Photographer Profile #24 - The Baz

My name is Barry Delaney , I'm a

Where to start ? , Grew up mainly in Dun Laoghaire; found school difficult with untreated dyslexia , when I realised I was not good eneogh to be a top athlete / musician, never mind academic , told career guidance I wanted to be a journalist for the NME , he laughed - I then became a punk, left school & just went wild, before heading unskilled around the world.

On departure my Grandmother gave me my first camera - took some shots of New York / traversed America shooting in my untrained manner, but i liked it, even if i didn't know what i was really doing.
When MTV exploded in the early 80s , I reckoned a video filmmaker was my calling/ got accepted to film school on a stills portfolio, but couldn't afford it.
Somehow ended up working with computers - enjoyed parts of it, in particular my Apple contract work and a stint in Microsoft. Around 1991 got married had my 2 kids , and pretty much stopped my photography and travelling.
After the millenium I got divorced started drinking heavily, and things started to fall apart - I did buy an Olympus digital camera around this time and began experimenting, again.
I got sober early 2006 and began seeing things differently - the landscape of Dublin had changed . Bought an Nikon slr and did a course in photography at the Institute of Photography, to help me understand my camera- and then spent 2007 just taking pictures of Dublin:-









I found boards so helpful in those earlier days ; prompted and encouraged by a few members, I put on an exhibition at the end of 2007, despite all my self doubt.
Throughout 2008 , everything just seamed to come together - I won various awards and became known for an edgy street/social style.

I then decided to try my hand shooting the local entertainment scene, as I wanted to show an other side to life - I photographed music for 5 years - starting out with Iggy and ending up with the Stones at Glastonbury :-





Did a DIY book on my 5 years on and off the road :-
http://www.blurb.com/b/4920950-dim-the-lights-the-show-must-start

If 2008 was my 15 minutes of fame , the last few years has been a struggle , trying to capture that innocense of those early days, along with many let downs - I keep trying , but i dont know if it just me, but street photography seams to be getting more & more difficult, year by year.

Two years ago I returned to America , criss/crossed the states by Greyhound bus , and put together another book :-
http://www.blurb.com/b/4762027-americans-anonymous

This image from San Francisco got selected last year for the Rua Red Open Call :-



A couple of years ago following a few incidents I became disallusioned alltogether with street photography , but promted by friends and mentors , I persevered !
I did up a script for a short documnentary , which was accepted by RTE , so I finally became that filmmaker - I co-produced it, and it was broadcast last year - I am now working independently with another filmmaker on my next documentary , mums the word.

I'm still sober , swim the sea most days, thanks to Tim (The Master of the 40 Foot) :-



Last summer around the heatwave, I started taking pictures again of Dublin city (Home) :-



Six years on, Im having a small exhibition at the Centre for Creative Practice , Pembroke st, Dublin in the 3rd week of January- you're all more than welcome, to the opening on the 23rd -its a celebration of life, with nothing for sale.
Boards helped me so much when I started out , I dont use it much no more, I'm probably too emotional and misundstood (I think I'm much nicer in real life).
I question the whole idea of good and bad photography , and am inspired by Robert Frank's Americans more than anything, and the whole DIY ethos of punk (its in the soul man)

My images are available on :-
http://pix.ie/thebaz/
and
http://500px.com/bazdelaney/sets

Influences are :- Robert Frank, Fergus Bourke, HCB portraits, Taxi Driver, Jack Kerouac, The Clash - as the great Joe Strummer said - Don't forget your alive .
Some anonymous student probably best sums up what I try to achieve with my photography :-

Delaney’s photography are very simplistic but compel a sense of realness and are packed with emotion



Happy Christmas & New Year