The beauty of architecture seen through my architecture photography

Boland’s Mills, Grand Canal Dock

Posted on November 17, 2015December 11, 2019 by Enda Cavanagh

Boland’s Mills, Grand Canal Dock

A Dublin Landmark photographed before it’s redevelopment

Boland’s Mills, Grand Canal Dock in Dublin is a well known landmark, located on the corner of Ringsend Road and Barrow Street. As is obvious in the name it is a former Flour Mill which was once owned by the Boland family. Boland’s bakery was located nearby in what is now the Nama Building on Grand Canal Street Lower. Both sites were occupied by De Valera and his forces during the 2016 Easter Rising. The bakery was actually De Valera’s headquarters!

The Boland’s Mills site is comprised of concrete silos on the Ringsend Road side, which were built between the 1940’s and 1960 and an older protected brick building from the 1800’s on the Barrow Street side.

The mill ceased production in 2001. Since than it has remained derelict. However, soon it will be completely redeveloped into a major new development of offices and apartments to serve the thriving Grand Canal Dock Quarter. The brick building will be preserved. While the more recent silos will be demolished.

Boland’s Mills is an austere structure that allways fascinated me. It stands proud along the water way and makes a real statement to it’s modern slick neighbours. You either love it or hate it. I always thought it could make a great cultural centre like the Tate in London. It reminds of Berlin somehow. Looking very much like some of the clubs I used to go to. E-Verk certainly comes to mind. :o)

I was delighted to get the chance to photograph a serious of fine art industrial photos of the inside of the site recently before they are demolished. I knew very little about the inside. I found some photos online in my research but it was still pretty much an unknown entity before entering. The place was amazing I have to say. Some of the spaces were like a movie set. From the insane concrete forms in the ceiling, located in the flour store area to the offices frozen in time. I have to say it is the first time I photographed somewhere with surgical gloves. I think every pigeon in Dublin has at some stage frequented the place!

I was delighted with the end result and well worth the visit. I love visiting these old sites. You get such a sense of it’s history and the past.

Boland's Mill Dublin — Bolands Mill, Dublin No. 2

Bolands Flour Mill Dublin — Bolands Mill, Dublin No. 6

Inside Bolands Mill — Bolands Mill, Dublin No. 7

Bolands Mill Grand Canal Dock — Bolands Mill, Dublin No. 3

Bolands Mill Dublin 1916 — Bolands Mill, Dublin No. 5

Bolands Mill 2016 — Bolands Mill, Dublin No. 1

4 Awards won at the 2015 National IPPA Awards

Posted on March 10, 2015November 23, 2017 by Enda Cavanagh

the 2015 National IPPA Awards

I’m still on cloud nine after winning 4 awards at the 2015 National IPPA awards on Sunday night. It was a fantastic evening and the IPPA should be proud to have such a wonderful pool of talented photographers in multiple disciplines. I won architectural and Commercial/Advertising Photographer of the year as well as best singled image in both categories. For anyone that is interested here are the panels of 4 images in both categories as well as the best single image in each.

The 1st 4 images are from the winning Commercial/ Advertising portfolio. All are from the amazing Guinness Storehouse. The 1st image is the best single image in Commercial/ Advertising

Model Display in the Guinness Storehouse

The 4 images you see below are from the winning Architectural Portfolio. 2 are from the Guinness Storehouse and 2 are from a beautiful house I photographed for the very talented Darmody Architects. The 1st image is also the winning best single image in the Architecture Category.

If you would like to check out my galleries of the 2 projects than just click here for The Guinness Storehouse and here for the house by Darmody Architects.

Dermot Bannon Architects on Room to Improve

Posted on February 11, 2015November 23, 2017 by Enda Cavanagh

3 Beautiful houses by Dermot Bannon Architects on Room to Improve

I have photographed a number of beautiful projects for Dermot Bannon Architects and 3 of these have appeared recently on the RTE 1 architectural TV series Room to Improve.

The first house in Din Lapghaire is very close to my home my home and it was the 1st time I used my Sony A7r. Since thing I have photographed almost all my architectural work on this fantastic camera. It is a completely revamped old industrial building. It was converted to a lovely multi level contemporary home with a terrace looking over the roof tops in Dun Laoghaire.

The 2nd project shown on Room to Improve was a beautifully restored old school house in Kiltiernan County Dublin. It included a lovely timber clad contemporary extension. It is always great to see a beautifully restored old structure and it’s a perfect example of how the traditional and contemporary can coexist hand in hand.

The last house I photographed was a fascinating 1970’s rural home near Mullingar. It had already a lot of architectural merit and just needed to be brought into the 21st century to compliment the lovely existing lines in the home.

