This is an interesting exercise and it seems quite apt, given the fact that I happen to be returning to live in Limerick City having taken a one year career break. My girlfriend and I used the career break as an opportunity to escape our familiar surroundings and routines, in pursuit of a year of adventure and travel. We had both come to a point where we need to shake things up a little and experience something new and exciting. Being able to step right back into our jobs has been great and we are very lucky to have had such an option available to us. But in someways I’m a little saddened that after such a profound year we get to carry on as if it never happened.
I carried out no research into this exercise as for me it was not about experimenting or trying something new. As this exercise suggests the possibility of revisiting old surroundings, I decided to use it for my first encounter with a neighborhood I had lived in for a number of years. My only hope or intention for this exercise was that whatever feeling I got walking through the street would come across in photographs. Armed with my trusty Fujifilm x100s with a 23mm fixed lens (35mm equivalent), I set out mid-morning on a dry and slightly overcast week day towards the end of October. I have walked these streets and lanes thousands of times before and I was surprised by how quite and empty they were at that particular time of day. It felt more like a Bank Holiday or a Sunday morning. There was a peacefulness and a nice sense of calm. Although the area is quite dense in terms of terraced housing and on street parking, there was also a sense of space, and I feel this definitely comes across as my series of photographs show my movements. I began in School House Lane and moved onto St. Joseph Street then turned into The People’s Park, which is a lovely open space within the city centre. The area also has a high concentration of churches of different religions, although the catholic faith holds the majority. Believing this to be significant I thought it pertinent to include an slightly religious tone to my series, with the inclusion of the church and grotto.
Overall, I found this exercise enjoyable, although I took a more simple and relaxed approach. As I have very limited time to complete this course, I hope to push on through the exercises and assignments with the same level of composure.
Identity Place Photos 