IT’S RARE THESE days that we have to time to really look around us, to catch a moment on a busy streets, or truly see the people who pass us by in the bustle.
But an Instagram account, called Dublin Daily, does just that – delivering an insight into our capital with one carefully-chosen, black and white image every day.
Dublin Daily hit the headlines earlier on this year when its picture of an elderly man eating chips on O’Connell Street went viral, clocking up over 855,000 views on social sharing site Imgur.
It’s just one example of the candid, often poignant portraits the account specialises in.
DailyEdge.ie spoke to the man behind the account, Derek Kennedy, who takes the pictures in his spare time – mostly on his lunch break from his day job in the inner city of the Northside.
It all started one day last year on Marlborough Street – Kennedy was passing a betting office when he passed a couple. He could see the man shaking his head and the woman looking at him in what he describes as “despair”.
He snapped a picture, put it on his Facebook and, from there, was encouraged by his friends to make it into a fully fledged project.
Kennedy says that he doesn’t choose a specific type of person – he’ll photograph everyone from “businessmen to homeless people”. He goes for a wide age range, and aims to give “a general snapshot” of the city.
He shoots using a Canon 5D II camera, and admits that he occasionally shoots from the hip to avoid any sticky situations. Despite this, he says, he’s never had any trouble from anyone he has photographed, laughing that he’s “not afraid of confrontation”.
The photographs are better when they’re unposed, or “candid” as he describes them, saying that if he asks in advance then the picture “is gone”. Often, he’ll inform the passer-by afterwards, letting them know about the project.
From the many he’s snapped, he highlights a few as having caught particular attention. This man, below, was in the disused public toilets at College Green near Trinity College:
Another one he mentions is the man cycling, with a cast, crutch and dog in tow:
Check out some more from his back catalogue below:
If you want to check out more of Dublin Daily’s photographs, you can follow Derek on Instagram and Facebook - or see the pictures in the flesh in Sheries on Middle Abbey Street in Dublin.
