We had our annual meeting of the professional and advocacy body the VIA at the Royal Hospital at Kilmainham.
A fairly useful trip. I've been to other such congregations in the past and they can be little more than a 'how great are we' for the administration and provide little but clapping hands to the people. The only thing I didn't like was the insistence that the fee was paid via Paypal, so I didn't pay using it and paid on the day.
As with most places in Ireland you find evidence of Empire. Here at the IMMA is no exception. It was built in the 1680s as the western defence to Dublin. Using the new theory of defence developed during the wars of religion. Where they ceased to worry about strong heavy walls, and expecting them to withstand an attack. No, this was three story quadrangle over basement, doubled in places.
It was good to see the newer Art in the gallery.
I've been doing some image adjustment this past while. I got some photos of my great grandparents that needed repair and refresh. Others too, but the early ones were more instructive relative to the degree of editing. You see you can make them look 'new' and that's an error I feel. And you'll see in the following just how this has formed some of my editing subsequently.
This plaque was erected in the hospital, when it was a military old folks home. And may be of interest to Americans. This lot were the 16th light dragoons and fought in the battle of the Brandywine in the van.
A fairly useful trip. I've been to other such congregations in the past and they can be little more than a 'how great are we' for the administration and provide little but clapping hands to the people. The only thing I didn't like was the insistence that the fee was paid via Paypal, so I didn't pay using it and paid on the day.
As with most places in Ireland you find evidence of Empire. Here at the IMMA is no exception. It was built in the 1680s as the western defence to Dublin. Using the new theory of defence developed during the wars of religion. Where they ceased to worry about strong heavy walls, and expecting them to withstand an attack. No, this was three story quadrangle over basement, doubled in places.
It was good to see the newer Art in the gallery.
I've been doing some image adjustment this past while. I got some photos of my great grandparents that needed repair and refresh. Others too, but the early ones were more instructive relative to the degree of editing. You see you can make them look 'new' and that's an error I feel. And you'll see in the following just how this has formed some of my editing subsequently.
This plaque was erected in the hospital, when it was a military old folks home. And may be of interest to Americans. This lot were the 16th light dragoons and fought in the battle of the Brandywine in the van.
That's a lovely view approaching the building. It appears you had a beautiful day.
ReplyDeleteI know it's good to preserve old photos, but making them look new? Why would anyone want to do that? Seems like it would defeat the purpose. What's sad is how now we have most of our photos on our phones, on hard drives, or in the cloud. I have book after book of photo albums (that I rarely add to anymore) and we still pull them out to pour through when we get together sometimes.
Yes it was a quite good day. Not so hot that I had to worry too much about Jess in the car while I was there.
DeleteHmm, I'm in that space too. It is difficult to halt yourself from deploying the full capability of the tools available. But in truth, in this recovery of photos, they had many of the systems before the computer only it was soooooo costly it was well beyond the pocket of most.
That is a beautiful shot of the building. I've never been to a meeting in a building that is even half that interesting. :) I'm glad you found the time beneficial because that kind of gathering can be tedious. Did you find that it was helpful for networking?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the restoration of photos. It's one thing to edit in order to repair or "save" the image, but it's another entirely to modernize. Even those that get redone in color bother me some. In some respects that modern one are interesting, but I much prefer the preservation of what it was rather than making it into something new. I'm assuming you've been scanning them and editing from there? Good work on that plaque photo. I would not have know there had been something in the way without that last photo. I've not perfected the removal of things yet - still getting blurs and awkward lines. Yours is very clean!
By the time that was built they weren't worrying about our lot. More an issue of Civil War with the English themselves. You know the way Dublin is split down the middle like an apple by the river Liffey. When this was built the city mostly sat on the southern bank with only a tiny incursion onto the northern bank. In fact, what's now O'Connell St was almost impassable marsh. This thing is the forerunner to all the subsequent Big House building, including those in Virginia.
DeleteYeah I find the colorizing problematic myself too. But mostly because we can't replicate the original in a currently pleasing way. We forget that the 40s and 50s photo colour was very screechy to our eyes.
On the edit to the plaque. I wouldn't have gotten it as good even a week ago. I could've gotten it better but I think there's an 'enough' is enough spot here too. I really doubt that a otherwise bland corner, but for the butt of the lance and the bit of bamboo is anything that would visually demand any scrutiny at all.
Was I showing off ?, yep, a bit. But mostly I was trying to show just how much can be done nowadays.
In my head I was just assuming the building was close to your home, even though I had read your blurb about it being in Dublin. It's fascinating that something like this exists in the city. In fact, it looks like it is far from it.
DeleteSpeaking of Dublin, you might get a kick out of this...I got a new student last week who is first generation American, family from Mexico, whose name is "Dublin". However, since his parents only speak Spanish they pronounce it Dew-bleen. The first time his mom came to pick him up and asked for him by name, I said, "Who?". :) His older sister's name is Italy Berlin. Sometimes the names are a something!
Well, close is relative. I was up and in in an hour and a half. When I was in London it took longer to get to work sometimes. And I imagine you laugh a great deal. It's 100 miles away, well a bit more. ANd the worst is the very last bit. That takes longer that the rest, or equal. For instance coming home, it took an hour to get to the Motorway to home, when I got in in a little more than half that in the morning.
DeleteI'm waaaay less bothered by people naming their kids for exotic places for it probably contains the fervent hope they get to see those places. Where I'm a bit less so, is when some wealthy pair saddle their kids with the places they were conceived. And then you have those that sneer when some poor person delighted to be asked about their precious kid name and it turns out that it's a name they just like the sound of, like Tia Maria, not connecting it to a product.
The pronunciation of Dublin in Spanish isn't a million miles from the Dubh Lín, the Black Pool. Usually, spoken Du-bhlín. :-)
Also love the shot of the building -- very majestic, yet simple too.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, it's the very first neo-classical building in northern Europe. And the forerunner to places like the White House, Buckingham Palace and Monticello.
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