It was great fun seeing the homes I photographed on tv and was interesting to see how the guys on Room to Improve filmed the projects.

You can see more work from Dermot Bannon Aarchitects here on his website

You can check out the 3 homes I photographed for Dermot Bannon Architects on Room to Improve on the RTE player. To see the episode from Dun Laoghaire click here. You can check out the episode from the old school house in Kiltiernan here and to see the episode from Mullingar click here

I have photographed several other homes for Dermot Bannon Architects and another one will appear on a future episode of Room to Improve. So watch this space!

House in Dun Laoghaire by Dermot Bannon Architects on Room to Improve

Restored School House in Kiltiernan by Dermot Bannon Architects on Room to Improve

House in Mullingar by Dermot Bannon Architects on Room to Improve

Fine Art Photos of an amazing industrial Location

Posted on November 27, 2014November 23, 2017 by Enda Cavanagh

An Animal Feed Plant in Meath. A Treasure Trove for Fine Art Photos!

I photographed a forest in County Meath earlier this year. I had a great days shooting. I was happy with the knowledge that I got the shot that I wanted. I packed my bags and drove off in the dark. I only drove a few hundred meters from the woodland exit and I drove past some sort of industrial building. A large door was open enough that I was able to get glimpse at what was inside, just with my peripheral vision as I drove past. I slammed on the brakes and reversed. I sat there with a feeling of electricity running through my veins. I knew looking through the gap in the door that this place was a treasure trove full of potential for fine art photos. I felt an instant connection to the place. I could not quite understand why. However shyness took the better of me. I felt awkward that I would be intruding. So I drove off. A couple of hundred meters later I slammed on the brakes. I turned around. I stopped the car. I turned around again to go home. I stopped the car. I said to Hell with it and I went back. I shyly walked inside the building from the dark and saw a lone man driving a fork lift. I explained who I was and would he mind if I photographed his amazing Shed! He looked at me a bit bemused. Probably thinking I was let out for the day.

The man was Robert. He is the owner of the company. Thanks to his kind generosity I ended up spending 3 Sundays photographing this amazing building full of dials and knobs and pipes and all sorts of machinery like from a science fiction movie. I loved every minute of it. For me they are some of my most rewarding photos that I’ve every taken. You might think they are stupid and pointless but I love them. I could sense there was so much history, life, memories, love, blood, sweeat and tears tied into this place and it was a pleasure to capture a series of fine art photos of an amazing industrial Location. Thanks Ropert. :o)

High Resolution Image Licenses

Posted on November 27, 2014January 28, 2022 by Enda Cavanagh

Wall coverings for Corporate Clients

I’m supplying a lot of commissioned high resolution image licenses to Corporate Clients these days. New clients come to me when they want something above and beyond what’s available from stock libraries. Often clients have a specific scene which they would like photographed. The image will have a predetermined aspect ratio due to it’s proposed location. The aspect ratio is often huge. I’ve supplied images up to 13 x 3m high! In fact that’s what got me started on my forest panoramics.

The level of detail possible with my hasselblad medium format Digital Back combined with the amazing resolving power of my hand built Schneider and Rodenstock lenses is incredible. My latest super wide panoramics have the equivalent resolution of a 250 megapixel medium format camera! But I don’t just stop there. Instead of just supplying an image file way smaller than the printed image like you get with stock libraries, I size the image using advanced algorithms to the output size. I than sharpen the image at the output size so you get the absolute highest quality image possible.

Printing of High Resolution Image Licenses

The quality of the image is also dependent on the printer. I can of course just supply the finished image file to the client but I also give the option of supplying the actual printed image, where I would work with the guys in the Copperhouse. The Copperhouse can even instal the image for the client. This removes all the stress from the client and they can be assured of the highest possible quality during every step of the process.

The images can be printed on a wide choice of media, including Wallpaper, Vinyl, Dibond and best of all Acrylic for the real wow factor.

It’s really hard to get the point across about the level of detail with words so I thought it was better to upload a recent image along the Dublin Quays which you can view here. The printed image will be 12.7 x 2.6m high! The image is still only a fraction of the original file but it gives you an idea of the immersive detail achieved.

I’m also attaching a preview of the image below as well as some other images where I was commissioned to shoot specific locations and supply high resolution image licenses.

Superwide Panoramic of the Dublin Quays

Dublin City Centre scene for 6 x 3.7m backdrop

13 x 3m Vinyl Wall Covering.

