Thanks.
The IBA 2011 Photowalk would not have been the success it was without the support of Belfast City Council and our two main tourism agencies. It’s great to know that our local agencies are prepared to support activities such as the IBA Photowalk, which are completely independent of their own corporate plans and strategies.
I first met with Caroline Dixon of Belfast City Council to develop some ideas for the Photowalk and start contacting the various organisations involved for access to the sites we were interested in. Caroline was extremely helpful and prompt in organising this and particularly in managing aspects of our itinerary that would involve the other two main Tourist agencies, Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau (BVCB) and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB). Our Photowalk started in fine style with a guided tour of Belfast City Hall, thanks to Caroline.
Siobhán McGuigan, from NITB, contacted Harcourt Construction and gained us access to the magnificent new Belfast Titanic building. Siobhán also booked our Titanic Drawing Offices tour with Colin Cobb.
Fiona Ure from BVCB took a keen interest in the Photowalk, swiftly sorting out the open top tour bus for transport on the day. BVCB also provided our Sunday morning City Tour and lunch at the Dark Horse.
All three local agencies did a great job in putting together a terrific Photowalk itinerary for us on very short notice.
The Europa Hotel were kind enough to allow us up on the roof of the building to take photos in the late afternoon, which made an unusual and excellent close to the day’s shooting.
I also thank Damien Mulley and Maryrose Lyons for taking an early interest and connecting us with the Irish Tourist Board, who put their NITB counterparts in touch with us for support.
And a HUGE, huge thank you to all the photographers who turned up on the day, your enthusiasm and obvious enjoyment throughout made it one of the best photowalks I’ve ever attended.
Legends All ;-)
The Irish Blog Awards 2011 Photowalk
(Photo: Fran Hollywood)
On Saturday 19th March we had the Irish Blog Awards in the Europa Hotel Belfast, but before the Awards event itself we had the eagerly-awaited IBA Photowalk. I know many of the photographers from previous photowalks, serious shooters one and all, so I thought we ought to make a special effort to put together an interesting day’s activities for our visiting ’Togs.
I discussed plans with Phil and made an opportunity to talk to Belfast City Council about possible locations we could visit. The Council were very receptive and most helpful, doing a power of work at fairly short notice, resulting in an impressive line-up of unique photo-opportunities.
Kicking off at Noon from the back door of Belfast City Hall we had a guided tour of the lavish interior of the building (first time I’ve been in it - and I’m a local!). The interior of the City Hall is amazing - the marble, artworks, sculptures, furnishings and the history of the place is hugely impressive. Although on a limited timescale, we did get to see the highlights, there were many unusual photo opportunities and I’ve seen some great shots already uploaded from our tour.
(Photo: Lorraine O’Donovan)
(Photo: Martin Lawson)
(Photo: Lorraine O’Donovan)
From our City Hall tour we enjoyed a trip through the city on an open-top bus (good thing it was a nice sunny day) down to the ‘Titanic Quarter’ in the harbour area. We were met by Noel Molloy from Harcourt construction who ensured we were all ‘togged’ out (ahem!) in hard-hats, steel toed boots & high-vis vests, which turned out to be a very good thing - as I walked right into the corner of a steel beam while walking along checking my LCD! - It would have been a very short photowalk for me without the hard-hat.
(Photo: Martin Lawson)
Lucky for us there was no actual construction work going on that day, so Noel took us right to the top of the new building which, being under construction, had no lifts, so it was an energetic climb up the stairs to the roof. The building is a bold architectural landmark and a fascinating place to photograph, even in its under-construction state It looks like a set from a big-budget sci-fi movie, I can’t wait to see it when completed. Apart from the structure itself we had many high vantage points to shoot from, including views of the city, the workings of the harbour area and, of course, the huge yellow cranes.
After de-togging from our hard-hat gear we made our way to the front of the original old Titanic Offices to met with self-confessed ‘Titanorak’ Colin Cobb, our guide for the Titanic Drawing Offices. Although this old building is in a poor state of repair now (there are restoration plans underway) there is plenty of old-world charm and elegance visible, even through the layers of dust, said to have been collecting since these offices were last used.
(Photo: Phil O’Kane)
While admiring the arched roof of the main drawing offices Colin explained that the supporting arches are all timber, with no steel or concrete used in their construction, in light of that fact I thought it impressive that they were still standing at all. I was also surprised to hear that James Cameron visited these very offices and spent a lot of time at Harland and Wolff while researching for his Titanic movie. To conclude our tour Colin showed us around Thompson Dock, where Titanic was built, a vast hull-shaped dry dock that gave us some idea of the actual scale of the Titanic itself.
(Photo: Martin Lawson)
(Photo: Martin Lawson)
Our bus returned delivering a bunch of happy tired and hungry photographers (there were no stops for lunch) back to the Europa. I remembered that the hotel management offered to allow us up onto the roof to photograph the city and asked if anyone wanted to go, I was surprised that many still had the energy and enthusiasm to want to do it, so off we went. I expected it to be cold and windy, but the sun came out and we enjoyed a warm, strangely relaxing, afternoon photo session with some spectacular views of Belfast City in all directions. It was a fitting close to the day’s photowalk.
(Photo: Phil O’Kane)
It’s great to see some excellent images already posted to Flickr and Pix.ie, but if you haven’t posted yet please do share.
Posting some photos to the specific groups mentioned below would also be a good way of thanking the agencies that provided us with such great activities for the day.
And it’s always interesting to see how other photographers interpret the same locations and scenes differently, we learn from each other.
Belfast City Council IBA Flickr Group
Belfast City Council on Facebook
Belfast City Council on Youtube
Pix.ie IBA2011 Photowalk Group
Thanks.
Welcome to Belfast for the Irish Blog Awards 2011.
The ‘Norn Iron’ blogging community can barely contain their excitement until the 19th, when the 2011 Irish Blog Awards kick off at the Europa Hotel. This is the first time the Irish Blog Awards are being held in the North so those of us on the home team hope y’all have a really great visit and a memorable weekend.
There’s plenty of entertainment and socialising on the Saturday leading up to the Awards themselves so brace yourselves, do your warm-ups and gird your loins for such diversions as:
The #IBA11 Photowalk: The ‘Togs are back in town - even though we haven’t actually cleared this with the Parades Commission we’re going ahead with it anyway!
Ladies Tea Party: Hmm, I’m told there’s not really any tea at this, ah well, two out of three ain’t bad.
Blog Awards Bites: Not an embarrassing injury but actually a very nice dinner in ‘sleb chef Rankin’s gaff. Do let Walter Higgens know if you Cayenne make it.
And good luck to all the finalists in for a blog award, may the best blogs demonstrate an irrefutable statistical advantage in the approved opinion polls ;-)
Welcome to Photowalk Belfast
This is a new blog (managed by Phil O’Kane and myself, Davy McDonald) aiming to help co-ordinate and promote Photowalks in and around the Belfast area.
Although we have great sites like Flickr, Pix.ie and Photowalk.ie we thought a more regionally focussed (ahem!) blog would be useful as a reliable and current resource for anyone interested in joining our local Photowalks. So whether you’re a local yourself, or enjoying a holiday in Belfast you’re most welcome to join us - just keep an eye on this blog for our upcoming events.
You can read a bit more about us and this blog on our About page.
