Paul Corcoran

Shadow Passport

This series has no accompanying text, just the title to give the viewer a context for the photographs.

They all appear to be shot in London. As I do not know the actual location of the photographs, the first photo of “the walkie talkie” in London (20 Frenchurch Street) projected or printed over a door, leads me to think they are all shot in London. I like this series, as although I often find black and white series a bit dull (I like seeing colours) They reflect how I feel about the city, its grey and dull. However in this series the angular pictures are quite exciting. This top picture is my favourite as the architecture has the most going on. This series has no people in, displaying the city as an empty space. In the narrative you know that people were there as there are well-designed buildings with interesting angles, but it is all devoid of life. Like watching a horror movie when a character wakes up after a coma and there has been a zombie apocalypse.

Things Fall Apart

 The simplicity of the series is what works best for me. The idea of decaying rock formations as a way of representing the economic collapse is simple but effective.

The way it breaks away from the previous ideas of Irish photographers that the republic controls its own destiny.

I think the compositions are clear and to the point, they show each formation in an interesting way, they aren’t strange angles to make the viewer ‘look at the scene differently’ or shot with an experimental exposure or something. They are to the point and show each thing clearly, and show the whole object without being so far away that the place loses its meaning.

Its interesting how this image is also in the series, as the rest of the photographs are of natural erosion, this photograph is of what looks like bullet holes in a green metal container. The metal box is a man made construction, whereas the rest of the series is different and shows no human interaction in the scenes.

This image is really strong. Is has bold black and white. There is no colour in it, and the lines of the rock lead the eye up the image. I wonder if he shot it on black and white film or colour film and processed it digitally to black and white.

Perhaps I may like this series more if the compositions were all portrait or all landscape orientation, as I just like consistency.

On the subject of consistency, Like Berndt and Hilliard Becher’s work, they sky is all very consistent and sticks to the same completely dead overcast exposure.

HoweverI do like the pictures, although they show erosion, a the interaction of the land and the sea and weather has reached a breaking point, they also have a sense of calm. The process of setting up a large format camera, the slow methodical way you set up the tripod, set up the camera, zero it to make sure everything is level, compose the image, focus, tilt or shift, if it is required. The calm in the photographs reflects Paul's calm personality.