The Guinness Storehouse, St. James’s Gate

Posted on November 4, 2014November 23, 2017 by Enda Cavanagh

Photos of the Guinness Storehouse

This summer I was commissioned by Diageo to photograph the Guinness Storehouse. Located at James’s Gate in Dublin City Centre, it’s one of the most iconic structures in Ireland. In fact it’s the most visited tourist destination in the country. Photographing the building was a dream come through. The lighting is very subdued in the building and shooting was quite challenging. The client required a full set of marketing photos encompassing architectural photos as well as photos of the visitor experience throughout the Site. Most shooting was carried out of opening hours to have the building free to myself. I used my architectural, fine art and commercial photography experience to produce images which capture the raw character of the building. The guys at Diageo have been amazing and supportive. A dream client. I enjoyed every minute of shooting the place.

Guinness of course is an institution in Ireland and the Storehouse is well worth a visit. Especially the Connoisseur Bar where you can get probably the best tasting Guinness on the planet! Here is a link to the Storehouse in case you want to find out more about it.

For the first time I used a 35mm camera system. Mainly a Sony A7r and Canon Tilt Shift lenses. I also occasionally used a Canon EOS 5D Mark iii when shooting hand held model shots. I must say the Sony A7r was a delight to use. The electronic viewfinder was a revelation coming from shooting with the Hasselblad H3D and it’s terrible screen. The quality of the sensor, the incredible dynamic range and the portability of this tiny camera (and I mean TINY) is amazing. Shooting with the Hasseblad on a view camera would not have been possible on this project, simply because of the short shooting windows I had to photograph the place. Speed and a view camera do not go hand in hand! Plus the subdued lighting suited the Sony better. I could use higher iso when required and the higher dynamic range really suited the subject. I did miss using the view camera shooting the project and was great to get to use it again recently.

Here you can see more photos of the project in my portfolio gallery

Winner Best Architectural image, IPPA Awards 2014

Posted on March 25, 2014November 23, 2017 by Enda Cavanagh

I was really delighted to receive best architectural image on Sunday night at the 2014 IPPA awards. It is a photo of an amazing house in South Africa, which I photographed at a place called Shelley Point for the very talented SAOTA architects. I had such a blast photographing the house. You can see more of the images I took of the house here.

I was also shortlisted in the the landscape and fine art categories.

House at Shelley Point by SAOTA architects

Finalist in the World Photographic Cup

Posted on January 31, 2014November 23, 2017 by Enda Cavanagh

I got some great news recently. I was a finalist in the 2014 World Photographic Cup, which is an international photography competition for photographers from the Federation of European Photographers (FEP) and Professional Photographers of America (PPA).

The World Photographic Cup is the first ever photography competition launched globally, with national photographic teams from America and Europe and from Asia to Australia. Its successful first round of submissions confirmed the WPC as a vehicle to universally share photographic style, encourage image excellence and create friendships across all diverse cultural environments.

22 national teams accepted the international opportunity to showcase their best in this Inaugural World Photographic Cup! Entries far exceeded the expectations of the organizing bodies (the FEP, Federation of European Photographers and PPA, Professional Photographers of America).

The WPC governing committee co-ordinated the judging process for all 400 pictures submitted. Images were judged by an international panel made up of 15 renowned professional photographers from Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, Portugal and USA! Judges were selected based on their photographic technique, experience, and previous training as a photographic judge. The scoring procedure was totally at random and in complete anonymity. The score for each image was based on four principles: Impact, Creativity, Technical Excellence and Composition. Each of these contributed to a maximum of 25% of the total score.

The urban landscape photo was part of my exhibition Duality. You can read more about the exhibition here.

This is the image, titled “Radiating Beams, Blackrock Baths at Sunrise” and it was a finalist in the landscape category.

SAOTA Architects – Shelley Point

Posted on September 3, 2013November 23, 2017 by Enda Cavanagh

A house by SAOTA Architects

I visited South Africa in June to photograph this beautiful country and also to shoot architectural work by SAOTA architects. SAOTA architects are fantastic design architects and they produce stunning work throughout the world. Here is a link to the SAOTA architects website, where you can view their projects. The House is located beside the Atlantic Ocean at Shelley Point and is about 2 hours north from Cape Town. The location is stunning. I drove my rented car north and got a chance to see some of the South African Countryside. I was left on my own to shoot the house over 2 days and without any distraction. I got clear skies throughout the shoot, which certainly made my life a lot easier! I was told that I was extremely fortunate to get such weather conditions. When inside the house, one feels a real connection to the ocean. There is large full height glazing on the walls facing the Atlantic and you really have to sit back and take it all in. SAOTA architects did a beautiful job of creating a wonderful home and it’s times like this that you realize, life is good