URBAN PHOTOGRAPHS

Urban Expression And Depression By Infomatique

built environment

AUGHRIM STREET

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AUGHRIM STREET – STONEYBATTER DUBLIN

The area, often referred to as Cowtown, was at a particular time in history on the edge of the city of Dublin and was the ideal location for the city’s cattle market.

Dublin Corporation had been holding a cattle market in Smithfield, but with the increase in the city’s population and the growth of the cattle export business, Smithfield proved to be too small. In 1863, the market was relocated to the open spaces on the North Circular Road. A number of fine houses were built in the area by successful cattle dealers and at the same time over 250 large houses were built for the ‘professional classes’.

PORTOBELLO – NOVEMBER

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SOUTH CIRCULAR ROAD – PORTOBELLO AREA OF DUBLIN

The South Circular Road is a road in Dublin, Ireland, one of the longest in the city. It runs from Kilmainham in the west of the city, through Rialto and Dolphin’s Barn to Portobello, near the centre. As it runs mainly through residential areas, it is used by numerous bus routes.

NEWMARKET SQUARE

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NEWMARKET SQUARE IS DIFFERENT EVERY TIME I VISIT

You can draw your own conclusions but the redevelopment of the area is described belows.

The development of the area considers the existing urban grain and the City Council’s aspirations for the rejuvenation of the space as a local hub. It will enhance the life of the area in economic, commercial and social terms.

Scale, mass and permeability were key design drivers, along with the desire to create a vibrant mix of uses at street level. This has lead the developers to develop an external landscaping environment commensurate with the varying uses and flexible to allow the market and space to develop over the forthcoming years.

The mixed use nature of the development will actively contribute to a 24 hour economy bringing with it the enhanced streetscape, vibrant economy and long term social benefits to an area rich both in historic and cultural attractions. The development will include apartments, 3 office buildings, a 250-bed hotel and retail areas across a wide urban scaled site.

BROADSTONE AREA AND NEARBY – SIGMA DP1

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BROADSTONE AREA OF DUBLIN AND NEARBY- 3 JUNE 2020 [TESTING SIGMA DP1 QUATTRO DAY 1]

Today a new Sigma DP1 Quattro arrived and, almost in every way, it is unusual and a bit weird. To the best of my knowledge it was introduced about six years ago and at the time I avoided it as it had many issues. For me the main problem was that the RAW images could not be processed using Lightroom [or any other third party software]. The battery life was poor and the post-production software supplied by Sigma was useless.

Because of the Covid-19 crisis I have had a lot of time to spare so I began to experiment with a Sigma DP3 Merrill and as I was very pleased with the results I decided to reconsider the Quattro series of cameras.

Recently I discovered that the Quattro DP1 could now produce DNG files that could be processed by Lightroom and other software so I decided to buy a new DP1 Quattro that was available to me at a very good price.

Today my photographs were capture using the DNG option but having examined the images I feel that RAW might be better however the workflow will be greatly impacted if I discover that RAW produces better quality images. I plan to capture in RAW tomorrow.

The dp1 Quattro is an APS-C sensor, fixed focal length cameras. The latest, 28mm-equivalent, model features dramatic styling and a fundamental re-think of Sigma’s Foveon multi-layer sensor design. The Quattro sensor still uses three layers to detect colour information but now only captures its full, 19.6 million pixel resolution in the top layer, with lower two layers capturing 4.9MP of information each. The stand out feature is that the body shape is unusual to the extend that many people did not like using it but I actually like it.

BROADSTONE GATE AND PLAZA

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BROADSTONE GATE AND PLAZA – ENTRANCE TO GRANGEGORMAN UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

The RX0 camera that I used today is not much bigger than a matchbox and as the screen is about the size of a stamp composing images is close to impossible especially if there is strong sunlight.

Life has frozen and this looks like an area abandoned by humans at present.

It should be noted that this project was already badly delayed before the current lockdown.

The Broadstone Gate will provide a key access to the Grangegorman site once complete and is being developed as part of the Luas Cross City works. It will be finished as a public plaza and the access will provide a major linkage between Grangegorman and Dublin city. The plaza is situated off Constitution Hill on the site of the old royal canal at the former Great Weatern Railway Station commonly known as Broadstone, and will mark a prominent entrance to the Grangegorman urban quarter.

The Broadstone site, which borders Grangegorman on its east side, was subject to a Part VIII planning process in 2014 in order to facilitate the site development and gate access.

Under the Grangegorman Masterplan, the primary urban path through Grangegorman – St Brendan’s Way will link with the Broadstone Gate which when completed will reach as far as Prussia Street. The link with Broadstone can also be seen as an extension to the 18th century historic spine of Dublin City which covered Dublin Castle across Grattan Bridge, along Capel Street/Bolton Street, Henrietta Street [where I live] and King’s Inn.