselblad 500C/M with 80mm 2.8 Planar lens and Tmax 400 pushed to 3200, loaded into it.
Also last weekend I packed my large format equipment to photograph it in context.
Sinar F2, Schneider-Kreuznach Symar 150mm 5.6 with Fomapan 100 in Tmax Dev.

Monofaces

Last week I met Edita and Mel (Monofaces) in their new home and studio in Ballsbridge. That was our second portrait session after 2 years (pleas click HERE to have a look at previous images). I had an idea how everything should looks like so it suppose to be a short one. One, maybe two shots and that's it. 
I love to work with natural light but weather in autumn is quite unpredictable... 
Suddenly lots of dark clouds covered the sky. In that situation we decided to postpone our session till next day. 
...and that was actually very good move. We had a beautiful, sunny afternoon ;)

Monofaces...

Tech:
Sinar F2, Schneider-Kreuznach Symmar-S 150mm 5.6 and TX 320@640 4x5 in XTol

Ocean Liner

It's a cold morning, 19th January 1940. First Aer Lingus flight was departed from Collinstown Airport as it was called back then. But before...

British newsreel footage of the new airport at Collinstown,

Co Dublin under construction in 1939

...In 1936 Desmond FitzGerald with group of young architects started to work on the project of a new airport. Building influenced by the ideas of Le Corbusier was completed in 1940. Design of new at the time, four-storey terminal with horizontal windows, terraces, an observation and cafe deck is often likened to an ocean liner.
It was also Ireland’s first and the most important modernist structure.

During ‘The Emergency in Republic of Ireland’ as World War 2 was called that time in neutral Ireland, the Airport was mothballed. Also because of war and related to it restrictions project wasn't published until 1945 when war finished and Aer Lingus resumed its service. It was the reason why this Iconic building never got the recognition that it deserves.

External part of the building

The Old Terminal is a listed structure now. Its part still operates as a departure gates which makes this building one of the world’s oldest working airport terminals. The other part is a head office of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and a Met Eireann office.
...

Last Wednesday I had a chance to photograph this truly unique object. Long awaited moment. Permission was granted for the reception area and external part at the front of the building /photograph on the top/.
Here I would like to thank Ciara from DAA office and Carole, fiend of mine for all help.

Reception Area

In most cases limited access and time forcing me to take a rapid decision what to photograph and how to compose an image. Not easy with large format equipment. I have to add that usually I am visiting my subjects for the first time. Generally there is also not too many photographs available from those places (if at all) which normally could help to plan every trip and make a decisions beforehand.  This is the trickiest part of taking photographs for 'Unfulfilled Dreams'.  Each session however is very emotional and worth all the effort. 

When I entered foyer I knew exactly what I was going to focus on - staircase :)

This element of structure in many buildings is something very special and makes each of them unique.

Reception area itself is a wonderfully sculptured, very clean in its form and full of natural light space. Even fitted with lots of contemporary elements still keeps its genuine character...

Some standard technicalities at the end:

Sinar F2 with Schneider-Kreuznach Symmar-S 150mm 5.6 and Fomapan 4x5 100 developed traditionally in Caffenol-c-m. 

Direct Positive Paper (part 2)

I am coming back to direct positive paper tests. As you remember almost two months ago a took first few photographs on that medium using studio lighting.
Everything came out really well. You can have a look at the blog post following this link - ‘Direct Positive Paper’.

Last Thursday I decided to give it a go with natural light. I set camera in UCD campus in the middle of fantastic modernist structures photographed by me many times before (‘Forms’ series for example).
With mentioned in previous post slow speed of this paper (about ISO 3) and aperture f=45 it took about 30s to get proper exposure.
Paper was developed in Ilford Multigrade Developer.

Below are first results.

ISO 3, f/45, 30s expo - 20s dev

This is a second photograph out of two I developed. Dev process about 20 seconds (quite fast) gave the best result. Very reach tonal range  and great details.
Here is the same image developed for much longer time 40seconds. Still pretty fast as for paper dev process. As you can see however it is way too dark and also there is loss of details due to high contrast. That's why I gave it ago once more with mentioned 20 sec then.

ISO 3, f/45, 30s expo - 40s dev

I also took the same photograph on negative film for comparison purposes. It was as usually Fomapan 100 developed in Caffenol-c-m.
...the same place, settings, lens and the same camera :)

ISO 100, f/45, 4s expo - 10min dev in Caffenol-c-m

Of course negative is more versatile and with a little bit of time and experience in darkroom printing will give better result. That's for sure. 

We are focusing here however on new great 'instant' medium :)

4x5 prints

After all it is difficult (if possible at all) to judge such photographs seeing scanned images. Only viewing the print can give real feeling of what is happening with such paper. It is truly fantastic! 

'Close To Closure'

Fantastic opening of our group exhibition 'Close to Closure' last night. Really good selection of photographs. It was great to see you all there! Thank you!

Of course all of you who couldn't make it to the opening, you are more then welcome to visit Back Loft Gallery till 10th of July, the last day of the show.
You can see there my ‘Urban Stories’ series and also other wonderful projects by my friends, very talented photographers: Fiona O’Donnell, Monika Fabijanczyk, Sharon Murphy, Rebecca McGetrick, Calin Ploscar, Jeanette Lowe and Hugh McCabe.
Many thanks to Sean Hillen who opened this show making fantastic introduction, to all my friends photographers and especially Rebecca for organizing everything so perfectly ;)

Roll on PhotoIreland Festival! ;)

opening by Sean Hillen

last minutes